Hey it’s Friday, the weekend’s almost here, and you are “beyond ready” for some serious summertime fun. Well good, because that’s where we come in. We’re all about it and we’ve got your back big-time. Plus we’ve got an awesome weekend beer pick that you’ll want to track down. So welcome to this week’s edition of our awesome Weekend Picks!

This is one of the big ones! The Oregon Brewers Guild and the Oregon Brew Crew will be presenting the 26^th annual Oregon Brewers Festival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland. This legendary four-day beerganza runs through Sunday and is featuring more than 80 different craft beers from around the country. So there’s no better place to sip suds this weekend than along the banks of the Willamette River, with the Portland skyline as a backdrop to the west and Mt. Hood towering in the east. Bottom line – If you’re in the Pacific Northwest and you care about beer, then you need to be here. For more info, check out: OBF 2013

It’s back to Marvel Comics this weekend at the movies when The Wolverine debuts nationally. This is the second solo outing for the X-Men vet and as always, Hugh Jackman stars as the steel-taloned and conflicted crusader. Many considered the first solo film X-Men Origins: Wolverine to be a bit of a letdown, but fans of the series are hopeful that Director James Mangold (Walk the Line, Girl Interrupted) will get things back on track. We’ll see if he does and maybe you should too!

Many of you are familiar with California’s annual artsy Burning Man Festival, less of you with Ohio’s Burning River Fest that’s taking place today and tomorrow (July 26^th-27^th) in Cleveland. Since 2001, folks from all over the Great Lakes region have come together to remember the 1969 burning of the Cuyahoga River and to celebrate the renewed sense of eco-consciousness the infamous fire sparked. The annual Burning River Fest features educational exhibits from area environmental groups, fresh food from local farms and eateries, live music, and a special appearance by Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Christmas Ale. And it’s all for a good cause!

The great granddaddy of music festivals kicks off this weekend when the 2013 Newport Folk Festival returns to Rhode Island’s Fort Adams State Park. This year’s lineup features an awesome spectrum of performers, including artists such as Beck, Feist, Amada Palmer, and the Lumineers. This is where Bob Dylan went electric and the Pixies went acoustic so you never know what’s going to happen. Don’t miss it – for more info, check out: Newport Folk Fest

Our Awesome Weekend Beer Pick

The Center of the Universe Brewing Companyhas announced the newest addition to their lineup and we’re pretty damned excited about it. Flight School Belgian Amber is a Belgian Abbey-style ale brewed with five different malts. The combination of German and American hops adds a subtle bitterness and an earthy aroma. And Flight School is fermented with a yeast strain originating from one of Belgium’s celebrated breweries and it’s aged on dried orange peel. This is a big and bold Belgian with all kinds of things going on, so you’ll want to hunt it down.