– In cool local barbecue and beer news, Birdsong Brewing is brewing a small batch beer with the help of Queen City Q

Our small batch release for this #ThurstyThursday is a Smoked IPA using malt smoked in smoker at @theQclt #cltbeer

— Birdsong Brewing (@BirdsongBrewing) May 19, 2015

– Congrats to Mac’s Speed Shop as they took 5th in whole hog at last weekend’s Memphis in May

– Charlotte food writer Kathleen Purvis breaks down 5 new barbecue books from 12 Bones, Franklin Barbecue, and more

– Charlotte Five points out what you can eat at The Improper Pig for under $20 (tip not included)

– Chef Ben Adams of Durham’s Piedmont is leaving that restaurant to open a barbecue restaurant in North Durham with Wyatt Dickson, whom he met back in college at UNC

– Meanwhile, The AP Stylebook gets things horribly, horribly wrong: barbecue is a noun not a verb

AP Style tip: barbecue is cooking foods over flame or hot coals. Noun refers to both meat cooked and fire pit. Not barbeque, Bar-B-Q or BBQ.

— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) May 15, 2015

– This opinion article from blues singer Pam Saulsby contains some updates on Ed Mitchell’s next venture

A reliable source tells me that while Mr. Mitchell’s Que Restaurant and Blues Experience is no longer in business at The American Tobacco Campus in Durham, there are plans to re-open in a larger location. In fact, Mitchell has his eye on two locations: one between Chapel Hill and Durham and another on the outskirts of Raleigh.

– Robert Moss has a list of the top 5 southern barbecue sides, broken down by region, in his latest column

– Catching up with prior posts from Moss, one on Aaron Franklin winning a James Beard award and another on shoulder clod, “Texas’s forgotten bbq star”

– If you’re smoking barbecue at home (and you should), here’s some great info on what wood to use for what meat

– The Men In Blazers met up with GFOP’s (great friends of the pod) at Joe’s Kansas City last week

Linen, #MiniCountryMan, and BBQ 👌 #IWasThere #MIBRoadTrip pic.twitter.com/LByaffMFRr

— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) May 12, 2015

#IWasThere #MIBRoadTrip @joeskc pic.twitter.com/IdpX9gKtmA

— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) May 12, 2015