When I moved to Pittsburgh, I was 20 years old and knew virtually no one. In my first few months living here, I was fortunate to meet a lot of different people: a group of the smartest fraternity brothers I have ever met at Carnegie Mellon, a fabulous and nerdy group of Geology grad students at Pitt, a group of people who would watch football with me, and many others. One thing all of these people seemed to have in common was their agreement on the one place I absolutely HAD to go when I finally turned 21. That place is Mad Mex, and chances are, if you have ever visited anyone in the Steel City, they probably took you there.

The craft beer industry has grown enormously over the last decade. There are currently more breweries in the United States than at any point in this nation's history. But the growth of new breweries only tells one part of the craft beer story. There's also been a tremendous increase in craft beer events and entertainment...and most significantly, in craft beer festivals.

Last summer, I took a cooking with beer class at my local community college. In this class, we learned the finer points of how to incorporate beer into each of our daily meals, and which beers pair well with certain foods. After sampling a few brews from the summer season, we got down to work and whipped up tasty appetizers, entrees, and desserts.

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 enjoying yourselves.

Actually we called them...but whatever.

It appears that Duvel Moortgat will stop at nothing in their ongoing effort to force their way into and eventually control the American Craft Beer scene. Just one day after the Belgian brewery's monumental purchase of the Kansas City, Missouri-based Boulevard Brewing, word spread like wildfire that the Europeans were not backing away from their maniacal quest to secure some of craft beers most valuable real estate. Their target this time was rumored to have been American Craft Beer.com--one of this country's leading and most provocative voices--and shockingly the online publication itself may have been the source of those rumors!

Hey it's Friday the weekend's almost here and you're ready for some serious fun. Well good, because that's where we come in. From the nation's coolest beer festivals to movies, music and cutting edge TV - we've got your back big-time. Plus we've a weekend beer pick for you too!

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

We've got to admit that craft beer news seldom gets much bigger than this!

New York Times is reporting that the Duvel Moortgat Brewery of Belgium has announced a deal to buy Kansas City, Missouri's Boulevard Brewing Company - huge news on any front.

In the overwhelming world of the Great American Beer Festival, it can be difficult for a brewery to stand out from the others. With 732 breweries in attendance, it's easy for a brewery to get lost in the shuffle. Some breweries went to great lengths to stand out from the crowd though, such as buying space on the ends of the aisles where they could build their own booth, or decorating their tiny space among the long stretches of brewers so they could be seen from far and wide. And some breweries took an even simpler approach to getting noticed: making delicious beer that everyone talked about during the sessions.

So many beers, So little time...With so many craft breweries, releasing so many beers, we thought it might help to provide a weekly update on all the new beers that are hitting the streets .....So welcome to this week's edition of Newbies - your guide to great new craft beer releases!  

A few days ago, I left Boston for the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, convinced I wouldn't make it back in one piece; what passes for a full-length drinking event in normal life was only 1/4^th of the festivities. The good news: I lived to tell the tale! The bad news: I barely caught a glimpse of the mountains.