As Round 1 slowly draws to a close, it’s time to begin thinking about Round 2.  The schedule has been updated to help you plan for Round 2.  While there are still a number of beers to be determined, a one-page PDF of the Round 2 schedule can be downloaded here.

Now, time once again for the weekly link-up. Actually, this one is actually a two-fer, as it covers the last two weeks of interesting posts from across the beer universe. As a result, this is a rather lengthy post. In absolutely no order, here they are:

• The Beer Examiner sheds some new light on the famed Beer Can Chicken. Regarding safety, while I likewise would urge against using a beer can itself, I did enjoy a most delicious beer can chicken the other day.
• Jay at the Brookston Beer Bulletin gives us a lot of numbers and analysis about drinking habits and data.  If you love numbers and graphs, check it out.
• He was also discusses Beer Advocates Top 100 Beers on Planet Earth for this year.
• This story over at Beernews.org is indirectly related to Brewlimination.  Independent Brewers United, the parent company of Pyramid and Magic Hat (both with beers in our tournament) was recently acquired by North American Breweries Inc.
• Check out some great photos over at The Hop Press.  Ken Weaver posted some pictures from the road in southern Oregon, from Sierra Nevada to Crater Lake.
• Like Cider?  Never had Cider?  Pete Brown takes a moment to talk about Cider, which I found to be very informative.
• Want some more beer-related numbers?  Shut Up About Barclay Perkins stumbled across data of beer consumption in 1877.  Very interesting indeed.
• Brewpublic sat down with Greg Koch, the co-founder of Stone Brewing Company, for an exclusive interview.  Stone’s IPA was the first beer to advance to Round 2 of our tournament, and their second beer, Levitation Ale, is coming up next week.  See the interview here:  Part 1, and Part 2.
• Is a beer price crisis coming?  Head on over to A Good Beer Blog, where Alan discusses the bad news of an impending Russian crop failure.
• Finally, Appellation Beer talks about the definition of a “nano brewery.”

See you Monday for the continuation of Division 4!

As we mentioned earlier, Division 3 play will kick off on Tuesday of next week.  In order to help out those of you playing along, we’ve gone ahead and put together a “shopping list” for the remainder of Round 1.  There are two PDF options available below:

• Round 1 Shopping List (Sorted by Division/Match)
• Round 1 Shopping List (Sorted by Division/Brewery)

And now, time for some articles from this past week:

• If you’re a fan of statistics like me, you’ll love the article over at the Brookston Beer Bulletin discussing the rise in mid-year craft beer numbers.  In short, the numbers point to more breweries, increased sales, and higher revenues – definitely a great thing if you love craft beer.
• The merger of Kona Brewing with the Craft Brewers Alliance was big news this last week, and somewhat relevant since we just reviewed our first Kona Brew.  To me, the merger seems like a win-win scenario.
• Jeff at Beervana goes into the Kona merger a bit further, with some great discussion of similar craft beer mergers in the past, as well as what the future may potentially hold.
• Mahalia Breen at The Hop Press reminds us of the work necessary to get a beer brewed, bottled and shipped to the store shelves, to which we should all be appreciative.

And with that, I’m off to the mall to take advantage of the sales tax-free weekend.  We’ll see you Monday for the conclusion of Division 2!