There are still tickets left for the 15th Annual Mountain Brewers’ Beer Fest at the Sandy Downs Racetrack this Saturday.

Yes, I know Idaho Falls is a long haul from Boise (280 miles — about four hours or so, depending how you drive).

But if you can swing it, it’s a chance to sample the beers of over 80 brewers from all over the U.S. for $20 ($25 at the gate). There is none of that ticket nonsense going on here, either. For $20, you get unlimited 3 ounce samples of whatever you want to try.

Check out this story out of Bridgeport, Pa. about a game of beer pong which ended in murder Friday night.

News reports out of Philadelphia say the fight appears to have occurred over some kind of rules violation.

Here’s a quick version of what happened, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer and the Associated Press. Check out the links for more details.

Get ready to gas up the car and book a motel room in the Idaho Falls area for June 6th — the date for this year’s 15th Annual Mountain Brewers’ Beer Fest at the Sandy Downs racetrack.

The Mountain Brewers’ Beer Fest is Idaho’s biggest and best beer festival of the year, as over 80 brewers from all over the US (with the mountain states and pacific northwest having the strongest representation) will bring their best beers to Idaho Falls.

Craft beer enthusiasts who want to get a good education on what our favorite brewers have to do to keep the big brewers at bay and stock their craft beers on the shelves of our local stores should check out the one-night-only showing of ”Beer Wars” tonight at Edwards 21.

”Beer Wars” is a documentary film playing for one night on movie screens across the country today — Thursday, April 16.

Here in the Treasure Valley, we get one showing, at 6 p.m. at Edwards 21 Cinemas in Boise. Tickets are $15 each and can be preordered at www.fathomevents.com.

Eagle-eyed imbibers enjoying a fresh bottle of Deschutes’ superb Hop Henge Experimental IPA this past weekend might have noticed a little note on the side saying “Batch 3.”

That’s because — not surprisingly — the current bottling run is the third and final version of the sublimely delicious Hop Henge to be brewed this spring.

Each run has been slightly different as the good folks at Deschutes have tried to achieve a goal of 95 IBUs per bottle. That, of course, is the acronym for International Bittering Units. Each batch of the Hop Henge has featured more and more IBUS, with Batch 3 topping out at 91.

It appears as if the marriage of the Zappa Family Trust and the Lagunitas Brewing Co. is defunct.

The Ruben and the Jets Imperial Stout released by Lagunitas in December is the last of the Zappa themed beers to come out after Frank’s widow Gail decided she didn’t want the program to continue.

“It was just that the Zappa Trust pulled the plug on us,” said Don Chartier, a Lagunitas employee who answered the phone at the Pteluma-based brewery last week. “We had more beers lined up. We would have loved to keep it going. Gail just said no.”

Anyone who wants to buy some fresh beer from Pete Ricks’ Beer Valley Brewing is in luck.

The Ontario-based brewery is now open for limited hours on weekends so they can sell 64 ounce growlers of fresh Owyhee Amber Ale, Pigskin Pale Ale, Leafer Madness Imperial Pale Ale, and Black Flag Imperial Stout. The brewery will also be selling cases of 22-ounce bottles of the aforementioned beers directly to thirsty consumers.

Ricks is also giving tours of the brewery but his Oregon brewing license does not allow for any free tasting, which, of course, is the best part of any brewery tour. So that’s a bummer.

This means the residents of 19 states drink less beer every year than we do here in the Spud State, according to the Beer Institute, which is a national lobbying group for — you guessed it — the beer industry.

I discovered the state-by-state drinking list when doing some research for my beer column last week for Scene and thought I would pass it on to the readers of the Beer Nut, especially since it has been weeks since my last posting. (My regular job as police reporter has been ultra busy — don’t criminals in town know I need time to write my beer blog?)

Not surprisingly, Utahns drink the least amount of beer in the U.S. — an average of about 21.1 gallons of beer a year.

We Idahoans drink about 30.7 gallons of beer a year, placing us in the lower half of imbibers in the U.S.

With all the dire economic news and gloom and doom percolating around, the staff at the Ram has decided to do local craft beer enthusiasts a solid and continue their “Recession Buster” series on Saturday.

How does $10 for several pints of the Ram’s award winning St. Mick’s Dry Stout, Dubbel Barrel Belgian Ale, and Lachsa Lager sound? With some snacks to go with? Fresh, homegrown beer and food for the price of a sixer sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

The event begins at 5 p.m. at the Stonehouse — the building attached to the main Ram Brewpub, located at 709 E. Park Boulevard (just off Broadway Avenue). It will go until 8 p.m. or until the guys run out of beer.

It’s taken about 30 years or so, but American craft brewing legends Sierra Nevada have finally settled on a recipe to create their first year-round IPA.

It was time well spent. The new Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA kicks ass.

Of course, that is what I would expect from brewing legend Ken Grossman’s iconic Sierra Nevada brand. But it is always nice when it works out that way.