This article from the North Denver News says that Colorado is the 2nd largest beer producing state in America. I updated the Colorado Beer wikipedia page with that little tidbit:

Colorado Beer Country Regains Status as Second Largest Brewer in USA

This comes courtesy of the March/April issue of Zymurgy .

There's a law in Texas that states that microbreweries can't sell directly to the consumer, but instead have to sell to a middleman (that's LAME). Not surprisingly 14 of 19 microbreweries in the state have failed.

But a group called Friends of Texas Microbreweries started a campaign to fight the laws. 

According to an article from BeerAdvocate.com our favorite brewery in Lyons had another good year.

"Oskar Blues Brewery enjoyed its fourth straight year of significant growth, increasing its revenues 121% and its beer production by 64%."

The article also states that the brewery is going to double it's breweing capacity.

Here's in interesting tease about New Belgium's first organic beer from the Denver Post:

New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins announced that its first organic beer, Mothership Wit, along with Fat Tire Amber Ale, will be served or given as gifts at two pre-Oscar parties this week.

Come on, man, I want details!

And Springboard Ale showed up recently on NewBelgium.com:

Check out this brief from Sunday's Post:

Wine at grocers

Proponents of expanding liquor sales in Colorado are quietly working on a measure that would allow the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores. The proposal would let King Soopers, Safeway and other grocers with pharmacies and a certain percentage of revenues from meat and fresh produce sell the beverages. The plan would not include big discounters like Wal- Mart.

The Brewers Association wants us to drink some craft beer to celebrate President's Day.

OK! I'm always looking for a reason to drink some good brews and I've got a pretty good selection right now.

Sitting in front of me is a glass of Dogfish Head 120 Imperial IPA.

The wait is finally over.

For those who don't know anything about this beer, here are some facts: It's continually hopped for the duration of its 120-minute boil and then dry-hopped for an entire month. It's a very strong beer weighing in at 20% abv. It is, according to the label, the Holy Grail for hopheads. 

I'm sure I'm going to get flamed on this, but I just have to point this out.

Utah has awesome natural wonders, but I'm not the only one to notice that it lacks some things in the beer department.

According to The Big Book o' Beer, Utah has the lowest beer consumption rate per capita of any state in the States.

"Here, residents consume only 79 Liters of beer per year. Then again, beer is scarce in this state, as beer lovers attending the 2002 Winter Olympic Games discovered."

Tonight (Feb. 16) is the Great Guinness Toast! It used to be a bit more organized, with a set time when the Toast took place. That was kinda cool, because you could imagine thousands of people across the country doing the same thing that you were doing at the same moment.

But now, it's gotten high-tech and you just go to the bar, order a Guinness, and then text for a free ringtone and they'll count you in. I think that's lame...

This is looking to be an excellent beer weekend.

I finally got my hands on a DogFish Head 120 IPA. Thanks, anonymous tipster and thank you, Joe for picking it up at Merchant of Vino. It was $8.50 for a 12-ounce bottle! Joe also picked up some Steamworks Third Eye Pale Ale and Great Divide Hercules Double IPA. 

There's no shortage of hops (or alcohol) in that list! 

For Valentine's Day, I got a sixer of Fort Collins Brewery's Chocolate Stout.