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.

Cigar City Looks North (Tampa, FL) – Florida-based Cigar City Brewing is looking upstate and to Western North Carolina as possible locations for an expansion brewery, according to a report that surfaced last Thursday in the Citizen-Times. Expect South Carolina, which lost out to Virginia in Stone’s recent expansion sweepstakes, to be courting Joey Redner aggressively.

Greg Koch on Stone Choosing Virginia over Ohio (Escondido, CA) – The Columbus Dispatch ran an interesting interview with Stone’s CEO Greg Koch last Friday where he gets into why they ended up choosing Richmond over Columbus for their new brewery. Turns out Greg went to high school near Columbus (and he still has family there), which made their final decision to locate their East Coast operation in Virginia all the more difficult.

ACB Beer Week Alerts (Anywhere, USA) – In our ongoing effort to help you plan where you need to be at any given time, we run regular beer week alerts – and two good ones are coming up^. Austin Beer Week is one of our favorites and it begins on October 24^th and runs through November 2^nd. And North Texas Beer Week kicks off on the 31^st and runs through November 9^th.

Craft Beer Flights Sky High! (Everywhere, USA) – Craft beer isn’t just growing in every state in America – it’s also growing significantly in the skies above us. ABC News is reporting that “In the last year, an increasing number of airlines have added regional craft brews to their in-flight offerings, giving passengers a tasty new reason to flag down that beverage cart.” We reported that Goose Island upgraded their alliance with United Airlines last summer and that 312 Urban Wheat is now carried on their flights worldwide. And now Minneapolis-based Sun Country Airlines is working with Surly and will be offering popular flagships like their Furious IPA on their flights.

ACB Commemorates the Great London Beer Flood (London, England) – Last Friday was the 200^th anniversary of one of the bizarre disasters in beer history. On October 17, 1814, a vat burst at the Horse Shoe Brewery, sending over a quarter million gallons of beer into London’s streets. A massive tidal wave of beer crashed buildings, flooded cellars, and eventually killed eight unfortunate souls. It’s an international holiday for us at the ACB compound and we consider it our duty to leave the office early, drink heavily, and solemnly dine on bangers and mash.

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