Two local techies, Chris Castillo and Joe Valvo, owners of the new Laughing Buddha brewery, follow the market price of hops with rapt attention. Five bucks a pound six months ago, a spike at $50, now settling down at a relatively affordable $20. Galena and Northern Brewer they buy for the bitterness in the brown ale, a Czech variety for the lager. So far, they've been getting what they need from other breweries. The grain......

#1 on our list of events for the weekend is the Elysian Pumpkin Beer Festival this Saturday up at the Capitol Hill location. There will be 13 different pumpkin beers on tap, including the GABF silver-medal-winning The Great Pumpkin Ale. Festivities begin at noon with the tapping of the Great Pumpkin at 4pm; a huge pumpkin in which a batch of Night Owl carried out its secondary fermentation. Yum. Beers From Elysian: Night Owl Pumpkin......

Dogfish Head (DFH) has been a rock for the craft brewing industry for years. Never afraid to go out on a limb and try something different, DFH offers a variety of adventurous beers. Sam Calagione, founder and president, is the master and brains behind many of their beers. Although located in Delaware, we can get most of their beers at bars and bottle shops around the NW. Below is a sampling of DFH beers available......

What would most modern-day companies do if they found out that a competitor had a product with the same name as their own? Most companies would sue the hell out of each other. Two breweries, Avery of Colorado and Russian River of California, have each distributed a Beligan style strong ale with the name Salvation for a few years. Should this be a problem? Should one of the breweries relinquish the naming rights? Um,......