Hey it’s Wednesday and that means it’s Rumor Mill Time….The NAB is sponsoring a Cicerone Program for their staff and associates and we’ve the complete skinny for you! Plus we’ve an update from our friends at New Belgium and some San Francisco Giants news from Anchor Brewing.

So fasten your seat belts everybody because….THIS WEEK’S RUMOR MILL IS ON!

Three Floyds to Double Down and Triple Up (Muenster, IN) – In what might be called “the mother of all expansions,” Three Floyds Brewing Co. will be embarking on a $10 million expansion that will double the size of their brewery and nearly triple its production to 100,000 barrels a year, according to DNAinfo.com Chicago.

Sierra Nevada Freshens Up Its Bottle Dating (Chico, CA) — Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. continues its work to promote beer freshness with an updated “packaged-on” date printed on year-round and seasonal 12 and 24 oz. bottles and all cans. This easily readable date code will better inform retailers and consumers as to the beer’s freshness, ensuring only the highest quality product is in the marketplace. The new bottled-on codes will be printed on the back label as: PKGD 04/15/14 15:25–indicating the month/day/year followed by the time in 24-hour format.

The Alchemist May Have Found a New Lair (Waterbury, VT) –The Alchemist brewery owners John and Jen Kimmich may have settled on a location for their second brewery and retail store, according to the Burlington Free Press. It’s rumored to be near Waterbury, but the couple isn’t giving up the exact location just yet – they’re waiting to be granted their building permit first and don’t want to hex things.

Saint Arnolds Recommits to its Heroes (Houston, TX) – The Saint Arnold Brewing Company has extended their commitment to the 2014 Hops for Heroes campaign and announced that 100% of the proceeds from Saint Arnold Homefront IPA will benefit Operation Homefront. Saint Arnold is one of 11 craft breweries across the country participating in Hops for Heroes. Others include 21st Amendment, Center of the Universe,Cigar City, Fremont Brewing Company, Left Hand Brewing, Maui Brewing Co., Palmetto Brewing Company, Perennial Artisan Ales, Sly Fox, and Stone Brewing.

NAB Sponsors Cicerone Program (Buffalo, NY) – North American Breweries (NAB) owns and operates five U.S. breweries and six retail locations. Their holdings include heritage breweries such as Genesee as well as Magic Hat in Vermont and the Pyramid Brewing Company in the Pacific Northwest. They’ve also got a learning academynamed NABrewniversity, which has assisted 56 staff, in addition to wholesaler/distributor partners, in obtaining their Certified Cicerone® credentials. Thirty more NAB employees are in the pipeline, and now nine staff and wholesaler/distributor partners are pursuing their Master Cicerone® designation, an elite certification that only seven people in the world have obtained. ACB is psyched to see this kind of initiative and supports the company’s ongoing commitment to beer education.