Due to travel, I’ll miss the premiere of BEER WARS, a documentary about the American beer industry that will launch this week on April 16. Film maker Anat Baron isn’t a beer drinker but is an alum of the Cornell Hotel program, and a seasoned industry insider -  she spent a few years in the trenches of the malternatives, with Mike’s Hard Lemonade – and saw a great story in the rise of craft beer.

Closer to home, Slow Food Wisconsin is sponsoring the Milwaukee premiere of Mad City Chickens,  a documentary about people who keep urban coops – yes, the chickens are coming to roost on April 22, 7:30 PM at Lakefront Brewery. And as a bonus, entry to this premiere is free, so you can splurge on pints of fresh beer!

Spring in Virginia – the mountains are hazed with blue fog in the morning as snow melt fills the creeks and rivers. It’s the perfect time to get out and hike along the Rockfish or drive through the little villages that dot both Nelson and Albemarle counties. Now, a new collaboration between the two counties’ offices of tourism, spurred by the spurt in craft brewing and distilling, makes pub crawls easy along the Brew Ridge Trail.   Last week I visited the new Devil’s Backbone Brewing Co., for a tasting organized by executive chef Shawn Goodwin and brewer Jason Oliver, with a little help from my friend (thanks, Russ!) – Russell Otis of Wintergreen.  What a fantastic dinner we enjoyed – I had the pollo borracho enchilada, which was perfect with the smoked chile red sauce and a sampling of Oliver’s amazing ales and lagers. One of my favorites was the Vienna lager – which many people dismiss as a middle-of-the-road brew. In Oliver’s interpretation, the balanced flavors of malt and hops became perfectly smooth and quaffable. The dry Irish stout was another terrific seasonal, creamy on nitro with just the right level of astringency. It’s rare to find such drinkability in brewpub brews, especially those pub operations that are less than one year old. Look for an interview with Jason and others involved in the tourism launch on beercook.com later this month.