Craft beer collaborations have grown exponentially over the last couple of years and have become increasingly popular with brewers and serious beer fans everywhere. What was once just a curiosity, collaboration projects are now very much a part of today's craft beer landscape...And there are reasons why they're now so important.

So many beers, So little time...From special collaborations and craft beer one-offs to exciting new fall and winter seasonals, Newbies is your essential map to the "best of the best" and the hottest new craft beers rolling out each week ...

So welcome to another edition of Newbies - your guide to great new craft beer releases!

There's absolutely nothing like the wrath of a lover scorned as exemplified by a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan man who bought a home next to his ex-wife and erected a giant statue of a hand giving "the middle finger." This gesture, which dates back to Ancient Greece (and represents the phallus), has long been seen as the ultimate sign of contempt and disrespect - but we don't think we've ever seen it used on this kind of scale.

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.

Two Belgian professors who teach at the Catholic University of Leuven recently conducted a test that gave us pause. What they decided to do was to submit the Antwerp library's 10 most borrowed books to bacteriology and toxicology tests.

And we've got to admit the results they got back were concerning...

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.

So many beers, So little time...From special collaborations and craft beer one-offs to exciting new fall and winter seasonals, Newbies is your essential map to the "best of the best" and the hottest new craft beers rolling out each week. So welcome to this week's edition of Newbies - your guide to great new craft beer releases!

Hey it's Wednesday and that means it's Rumor Mill Time....Coronado Brewing's got big plans for Portland. We'll be bringing you everything we know so far. Plus we've got some news from Oskar Blues East Coast operation and an update on Dan Patrick's continuing "bromance." We've also got a special new Rumor Mill winter release that you've got to chase down before it all disappears. So fasten your seat belts everybody because....THIS WEEK'S RUMOR MILL IS ON!

We just received an update from our friends at the AHA with the current demographics of America's homebrewers, and like a lot of what we receive from this organization, it was way more interesting than even we could have imagined. Did you realize that more than one million homebrewers are currently brewing two million barrels of beer yearly? We definitely didn't and there's a lot more here that blew our mind!

American Craft Beer covers the craft beer movement, its news, and its lifestyle. We view the craft beer scene as an entertainment industry that is now very much a part of today's pop cultural landscape. And it's probably because of our unique approach to the industry that we're constantly receiving offers from different media groups asking us to share with our readers everything from new restaurants, cuisine, hangover cures, and beer-related products to new music, movies, and books....which leads us to Good Books - a brand new series dedicated not only to new and noteworthy books on craft beer, but also to anything else that we're currently reading, enjoying, and recommending.