The following information was supplied by: Real Beer Page Mail, The Monthly Brew News Digest For the Online Brew Enthusiast.

WEED BOTTLECAPS LEGALIZED

You probably read about the recent travails of Mt. Shasta Brewing Co., makers of Weed Ales. Their crowns - the bottle cap on their beers - reads "Try Legal Weed," which is funny because it’s brewed in the northern California town of Weed, which was named for an actual person: Abner Weed. Well, the federal TTB (Tax and Trade Bureau) wasn’t laughing and told the brewery they had to remove the language because it violated their vague standard prohibiting drug references.

CRAFT BEER STILL SHOWING DOUBLE DIGIT GROWTH

The Brewers Association just released the numbers for the first half of 2008 and worried brewers everywhere can breath a quiet sigh of relief. There has been the worry that as prices have risen, sales would be slowed as a result. But for the first half of 2008, craft beer surged ahead 11% in dollars over a year ago.

JIM KOCH HONORED BY HOMEBREWERS

Jim Koch, Founder of The Boston Beer Company (who makes the Samuel Adams line of beers), was recognized with an award for his outstanding service to the community of homebrewers at the opening session of the American Homebrewers Association’s (AHA) annual National Homebrewers Conference.

INBEV'S PLANS FOR BUDWEISER

Mere hours after the agreement for InBev to acquire Anhueser-Busch was announced, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a lengthy article detailing InBev’s plans for A-B. InBev will, of course, go forward with A-B’s own "Blue Ocean" plan to layoff workers with "planned buyouts of up to 1,300 salaried employees" and also the "'elimination of corporate overlapping functions’ which will likely lead to some job losses at A-B’s corporate headquarters in St. Louis." A-B employees have even set up their own website, Budwatch, to track the issues that will effect their employment, retirement and pension benefits.

DRISAMUEL ADAMS, BIGGEST AMERICAN BREWER

Once the takeover of Anheuser-Busch by InBev is completed, a curious thing will happen to the landscape of American brewing. It's certainly something I never expected to be writing in my lifetime, but it’s true. The Boston Beer Co., who brew the Samuel Adams line of beers, will be the biggest brewer in America.

SAN FRANCISCO'S 21ST AMENDMENT INTRODUCES NEW BEER CANS

21st Amendment Brewery & Restaurant in San Francisco, California introduces new cans with two new names for their beers: "Hell or High Watermelon" Watermelon Wheat Beer and "Brew Free! Or Die" IPA.

NATURE'S BREWERY

The science news outlets on the web were all abuzz with an odd discovery recently involving the symbiotic relationship between the Pentail Tree Shrew and the Bertram Palm, whose flower acts essentially as a natural brewery, creating a 3.8% abv concoction that’s closest to beer in strength and is fermented using wild yeast.