Hey, it’s Friday and if you’re like us, you’ve had it with winter and spring can’t come quick enough. Bottom line – you’re in desperate need of fun this weekend. That’s where we come in! We’ve all kinds of suggestions and we’ve got your back big-time. Plus, we’ve got a special “March Madness” beer pick that you’re going to want to chase down…So welcome to this week’s edition of our awesome Weekend Picks!

With thousands of brewers having already arrived in Washington, DC for next week’s upcoming Craft Brewers Conference, Drink Eat Play will be presenting the inaugural DC Beer Festival to kick off the biggest week of beer that the Nation’s Capital has ever seen! It’s all taking place this Saturday, March 23rd, downtown at DC’s beautiful Nationals Park. There will be an afternoon as well as an evening session, both featuring over seventy of the country’s best brewers. And with the nation’s best craft brewers in town for the CBC, you can expect to see some real industry heavies in attendance! For more info on this weekend’s not to be missed beerganza, check out: DC Beer Festival

We can’t help it if two of this weekend’s best craft beer events are taking place in the Mid-Atlantic. Just north of Baltimore, at the Timonium fairground, the 2013 Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival will be kicking into gear and it’s going to be a total blast! What’s wrong with two days (March 22nd and 23rd) of unlimited beer, pulled pork and whole hog, and over 60 bourbons? NOTHING! The only reason to not be here is if you’re down south in Washington at the DC Beer Festival – otherwise this is where you want to be. For more info on this weekend’s pig-out, check out: BBQ Festival

Hollywood has two movies coming out this year depicting a White House under assault by terrorists, and the first one out of the gate opens this weekend. Olympus Has Fallen, directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), stars Gerard Butler as a disgraced former Presidential guard who finds himself trapped inside the White House during a terrorist attack and attempts to single-handedly save the Prez.

Brouwer’s Café, a classic Seattle-based craft beer bar, will be hosting its 11th annual Hard Liver Barleywine Fest this weekend and if you’re up that way, you don’t want to miss it. We’re talking a two-day, all-day extravaganza featuring some of the world’s most exotic barleywines from some 50+ breweries. For more info on this legendary event, check out: Hard Liver

March Madness Mania will be on full display this weekend with some of this country’s best college basketball in sixteen sudden-death showdowns.  Basketball doesn’t get any better than at this time of the year so you might want to camp out in front of your flat screen all weekend and just yield to the madness!

Our Weekend Beer Pick: New Belgium Brewing recently introduced their new “Hop Kitchen” four beer series, which will be released in 22oz bottles and on draft in select markets in 2013. Hoppy Bock Lager, the first release under the Hop Kitchen banner, is out there now. This beer is a medium-bodied German-style lager brewed with rye and Hallertauer, Perle and Fuggle hops. Hoppy Bock is 6.9% ABV and it pairs brilliantly with college basketball.