Welcome to the Beer Festival, your online source for beer tasting events from around the world! Ludwig, the beer-drinking lion, and his staff, Maryanne Nasiatka and Paul Ruschmann, are glad you're here and hope you return often.

Friday marks the official start of summer, and you can celebrate the season at one of the 37 festivals on the calendar for the coming weekend. Ludwig's top picks are the Colorado Brewers' Festival in Fort Collins; The Festival in Portland, Maine; and The Great Eldorado BBQ, Brews, and Blues Festival in Reno, Nevada.

We also have Beer Weeks aplenty. Ontario Beer Week, celebrated throughout the province, traditionally starts on Father's Day and closes on June 22. Lansing (Michigan) Beer Week and Ohio Beer Week both open on Friday, and Knoxville Craft Beer Week and New Hampshire Craft Beer Week both get underway Saturday. All of them wrap up on June 29.

Last year we had our largest-ever festival total, 1,322, and we hope our 13th year is the most successful ever.

Thirteen years? It's hard to believe, but our first calendar had fewer than one-quarter of last year's calendar. And, as in past years, we're always looking for festivals. Please yet us know about worthy beer events in your corner of the world.

In addition to the festival calendar, this site has a wealth of information about your--and our--favorite beverage, including:

* The "Beer Traveller Series," a collection of more than 60 articles about beer-drinking destinations. We just added several articles to the collection, including our pieces about Pennsylvania, great beer bars, San Francisco, and "old school beer and baseball tour," and our farewell column at *All About Beer*.

* "Good Beer Books," Paul's reviews of books that belong on your reference shelf. He just added reviews of Douglas Wissing's "Indiana, One Pint at a Time" and Pete Brown's "Three Sheets to the Wind." Hope you enjoy them.

* And "Worts of Wisdom," observations about beer from now and the past.

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What's that, Ludwig?

Our beer-drinking lion asks, "What, you haven't visited his blog, Ludwig Roars? It offers a light-hearted look at beer-related news, places, and events from around the world. He also says that the writing is--pun definitely intended--rip-*roaring* good.

Finally, a shameless plug for ourselves:

If you're in, or near, Michigan, please consider buying our book, Michigan Breweries. It's a comprehensive guidebook that we keep updated at one of our sister sites. Find out why Michigan is The Great Beer State. It makes a great present for the beer lover in your life!

Thanks for stopping by, and come back often!

Cheers!

Maryanne, Paul, and Ludwig