The Derailers, from left, Kevin Smith, Sweet Basil McJagger, Brian Hofeldt, and Scott Matthews, bring their Americana sound to Preston and New London.

Unrepentant beer drinkers, rejoice! Each week, Clean Plate Charlie will select one craft or import beer and give you the lowdown on it: How does it taste? What should you drink it with? Where can you find it? But mostly, it's all about the love of the brew.

Continuing my Philadelphia theme for Philly Beer Week , Thursday's ad is old one, from 1873.

Rob Leonard returns craft-brewing to the City of Elms When Rob Leonard graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a degree in communications in 1991, he set out to look for what he called a "real job." In the meantime, he started working part-time painting houses and then began bottling beer at the New Haven Brewing Co.

"Day turned into night during that song," surmised keyboardist Nancy Whang after the new lite beer anthem "Drunk Girls." Such was the power and charm of LCD Soundsystem's perfectly paced 90-plus-minute sold-out set at Stubb's on Tuesday.

Michigan's a long way from Louisiana, but the smell of 700 pounds of live crawfish boiling will still be found in Marshall Saturday.

GRAB yourself some ostrich biltong and a Castle beer if you want to go native and enjoy the World Cup in South African style.

I seem to have gotten myself into a bit of a German beer mindset after last week's review.

On June 5-6, the Sumac Centre hosted the "first ever Vegan Beer Festival". Vegans and vegetarians are wary of real ales as they often use isinglass , derived from the swim bladders of fish, to make it less cloudy.

If youa TMre bored with Fathera TMs Day celebrations awash in fishing and golf themes, youa TMre not the only one.

The festival has been hosted in Raleigh and Durham, NC, for the past 10 years. Sampling the goods at World Beer Fest.

Wine or beer goes better with ham? "It's clearly beer!" says Sam I Am Heading to New Zealand to Beervana this year is acclaimed US brewer Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head .

Just beyond the canned goods and produce aisles where he usually grabs his groceries, Jack Curtin recently grabbed a pub lunch.

I never got into the "beer can chicken" craze that was all the rage a few years ago.

Beer goes beyond 'yellow, fizzy stuff' P. KEVIN MORLEY/TIMES-DISPATCH Legend Lager, with fish and chips, tartar sauce, and cole slaw.

PEDIGREE: There is nothing wrong with trying a good, heavy stout from a craft brewer.

I've been pestering brewmaster Linus Hall for a month or so to get details of this season's Yazoo Summer Ale.

And the "winner" is quite a loser: Bud Light Chelada. If you have ever wondered how a Bud Light might taste with a bit of Clamato juice , and served in a can, Esquire will tell you: very very bad indeed.

Profile: This very special collaboration between pioneering homebrewers Charlie Papazian and Fred Eckhart and Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman is part of the Sierra 30th anniversary series.

American beer sales are falling. The culprits? Wine, cocktail culture, the lack of innovation among big U.S. breweries, and the growing American bourgeoisie.