The Brewers Association recently sent out a press release with numbers detailing craft beer sales in the first half of 2011, and in this column you know there’s nothing I love more than a little industry navel-gazing.

Two Thursdays ago was a first in the beer world, as far as I know. It was a “holiday” created by some beer bloggers: International IPA Day (a.k.a. #IPADay on Twitter). Maybe it was just a silly Twitter gimmick, or maybe it was the very real beginning of a new annual celebration of craft beer.

Once in a while I read an article that gets my mental gears turning so much I just have to write about it. That was the case this week when someone directed my attention to the BrewDog blog and their post on craft beer vs. real ale. It offers both an opportunity for me to touch on the topic of cask-conditioned ale and the topic of craft beer more generally.

Last week I offered up a selection of mostly new beers I’d recommend you try. As exciting as those new beers are, there are some great American craft beers that remain popular after twenty or thirty years on the market, and that kind of staying power deserves some respect.

One thing I hope to do on a regular basis with this column is keep readers supplied with ideas for beers to try. That may include beers from new breweries, new beers from existing breweries, beers from breweries with new distribution in Birmingham, or just random beers I like and want to mention here.

Lately I’ve really gotten sucked into the greatest new thing on the internet. No, not Google+, which is a great step forward but not radically different from Facebook. The new thing that’s caught my eye (and ear) is Turntable.fm.

People are gullible. We hear a story that sounds slightly plausible, we have no prior knowledge to refute it, and we unquestioningly accept it as true. Well, I don’t, of course. But other people do.

It’s that time of year again. The season of hellfire sometimes known as “summer in Alabama.” I detest the heat and am always looking for ways to stay cool. Not surprisingly, beer is a key part of my keeping-cool methodology.

I remember the smart asses so well. “Why’s it called ‘Free the Hops’ when you guys are trying to raise the alcohol limit, huh? Shouldn’t it be called Free the Malt?”

A few months after the alcohol limit on beer was raised in Alabama, products from the importer B. United International began showing up at retailers here in Birmingham. It was an exciting development for beer lovers like me, as they have one of the largest and most impressive beers lists of any importer in the United States.