For today, I just want to point Restaurant Guru readers to a few interesting news articles that just might get your creative juices flowing.  These articles involve beer and food pairings; they’ve become really trendy lately, with craft beer shaking off an “unrefined” stigma.

A beverage director interviewed in the first article from Nation’s Restaurant News brings up an interesting point: “There’s a huge beer-blogging community that gives us press.”

Way to know where the dedicated fans are!  Craft beer has a huge following—a dedicated and outspoken following.  Blogs are a place where beer fans can exchange ideas and names of places that offer an especially good selection.  Improve your profile with beer fans by offering craft brews and aged beer, and it can even be rewarding to join in the Internet conversations.  (But be careful; Internet reputation can be a finicky thing, whether you participate or not.)

Here’s another NRN article about cooking with alcohol—a trend that never goes out of style.

Well, now I’m thirsty…