Hooray hooray for the 4th of May! In the spirit of the season we brewed our version of this traditional May beer to be less sweet, a little drier and a little hoppier but still in keeping with the theme of Munich's strong malty lager. What better place to celebrate than at a German themed bar? Die Bierstube is bringing in an oompah band (not an oompa loompa band - that's different) and Manny is already pressing pleats in his lederhosen to celebrate. The keg will be tapped at 7pm sharp with much pomp and circumstance - come hoist a litre and toast the blue skies to come. *side note, Raybock will be available in limited locations - refresh our FB and Twitter page obsessively for updates.

You know how bacon is the new black, and everyone loves bacon, even vegetarians, and people talk about bacon being "meat candy"? Well before bacon jumps the shark (in which case the shark will probably eat the bacon because, duh), Collective has put its money where its bacon hole is and finally made this meat candy fantasy a reality - Spiced Candied Bacon. But don't let that distract you from what Collective is really good at, which is beer. They have 41 taps of tasty choices - stop thinking about bacon - from Washington and beyond. They'll fill your growler, but I'm not sure if they do to-go orders (5 orders of bacon please). Jrob will be there if only because I need him to bring back some bacon. There will also be drink specials and swag. Bacon! Not just for breakfast anymore!

What better way to kick off Seattle Beer Week than with a Cask-O-Rama? Casks casks casks! So many casks (though hopefully none from Amontillado). Over a dozen breweries will be bringing casks to set on top of the bar at Beveridge Place Pub tonight so hopefully Lorraine is wearing her Spice Girls platform sneakers so we can see her cheerful face on the other side of the bar.

If you missed the clear keg of Cragialicious, and don't like to leave Seattle, you are in luck. Always a crowd pleaser, we're hauling the clear keg up to Cooper's Alehouse, this time full of our new brew, Raybock. It's 15.5 gallons of Maibock deliciousness, and we're counting on folks to help drain that sucker to the dregs. Plus! Horse racing and putting contests - but please, no spikes in the bar.

Yet another reason to sink some drinks and feel good about it. SipFest is a fundraiser for Encompass, a non-profit children and family services organization. They bring together a lot of breweries, cideries, wineries, and snackeries so you can spend a few hours sipping and nibbling to your hearts content while raising money for the kids.

The Beer Dinner series is back! 5 different courses paired with 5 of our beers for your food and beer pairing pleasure center. Let's see, 5 courses? Hmm. I can only think of 3 off the top of my head...soup, salad and breadsticks. Wait, that's not right. Salad, entree, dessert. Ok, throw in an appetizer, that's 4. Is there a pasta course? Cheese course? Both meat and fish? 2 desserts (please?) What IS the 5th course? Of course of course - smoking cigars while stroking cats in overstuffed chairs by a roaring fire. Well, if you want to know for sure, you'll have to buy a ticket. Save me a breadstick.

You could spend your Saturday pulling weeds, but we have a much better idea - Gig Harbor Beer Fest! Live music, beer, and you can be home early enough for a disco nap to refresh before going back out for a hot Saturday night. And if you feel guilty about not working in the yard during the day, strap on your headlamp and go slug hunting at night because that is when those suckers are eating your cabbage seedlings - jerks!

Happy Birthday Bob! Today is the day we release Bob's in growlers and have our big fat party at the Nickerson. Historically speaking, Tuesday nights are generally reserved for tacos and NCIS:LA reruns (will LL ever wear something besides a henley?! The mind reels....) but make an effort to put on your drinking shoes and raise a glass to Bob and Ronald McDonald House Charities. There will be live music from Creeping Time, auction items, the annual Bob's limited edition souvenir shirt, and maybe a professional football player "sharing" your nachos. Plus, the softies at The Nick promised to donate 100% of the proceeds from the Bob's they pour that night - the more you drink, the more they donate. We went thru 8 kegs last year - think we can beat it? The early hour and the fact that the Nick is pretty much all kid friendly means you have no excuse not to show up for at least a pint.

Unless you are dedicated to the craft, the Ides of May could be just a tad too early to start grilling outside. Not to worry, Blazing Onion has you covered with the burgers, and Jrob will have you covered with drink specials and swag. Plus, when's the last time you had a French Fry Trio at a barbecue? Never, that's when.

Technically this is just a "friendly match" between local brewers - we won't be giving anything away, but we'll bring a keg of Bob's and be tossing bocce balls down the lanes, hoping not to put up shameful numbers. If you haven't been to Von Trapps yet, the middle of the week might be a good time to go even though chances are it will still be packed to the Matterhorn. The place is impressively cavernous and if you listen reaaaaaal hard, you can hear Julie Andrews singing about her favorite things. Whiskers on kittens? Pretty much sums it up.

Surely Mat's going to be fighting thru a hangover during this promo, so try to speak in soft tones while you enjoy a pint of the cask we're bringing to 74th Street's Cask Conditioned Wednesday. Could be light, could be dark. Could be hoppy, could be malty. Will probably be at least 3 of those 4 things I just said.

The Parkway finds it in their big fat heart to host the biggest Southend Bob's Brown release, and we'll be there with the trusty clear keg full of Bob's so you can watch it drain pint by pint. We'll have a raffle for some sweet prizes and best of all, Parkway donates the all proceeds of Bob's sales to RMHC. So if you aren't planning on stalking Nathan Fillion at the SIFF opening night gala in Seattle in your homemade bepetticoated Nandi costume (whaaaa, no...no one does that, who does that?), head down to Tacoma. Tacoma! It's closer than Portland!

This will be our first year participating in this brew fest down in Eugene and Sean will be pouring Manny's and Lucille for the good folks attending. A large portion of the proceeds go towards the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation, a non-profit organization with a mandate to support craft brewing by providing brewing scholarships. So basically you are drinking good beer to ensure good beer keeps getting made. Sounds like a win-win winner to me.

It's all about IPAs at NWIPA so Sean is going to be on hand to answer your burning questions while they pour Lucille into Lucille pint glasses. And since all they serve are IPAs, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume Lucille will pair nicely with the pimento cheese they have on the top of the menu. My math might be off, but a half growler and a schooner comes pretty close to 40oz...

Sean's going to do his best impression as a Coos Bay City Roller for the night when he hands out some swag at Walt's Pourhouse. Walt's straddles that fine line between locals bar and tourist destination - maybe because they make all the tourists feel like locals. Manny's and Lucille will be on tap while Sean shows you things he found on the beach that day.

Janet Jackson (Ms. Jackson, if you're nasty) once said "Competition is great. And as long as it's friendly and not a malicious thing, then I think it's cool." As far as I'm concerned, everyone's a winner at a bbq competition, especially me. In addition to the bbq competition, and the beer competition (oh yeah, you have to vote for your favorite beer too - Sean is going to be pouring the Manny's) there is a Mac N Cheese Challenge. Pleasure principle, indeed. And for a little extra dough, you can register to be a certified Kansas City Barbecue Society judge which would be a pretty sweet addition to your LinkedIn profile.

Everyone loves a romantic fire, but chopping wood can be so difficult. Do you have a hard time cutting downed trees on the south 40 with your two man crosscut timber saw because you live alone off the grid? Has your chainsaw art been suffering because your old chainsaw is just so, well, old? And how will you ever process that frozen side of beef? Well, if you head over to Capone's during the month of May, enjoy any one of our 5 beers on tap and you could win your very own Georgetown Brewing chainsaw! . Blah blah blah, fine print, don't drink and saw, leather mask not included.