With this weekend's Winter Warmer Fest fast approaching, I reached out to event organizer Matthew Leff to get the most updated information about the event, and, most importantly, to ask why a non-Dallasite has chosen our fair city to host a beer festival focusing on some of the biggest brews from local and national breweries.

With the holidays just around the corner, we thought it might be a good time to highlight some of this season's more interesting craft beer gift ideas for the beer lover on your list. So we turned to our American Craft Beer correspondents for suggestions and we got so many great ideas back that we were forced to divide our guide into two parts this year.

900 per week - that's approximately how many growlers they're filling every seven days at the Growler Guys located out of a Shell Station/convenience store in Bend, Oregon. Kizer and Kent Couch are the Growler Guys and they have thirty working taps that they're changing up constantly. Think about that - the pumps outside only offer three grades of gas - (four if you include diesel) yet there are thirty working taps inside serving up some of the freshest beer from some of the best brewers in America!

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!

Scientists at Sapporo Medical University in Japan have just released a new study that indicates drinking beer might actually be good for you and help you ward off colds.

In the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, four very distinct bars seem to share a few things in common. Boasting a combined 88 taps, B2 Restaurant Group is a perfect example of how craft beer is for everyone. Each of the four locations is completely different from the next, and I'm a regular at all of them.

Hey it's Friday and we're heading into our second December weekend. With the holidays just around the corner, you've never been busier, and you need a weekend break! So if you're up for some ideas that don't involve holiday shopping, we've got them. We're all about the fun and we've got you covered. Plus we've got some weekend beer picks for you too! So welcome to the "Anything but Shopping" Edition of Our Weekend Picks!

The moment I walked into Nebraska Brewing Company, I immediately noticed the signs of a hardworking brewpub everywhere I looked. Barrels occupied many of the open spaces, kegs were lined up in a back corner, and the tap-laden bar stretched vertically across the brewpub's left-hand side. This was a place that took beer seriously, a place that could definitively prove to the nonbelievers out there that great and creative brews do in fact get made in Nebraska.

It's crazy how much the excitement that now surrounds the craft beer industry reminds us of the energy that used to (and to a certain degree still does) surround the music industry. And just as the music industry back in the day gave birth to the rock stars - people like Mick Jagger or Robert Plant, who became the faces of the bands they came from - there's a similar thing happening with some people in the craft beer arena today.

It's probably fitting that the next place I chose to imbibe was Lucky Bucket Brewing Company, a growing brewery with 15 employees and a well-balanced assortment of seasonal brews overseen by acting president Jason Payne and partner Brian Magee (who is also, as I mentioned previously, president of Upstream Brewing Company).