There are two things that I really love (aside from family, blah blah blah): beer and sports. And the one thing that has always made me happy during baseball season is drinking a wonderfully flavor-filled hoppy beverage at the stadium. So, when I heard that the Arizona Diamondbacks' Class-A team was moving to Hillsboro, Oregon and being renamed "Hops", I had to reach out.

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 so much is going down lately that all that's changed. So here's some of what's happened in the world of craft beer news while you were enjoying the weekend.

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." This famous Obi Wan quote seems more apropos in Washington now that Pliny the Elder is bowing out of distribution to the state.

We have all been there. Out drinking with our buddies when something happens and we end up doing something stupid. Usually, however, it just ends up with you repeating the phrase: "wait a second, wait a second." And when we have come down, we make our amends, sending texts and making calls, apologizing for our idiocy. Well not these guys...

Beer and music have long gone hand in hand There's an undeniable synergy between both worlds and you're seeing that synergy now more than ever especially in craft beer.

If you're a regular reader of ours, you know that Sweden is The Brooklyn Brewery's second best-selling market! And they've just announced that they will be teaming up with Carlsberg Sweden and D. Carnegie & Co. and will be building a brewery together.

Hey it's Friday and we're heading into the weekend. With the holidays just behind us and having just dodged the "End of Times" as predicted by the Mayan calendar, you clearly need a break! So if you're up for some idea, we've got them. We're all about the fun and we've got you covered. Plus we've got some special weekend beer picks for you too!

So many craft 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!

If you are reading this then something went horribly wrong and you may be the only one left. We had heard so much about the Mayan prophecy that the world would end on 12/21/12, but I didn't believe it. There was nothing in my non-superstitious mind that made me think that this was anything more that another Y2K: something cooked up to make the paranoid more paranoid. And I always felt that 12/22/12 would be just like 1/2/2000, and we would all be fine, but I didn't expect what would happen at Elysian Fields on that Thursday...

Hey it's Wednesday and, like it or not, it's Rumor Mill time. Just because you're still detoxing from your new year's celebrations doesn't mean we're not running a Rumor Mill. It doesn't matter to us that you've been power-pounding beer for the last 48 hours (who hasn't?) - this industry never sleeps! So crawl out of bed when you're better - and fasten your seatbelt when you do - because THIS WEEK'S RUMOR MILL IS ON!