Hey it’s Wednesday and that means it’s Rumor Mill Time….Like words leaking out of the Vatican, Russian River is sharing more details about the Pliny the Younger rollout and we’ll be bringing you everything we know so far. Plus we’ve got some huge news coming out of the Pizza Port camp and some good news about DC’s craft beer maestro, Greg Engert. But that’s not all… we’ve also got a special Rumor Mill release you’ll want to chase down to arm yourself against this brutally cold weather.

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

DC Boy Named “Beer Person of the Year” (Washington, DC) – Congratulations are due to our friend (and fellow DC homeboy) Greg Engert for being named Beer Person of the Year by Imbibe Magazine. With the grand opening of DC’s new brewery, Blue Jacket, 2013 was a big year for Greg and his crew at the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, and 2014 is getting off to a much-deserved start. Look for Greg to do a 5 Stupid Questions with us coming up – assuming he hasn’t had the good sense to lose our number.

Comings & Goings Around The Windy City (Chicago, IL) – As if the Chicagoland shelves weren’t already stocked with amazing beer choices…Madison’s Ale Asylum has joined the crowd. Started in 2006 and now the fastest-growing brewery in Wisconsin, Ale Asylum will be distributed outside its home state for the first time via Wirtz Beverage Illinois. Keep an eye out statewide for bottles and drafts by next month.

And now, the goings…with such intense competition in the Chicago craft beer market, it was only a matter of time before one of the startup breweries bowed out. According to GuysDrinkingBeer.com, 4 Paws Brewery, which introduced its six-packs this past May, will be passing on its brewing equipment and lease to Strange Pelican Brewing, which expects to release its beers in March or April.

Pizza Port-Ability (San Diego County) – The award-winning Pizza Port Brewing Company (which has won an amazing 83 GABF medals since 2000) will be debuting three of their most popular beers in cans for the first time in their 26-year history this week. Siblings Gina and Vince Marsaglia founded Pizza Port Brewing Company when they purchased a small seaside pizza joint in Solana Beach in 1987. A few years later, they decided to add their passion for “serious beer” into the equation and the first official Pizza Port brewpub was born. From Ocean Beach to San Clemente, Pizza Port’s four brewpubs in Southern California are now “must-drink” destinations for both locals and craft beer nomads.

Pliny The Younger Rollout Updates (Santa Rosa, Ca) – Like swallows returning to Capistrano, each year’s return of Russian River’s wayward son Pliny the Younger has been greeted with increasingly fanatical anticipation. So here’s what we’ve got on the February rollout so far. On February 10, the brewery will begin distributing 2014’s release around Sonoma County and in the Bay area. Stone distribution will likely pick up their shipment for Southern California that week or the following week. And they’ll be sending kegs to their distributors in San Jose, Sacramento, Oregon, Colorado, and Philadelphia sometime in February (ship date TBD).

Beer – It’s Not Just for Men with Beards (Dallas, TX) – We’ve just gotten word that the first official meeting of the Dallas chapter of Barley’s Angels, a national organization focused on advancing female craft beer education, took place Jan. 6 at the Meddlesome Moth in Dallas’s trendy Design District. Founded by Tara Dollar, a Specialty Sales and Development Coordinator at Ben E. Keith, the organization offers monthly meetings and special outings focused on developing and fostering an appreciation for all things craft beer. “I’m really passionate about and want to support beer education, especially for women,” said Tara. “Women play an important role in the craft beer industry, both as producers and consumers, and I want the ladies in Dallas to have an opportunity to come together and celebrate that.” Want to get in on the next meeting? Visit their Facebook page to stay up-to-date (sorry boys, this one’s for women only).

A Rumor Mill Holiday Release You Want to Look Out For

With temperatures in single digits across much of the nation, Alaskan Brewing’s newest year-round release couldn’t be timelier. Hopothermia Double IPA is their massive “imperial” with a strong malt backbone that, as they so poetically describe, “rests like a massive hibernating grizzly against the fierce wolverine strength of the hop profile.” Whoa!