Even though I have been in Florida for well over five years now, December and the Christmas season continues to sneak up on me.  Without the snow that I was used to when growing up in New York the only way I know it is winter is when the Christmas music hits the airwaves.  Then the frantic search for any required gifts begins since I am only left with a short time before I would have to ship anything up north.

It is also the season for me to be thinking of winter seasonals, so that is where the idea for beer news started today.  Below are just a couple stories to assist you when shopping for your friends or family and a few others that I found interesting.

• Some winter beer favorites from a tasting panel in Baltimore.

• A list of gifts for the beer lovers in your life.

• Different approaches to starting (and maintaining success with) your own brewery.  Certainly of personal interest to me!

• Knowing what breweries the “Big 2” control.  There were a few that caught me by surprise.

Some winter beer favorites via The Baltimore Sun

In case any of you have decided to sneak away from your family to check up on your favorite sites, I do have a few good bits of beer news for today.  I will keep it short so you can be back before they even know you have left the room.

The first is a story about a brewery expansion in Colorado, which is another good sign for craft beer in our current economic climate.  The second is from San Diego and discusses expanded beer lists for fine dining establishments.  That is something that should become more and more common if it hasn’t in your area already.

Dry Dock Brewery via http://www.npr.org/

Happy Thanksgiving!

There are many things that I have come to enjoy about having this site to share information and one of those things is getting to pass along articles and stories that are sent to me by other people.  I do a fair amount of reading on the internet about beer in various capacities, but there is no way that I can come close to catching everything there is out there.  It is especially great when people pass along stories from their local publications and Erin sent me a good one from all the way up in Minnesota.  I hear that computers actually freeze and stop working up there soon, so I am glad that she was able to get it to me before that happens!

Matt Fisher of France 44 via http://heavytable.com/

This is a good interview with a “beer guy” from a big liquor store up in that area.  I find it fascinating mostly because I would like to be a “beer guy,” but also because he answers a lot of good questions like how he chooses what beer to stock and how he starts someone down the path of appreciating beer.  Take a look before you make your next beer run.