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.

Goose Island Opens Up Fulton Street (Chicago, IL) – Goose Island has opened up their main (Fulton Street) brewery location to the public for the very first time! Being that Goose Island is Chicago’s original craft beer company, it’s really cool that the public now has the opportunity to look behind-the-scenes at everything Goose does. In addition, they are also opening their brand new on-site tap room, which was designed and built with the help of local artisans in Chicago.

Big Beer Acquisitions Jump The Pond (Greenwich, UK) – We’ve been predicting that SABMiller would be following AB InBev’s lead and be looking to purchase some craft beer properties in 2015, but we didn’t expect that they’d be looking in Great Britain. It was announced last week that Meantime Brewing, a Greenwich-based independent, has been bought by SABMiller. Here’s another prediction – this international conglomerate is far from done adding craft breweries to their portfolio – and their next acquisition will be much closer to home.

Is A Craft Beer Bubble Brewing? (USA) – Some think that craft beer’s frothy exuberance is in for a rude awakening and that something that can’t go on forever – won’t. Others see today’s growth as virtually unlimited and see things (as we think) in an overly positive light. No matter what camp you fall into, you might want to check out what Fortune had to say about the possibility in Is Craft Beer in a Bubble? – a thoughtful piece that they published over the weekend.

Why Whole Foods Is One Of Our Favorites (Houston, TX) – Whole Foods has opened a new location in Houston, with its own in-store brewery, and Supermarket News is reporting that “shopping carts have cup holders for customers to store their beer glasses,” and that a “keg-equipped beer bike rides around the store transporting beer to shoppers.”    Plzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Beer Week Alert! (Miami, FL) – As part of our ongoing effort to help you plan where you need to be drinking each and every week, Quick Hits runs regular “Beer Week Alerts” and there are several that just started. Chicago Craft Beer Week kicked off last Thursday and runs through the 24^th. Nevada Beer Week begins today (so get on it!) and continues through the 30^th. Albuquerque Beer Week is coming up (May 21^st–31^st) and so is Asheville Beer Week (May 22^nd–30^th).

Got Something You Think We Need To Know About? Send Your Press Releases to: pr@AmericanCraftBeer.com