Hey it’s Friday, the weekend’s almost here, and you are ready for some serious fun. Well good, because that’s where we come in. From the nation’s coolest beer festivals to movies, music, and cutting-edge TV -we’ve got your back big-time. And we’ve got another of our weekend beer picks for you and we’re going “old-school” this week – so you’ll want to check that out. So welcome to this week’s edition of our awesome Weekend Picks.

Drinking California – Stone Brewing is throwing its 17^th Anniversary Celebration & Invitational Beer Festival in San Marcos, California this weekend and although tonight’s Brewers Reception is unfortunately sold-out, there are still plenty of tickets available for Saturday’s (8/17) two sessions. This year’s Invitational will feature 40 guest breweries and more than 100 beers, as well as Stone brews on cask. And this year’s festival area has been expanded to include two levels and more shade. For more info on this one-of-a-kind celebration, check out: Stone Anniversary Invitational

New Movies Opening This Weekend – Do we really need another Kick Ass? (We’re not even sure that we needed the original.) But wherever you stand on this super-violent, ethically questionable, and very graphic comic book franchise, Kick Ass 2 will be opening wide this weekend. Aaron Taylor-Johnson returns as the costumed high-school hero, “Kick Ass,” and the very awesome Chloë Grace Moretz once again stars as his female counterpart “Hit-Girl.” But if you’d rather indulge in something a little less exploitive, The Butler is also opening this weekend and stars the great Forest Whitaker as an African-American butler who bares witness to the historic changes of the 20^th Century while working in the White House.

London Calling – We’ve got a growing community of “dangerous hopheads” following our foolishness from the United Kingdom, so we’d be sorely remiss to not mention that the 2013 London Craft Beer Festival is taking place over there this weekend. This year’s three-day event (8/16 – 8/18) is being held at Oval Space, an arts venue in East London’s Bethnal Green, and will feature more than 100 beers from 18 world-class craft breweries. London’s Oval Space is known for hosting some of the UK’s best musical events, so in addition to the beer, this year’s festival will also be presenting a brilliant array of musical talent. The London Craft Beer Festival is a celebration of great beers, passionate brewers, and a true beer city and shouldn’t be missed! For more info on this UK beerganza, check out: London Beer Fest

TV Time – Hey, no one’s perfect, especially us, and even though the whole world was hip to the fact that the final episodes of AMC’s brilliantly dark Breaking Bad series had resumed last Sunday, we neglected to mention it in last week’s Weekend Picks – our bad. That said, this is “must-see” TV of the highest order. Walter White continues his unstoppable march to the dark side and never has a person’s transition from a gentle family man into an amoral monster been more compelling, more frightening, or more entertaining. Breaking Bad is destined to go down with shows like The Wire and The Sopranos as one of television’s greatest dramas.

Craft Beer Week – Craft beer’s emergence in the American heartland has been one of 2013’s biggest stories – with states like Nebraska and Iowa really stepping up their game. Lincoln, Nebraska’s been celebrating their first-ever Beer Week and they’ll be wrapping up a week of fun in a big way tomorrow! Zipline Brewing Company will have a special cask at their taproom, Yia Yia’s will have a Tallgrass cask with deals on the rest of the Tallgrass beers, Dempsey’s Burger Pub will feature Nebraska Brewing Company, and all local brews are on special at Single Barrel. The highlight of the day will most definitely be the Block Party at Jake’s Cigars & Spirits – they are taking over the downtown corner of 14^th & P Streets with four great bands, their first-ever Giant Pub Quiz, and lots of fantastic beer and food! Stop on by to help celebrate the end of a wonderful Lincoln Beer Week, as well as Jake’s 15^th Anniversary in Lincoln!

Our Awesome Weekend Beer Pick

Saranac’s a heritage craft brewery. It came into prominence during the first craft beer boom in the 1990s and having prospered since then, they’re sometimes overshadowed by craft beer’s second-generation breweries and unfairly overlooked by many of craft beer’s newer fans. So we thought it might be time to remind you that they’ve championed many great craft beers and one of our favorites is their Black Forest. This award-winning dark lager is actually a German-style Schwarzbier that’s totally sessionable and skips the heavy roasted flavor most people expect in a dark beer.