Nathan Berrong works at CNN's satellite desk and writes Eatocracy's beer column, "Berrong on Beer." He Tweets at @nathanberrong and logs beers at Untappd.

Father’s Day is just a few days away and if you’re anything like me, you’ve waited until the last minute to get that special gift. Buying gifts for the loved ones in my life is usually a challenge for me. I try to pick out gifts that are unique and surprising, but also something fitting they’ll enjoy.

I’m not very good at doing this on my own so I typically rely on gift guides to assist me and Google things like “the best gifts for antique lovers” – my go-to when shopping for my antique-collecting wife.

So, in honor of Father’s Day, I created my own gift guide for the parents out there who, like me, enjoy good beer (but unlike me, have kids).
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Nathan Berrong works at CNN's satellite desk and writes Eatocracy's beer column, "Berrong on Beer." He Tweets at @nathanberrong and logs beers at Untappd.

The beer world has been up in arms this week as word spread that established brewery, Magic Hat, was filing a lawsuit against newly formed West Sixth Brewery, out of Lexington, Kentucky. Both breweries have weighed in and countless others have opined online.

The storyline sounds like a typical one: big corporation bullies the mom-and-pop little guys in order to get their way. But, when you look at both sides, it’s not so black and white.

Here’s the Cliff's Notes version of the story. Magic Hat out of Burlington, Vermont, has been a brewery since 1994 and makes a beer, their flagship, called #9. West Sixth has been brewing beer for about a year in Lexington, Kentucky. The brewery and beer names have little in common but, you don’t have to be a graphic designer to realize the labels are similar.
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Nathan Berrong works at CNN's satellite desk and writes Eatocracy's beer column, "Berrong on Beer." He Tweets at @nathanberrong and logs beers at Untappd.

American Craft Beer Week has come to a close but it’s not the only beer holiday on tap. May has been deemed Session Beer Month, a month-long beer celebration of...restraint.

American brewers have trended toward the extremes in recent memory. Session Beer Month seeks to change that and remind imbibers that beer can be low in alcohol and still maintain the desired complex flavors and aroma of craft beer.
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Nathan Berrong works at CNN's satellite desk and writes Eatocracy's beer column, "Berrong on Beer." He Tweets at @nathanberrong and logs beers at Untappd.

American Craft Beer Week kicks off today, a seven-day event celebrating the awesomeness of craft beer. If there’s ever a week of the year to slow down, take a breather, enjoy yourself with some good company and support something that is truly American, it’s ACBW.

The beer holiday, in its eighth year, should prove to be the biggest yet, with hundreds of events taking place all over the country. The celebration has become so prominent that the U.S. Congress has even passed two resolutions supporting the ideals of ACBW. And although this week is a big deal to beer nerds, the vast majority of people are mostly unaware of it. Here’s to changing that.
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Nathan Berrong works at CNN's satellite desk and writes Eatocracy's beer column, "Berrong on Beer." He Tweets at @nathanberrong and logs beers at Untappd.

Forget the tuba and accordion. Put away the lederhosen, and keep the beer steins on the shelf. The vast majority of today's beer festivals have little in common with the traditional Oktoberfest celebration.
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Ray Isle (@islewine on Twitter) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray.

Sometimes, when it comes to beer, the question is not "how?" but "why?" Take, for instance, Sankt Gallen Brewery in the Kanagawa region of Japan. In the past they’ve been modestly known for flavored beers: sweet orange ale, pineapple ale, orange chocolate stout. As of this week, though, they are abruptly widely known (at least among beer news followers) for their Un, Kono Kuro, a coffee stout made with coffee beans that have passed through the digestive tract of an elephant.

Now, right about here is where I run into all sorts of problems. Let’s just bypass the question of whether this beer tastes good or not. The real question is this: Why on earth would you ever want to eat or drink anything that was excreted by an elephant?
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Nathan Berrong works at CNN's satellite desk and writes Eatocracy's beer column, "Berrong on Beer." He Tweets at @nathanberrong and logs beers at Untappd.

I’m always looking for better beer. I’m not content with run of the mill breweries and with the continued growth of craft beer and new breweries popping up daily, there’s really no excuse for drinking bad beer. But getting the beer from source (brewery) to destination (mouth) isn’t as straightforward as one might think.

Luckily, designers and brewmasters are working together to improve vessel technology. Here are three design innovations to optimize the beer drinking experience.
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Nathan Berrong works at CNN's satellite desk and writes Eatocracy's beer column, "Berrong on Beer." He Tweets at @nathanberrong and logs beers at Untappd.

Today is Good Friday, a day on the Christian calendar that calls to remembrance the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. For Christians, this is a day of sorrow that is often marked with fasting and contemplation in order to bring a constant awareness of Jesus’ death. It marks the last days of the Lenten season - a time in the life of liturgical Christians who deny themselves of something for roughly 40 days as a penitence to Christ.

On Sunday, Christians all over the world will join together in praise marking the resurrection of Jesus and the beginning of the Easter Season, a 50-day celebration filled with feasting, or as my pastor puts it, "eating good food and drinking good wine and beer."

That got me thinking about the Easter season in a totally different way. Although my faith is routinely being challenged and reworked, there are definitely things in the Bible I can fully commit to and support. Love God? Love your neighbor as yourself? Love your enemies? Turn the other cheek? Thou shalt not kill? Eat good food and drink good beer and wine as a way to celebrate the goodness of God? I’m totally on board!
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Legendary heavy metal band Iron Maiden finally has its own beer.

The famed London-based band, which has been around for nearly 40 years, is collaborating with a venerable British brewery to produce its own beer, named Trooper after one of Iron Maiden's classic songs.

Iron Maiden and Robinsons, a 175-year-old family-owned U.K. brewery, plan to release Trooper in May.
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Nathan Berrong works at CNN's satellite desk and writes Eatocracy's beer column, "Berrong on Beer." He Tweets at @nathanberrong and logs beers at Untappd.

Last week, a class action lawsuit was filed against Anheuser-Busch InBev, claiming that several of the company’s beers had been watered down with the intention of lowering the alcohol level. If the allegations are true, the alcohol percentages advertised on the labels are incorrect, which is a violation of state and federal laws.

CNN affiliate KSDK and other media outlets conducted their own tests on several of the beers in question and found the ABV to match what is listed on the label. This would seem to make the lawsuit bogus, but the plaintiff's attorney, Josh Boxer, stands by the suit and will continue to defend his clients’ allegations.
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