I really can't do a better intro than The Muppet Show, so let's get to what spurred said intro.

Media mega-festival South by Southwest completed its 10-day run this weekend in Austin, TX, and one relevant news item came from a panel where Budweiser said they plan "to research and produce a microgravity brew" with the intention of having and eventually brewing beer on Mars. The biggest challenge will be dealing with a carbonated beverage in an environment with little to no gravity, according to an article from Adweek. Normally, I might make a joke or two about Budweiser here. But this is really freakin' cool, so I'll give them a few days off.

From the awesomely cool to the disgustingly cool, Stone Brewing recently released a Pale Ale called Full Circle. Now, I try to minimize the number of beer releases I mention, because covering so many breweries' new releases could easily takeover my blog. But Full Circle is special, because it was brewed using water from wastewater purification specialists Pure Water San Diego, resulting in a beer where the water "comes from the toilet"! Grub Street has all the details, along with a few poopy puns.

In a recent press release, craft beer trade group The Brewers Association released 2016 lists of largest brewers and largest craft brewers in the country. The lists are based on sales volume, with Yuengling leading the craft beer list (though, does anyone consider Yuengling a craft brewery?) and A-B InBev, of course, leading the overall list.

In the "is craft beer dying?" post we are legally required to have in each news volume, it seriously feels like the craft beer industry as a whole is doing well, but the big boys are the ones taking a dive. The head of the Craft Brew Alliance (a group of well-known "craftish" breweries--Widmer, Redhook, etc.--which is partially owned by A-B InBev) commented that, “It’s messy out there," presumably referring to the beer drinking scene. This came on a conference call following disappointing financial news from 2016. Brewbound has the call details, while their sister publication BevNET explores the recent financial struggles of larger and older craft breweries like Boston Beer Company and Sierra Nevada.

Finally, Amazon's push to takeover the world's shopping habits has now entered the worlds of wine and beer, as Amazon Prime customers in Cincinnati and Columbus, OH can now add wine and beer as part of their one- and two-hour delivery services.