Hey it’s Friday and the weekend’s almost here. The temperature’s dropping and you’re more ready than ever for some serious fun. Well good, because we are on it! From the nation’s coolest beer festivals to movies, music and cutting edge TV – we’ve got your back big-time.

So welcome to this week’s edition of our awesome Weekend Picks.

Get Amped For Untapped’s H-Town Debut (Houston, TX) – There’s nothing we don’t love about a festival that brings together two of our favorite passions – music and craft beer – and Paste Untapped spreads the love to yet another city this weekend. On Saturday, November 16, Houston’s Discovery Gardens will play host to this indie music and beer fest, featuring some of the hottest local and national bands as well as more than 70 breweries serving up 200+ craft brews. With stellar events in both Dallas and Fort Worth under their belt (and more cities in the works), we’ve gotta say that these organizers know how to throw a kickass party and you’re truly missing a great one if this isn’t on your calendar this weekend.

On The Big Screen – Did Hollywood just write off this weekend? Are they saving all their good movies for closer to the Thanksgiving holiday? We’ll something’s up because this weekend’s offerings absolutely blow. We suggest that you just drink heavily all weekend but if a movie is your fallback- here’s what you unfortunately have to choose from. Nebraska is basically an art film that’s getting a big movie release and it stars Bruce Dern (of all people) as an aging, booze-addled father making a trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son. (Sounds fun right?)Any movie that’s filmed entirely in black and white and takes its lead from one of Bruce Springsteen’s most depressing songs is not a great place to start – so we probably won’t. If Nebraska doesn’t rock your boat there’s always Charlie Countryman which stars Shia LaBeouf (who allegedly took LSD to flesh out his role) as a travelling loner in Romania who falls in love with a women with a very scary ex.

A Barrel Aged Throwdown Like No Other (Chicago, IL) – Chicago knows its barrel aged beer, and it will once again assert its dominance this weekend with the return of the legendary Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer (FoBAB). Now in its 11^th year, the country’s largest celebration of wood and barrel aged beer will take place at the beautiful Skyline Loft at the Bridgeport Art Center. Guests can expect a world-class variety of rare and complex aged brews, all competing for awards in 11 style categories judged by a professional panel. New additions to the fest this year will include a Cider/Perry/Mead style competition category and a barrel-aged blending station. This year, the two-session event sold out in 4 minutes – soundly solidifying Chicago as the barrel aged capital of the country. ACB will be in attendance this weekend and we’ll be keeping you informed via tweets – so feel free to check in to make sure we’re still standing!

TV Time – Showtime’s Homeland actually returned for its third season a couple of weeks ago but in the age of on-demand and “binge-watching” that matters not. This topical award-winning political drama stars Claire Danes as a brilliant intelligence operative plagued with bipolar disorder who becomes involved with her quarry Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) who is now on the run after being blamed for massive attack upon the CIA in Langley. If you haven’t ever watched Homeland its best to start with season one – and once you do, we promise you’ll be hooked!