Occasionally punctual, sometimes factual, almost never as funny as he thinks,Tony Budny pens SCREAMING INTO THE VOID and looks at the best in writing and social media conversation around the biggest issues in beer. If you feel something should be included, have a tip, or just want to sound off, feel free to look him up on Twitter @DrinksTheThings or email DCBeer.

Welcome back to the Void. There hasn’t been one of these since May, if you can believe it. I took a summer break to regroup and retool, but I’ve been staying with the latest in beer news. We’ve got a lot of good tweets!

Wait no where are you going I promise this is going to be good.

OK maybe good isn’t quite the right word. Seriously, everyone wonders why people don’t come to ballparks anymore and then you see things like this. Maybe try making the experience something that’s affordable and then you’ll see people show up again. When I can get a 6 pack of beer for half the price that one beer costs, that’s a problem.

Anybody want to go to Bhutan? I do. They measure gross national happiness and, apparently, a fledgling craft brewing environment.

Sponsorship

Mike Van Hall talks with DC Beer about his amazing label designs. I can’t get enough of this stuff, really.

The can design for the 2018 Solidarity Beer for DC Beer Week is out and it looks sharp.

The Black Squirrel is closing and going in a new direction under new ownership. The bar closing is bad but the new ownership is maybe a good thing.

If you want to be mad about something beer-related, here’s a ranking of 324 IPAs. Your fav probably got hosed, it’s true.

Apparently people just aren't that into beer right now. You could’ve fooled me, but hey, what do I know, I just drink. Maybe reaching into a new market will help? Or maybe it will just complicate things further?

Is there something known as a craft beer community? I would argue there are many communities, not one. So when Beavertown entered into a partnership, they did not actually renege on any sort of unwritten agreement with said community, despite what some breweries with a vested interest in keeping that narrative alive may have you think. But the spirit of independence still permeates through craft beer purveyors.

Finally, while we’re talking about communities, let’s talk about kids in breweries!

This now concludes our weekly series, Should Kids Be Allowed in Breweries?

Thanks for reading. I hope to be back again sooner than I was this time.