(Chicago, IL) – I’ve spent much of the afternoon catching up and sifting through the 3,000 tweets left by craft beer people in the last 72 hours.

Editor’s Note: Award winners should be posted here no later than 12:15am EST after the event concludes and the winners list is made public. I will have some kind of summary/analysis drafted up for Sunday AM.

Before we get into all the great coverage out there, it should be noted that next year’s Craft Brewers Conference will be held in San Francisco. Not sure if it’s been officially announced but I’ve seen multiple tweets mention it now. Start planning early! Now to the coverage:

Richard Brewer-Hay of ESB Ales fame provided some live footage of the Field Museum welcome reception. He also taped the video you see above featuring the Gourdians, a quartet featuring three craft brewing veterans and Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick. I love this picture of the gang and the audience taken by Scott Bort of the Post-Tribune. If there is a pic more symbolic of the spirit of the craft beer movement, I have yet to see it.

Carolyn Smagalski of BellaOnline rehashed what was said at the Craft Brewers Conference keynote on Wednesday.

For my money, Christopher Staten, Draft Mag Beer Editor, has been providing the best coverage and has several behind-the-scenes videos featuring the chef, Sean Paxton, for tonight’s gala event. Paxton is feeding 2,000 people.

A group of folks gave a presentation they dubbed “Alewhale” on social media on Saturday morning. If you are a newbie to social media, are obsessed with it or especially if you represent a brewery/beer establishment, the Alewhale handout page provides a very comprehensive summary of everything you need to know about Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and their ilk.

Finally, I updated my Twitter favorites of stuff I found on my @Beerpulse account. I have more on my @Beersage account as well. It’s a collection of random tidbits of information I found to be valuable. Enjoy!