We blame the industry for this… It used to be that when we wrapped up our Weekend Picks on Friday, we could coast through the weekend. There was little need to check in for updates – things were pretty much done. But clearly all that’s changed.

So here’s some of what’s happened in the world of craft beer while you were off enjoying yourselves.

The World’s Largest Beer Competition Was Held Over The Weekend (Grand Rapids, MI) – The National Homebrewers Conference, which was held this past weekend in Michigan, concluded with what the American Homebrewers Association bills as the “world’s largest beer competition ever,” and since they’re generally a fine and reputable group of people, we’re taking them at their word. This year’s competition saw a 45 percent increase in the number of competitors – 1,020 entries were evaluated by 212 of the country’s top beer judges.Robert Hilferding of Zephyrhills, Fla. won the Homebrewer of the Year award with his best-in-show entry in the Scottish and Irish ale category.A complete list of 2014 National Homebrew Competition winners can be found on HomebrewersAssociation.org.

Virginia is for Brewers (Richmond, VA) – The craft beer biz is big now in the state that only used to be “for lovers.” Virginia is now home to 84 breweries, a number that has almost doubled in the last 2.5 years. And it’s not just the breweries that are growing – the businesses that supply them are “blowing up” big-time. Hop farming is becoming more common throughout the state and CBS 6 is reporting that there are currently about “37 Virginia hop farmers that comprised the Old Dominion Hops Co-op.”

It Appears that We Were Just Fucking With You (Chicago, IL) – In a recent Rumor Mill, we reported that Lagunitas Brewing, who is building a new brewery in Chi-town, would be opening their brewery taproom to the public on June 18.” But it appears we got that wrong and in an effort to cover our collective ass yet again, we’re now claiming that “we were just fucking with you.” A much more credible site than ours, DNAinfo Chicago is reporting that although Lagunitas Founder Tony Magee did in fact tweet out that the space would open on June 18, “the taproom …is still waiting on a final occupancy permit from the city.” Karen Hamilton, director of regional marketing for the brewery, (and also Magee’s sister) still expects the taproom to be open by the end of June.

Avery To Roll Out More Barrels (Boulder, CO) – The Avery Brewing Company plans to expand their much-vaunted, barrel-aged beer program this year. In a recent interview with Paste, Adam Avery stated that the company had invested in an additional 1,000 aging barrels, and that this acquisition will allow Avery to grow their in-house aging capability to 1,500 barrels by the end of 2014.

Hey, Why Weren’t We Invited? (Grand Rapids, MI) – One of the highlights of the AHA’s National Homebrewers Conference is always the Welcome Reception and from what we’re hearing, we missed a good one. Thanks to the Michigan Brewers Guild who curated the opening night’s event, this year’s 2,700 attendees were treated to an impressive array of beers provided by more than 50 of the state’s awesome breweries.