It has been a wee while between drinks as they say, so we've got a super special lineup coming your way this weekend.

As a professional beer writer, I have visited a lot of breweries around the world (New Zealand, Australia, China, United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic) but few, if any, made a greater impression than Lagunitas Brewery in California, USA. I was there for literally two hours literally ten years ago, but I loved the place then and I still love their beers now.

Malthouse is celebrating 25 years in business with a yearlong series of monthly beer launches and tap takeovers from some of New Zealand’s finest breweries. This mammoth saga has been dubbed “Project Silver” after the metal traditionally associated with said anniversary. It has been described variously as “awesome”, “incredible” and “a little bit nuts, to be honest”.

Just as it has every single year since the invention of the Gregorian Calendar (1582 – Patent Still Pending), April is upon us again. This month has already brought people millions of chocolate eggs and/or chocolate bunnies, erratic coverage of the Commonwealth Games and footage of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull caught live on camera butchering the famous but over rated Ozzie glam rock anthem “The Voice”.

I only follow cricket occasionally – but that occasion happens to be “pretty much whenever it is on.” Like millions around the globe I have been reading more and more details about “sandpaper-gate”, and the subsequent bans for two world-class cricketers, and Colin Bancroft.

The title of this blog is an iconic quote from one of my role models – Homer Jay Simpson. He has been (among his at least 188 jobs according to the creator) an astronaut, food critic and, in one memorable episode, the Beer Baron of Springfield.