We’ll start out with the big events happening this weekend. One is American Craft Beer Fest taking place in Boston on Friday and Saturday. We challenge anyone to come up with a better list of the top 10 brews to try at this fest than ours. (Seriously, leave a comment).

Then there is Founders Fest, an all-day event taking place Saturday. The Beer Spot is reporting that Kentucky Breakfast Stout will be on tap among others. Michigan Live also had a story on its site yesterday.

The annual National Homebrew Competition took place in Cincinnati this week. The Brewing Network will be streaming the awards announcements live on Saturday night. The event, put on by the American Homebrewers Association draws thousands from all over. Last year saw over 5,000 entries breaking the prior record. Our money is on the record once again being broken this year.

Rumors are starting to fly about upcoming events as well. Greg Koch posted this tidbit about Stone Sour Fest (July 20) on Beer Advocate tonight:

I’ll leak that in an unposted vBlog when I was out with our friend Vinnie C. in Boulder last month he mentioned that he’d be sending FOUR of his sours, including one that has only ever been served at his brewpub and at the Toronado in SF previously….

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As for the beers, we got a glimpse at Russian River Brewing’s new facility as well as a peak at one of the first bottles of Pliny the Elder, courtesy of the Press Democrat (see video below). Hype is building about these bottles. Oregonians should be pleased by the rumors that Russian River and Columbia Distributing have signed a distribution deal. According to veteran, Maltmaster420, next month’s “initial offerings are going to be Blind Pig, Pliny the Elder, and Damnation.”

Other notes:

Harpoon Leviathan Triticus will debut at American Craft Beer Fest this weekend. The beer, a huge Wheat Wine, is the first in a new limited release series from the Harpoon Brewery. More info can be found at the press release on the official site. While Triticus will be draft only, subsequent offerings in this series will be brewed in batches of 120 barrels and distributed in four-packs starting with a double IPA to come in September.

According to MNBeer.com, new Flat Earth Brewing bottles are hitting store shelves. The brewery experienced a bottle recall recently but looks to be back in the swing of things.

Weyerbacher Brewing is apparently bringing its beers down to South Carolina. Not yet sure which ones but there is an event next month for the launch at Barley’s Taproom.

Lagunitas’ Myspace blogger revealed some vague details (may need Myspace account to get link) about the new Lagunitas We’re Only In It for the Money beer, saying that it may be a Belgian-style Tripel.” It is next in line after the rollout of Lagunitas Lucky 13.

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We have to stop there and save some notes for the weekend! Make sure to check back for the Ommegang article to go up in the next 48 hours. Also, apologies to anyone who is getting 403 errors on the site recently. If they continue, please send an email!