For many of us with standard 9-5 jobs, a long weekend is coming up. Naturally, our minds turn to libations (take a look to the left for some insight into our personal plans).

Anyway, there's always plenty of booze news around these parts; here's a roundup of some of the ones we found to be interesting:

♦ Local faux-speakeasy watering hole Bourbon & Branch is now open Mondays. Don't forget your secret decoder ring.

♦ Wine and spirits conglomerate Brown-Forman's chief winery officer is stepping down. Steve Dorfman worked for the company for 25 years; he started at the tender age of 21 at local co. Fetzer, one of Brown-Forman's properties. 25 years with one company is impressive, but we imagine working in wine is a real labor of love (or are we over-romanticizing?).

♦ Local company Wine.com made Internet Retailer Magazine's Top 500 List. It was No. 199 overall, No. 13 in the food/drug category, and No. 1 amongst online wine stores. Hey, everything's better on the net, right?

♦Next week, (May 30) catch Doug Margerum of Margerum Wine Company (a Central Calif. winery -- think "Sideways") at Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant. Try some wine.

♦ And, folks, most importantly -- don't drive after drinking, especially this weekend. An exceptional amount of people will be on the road, the po-po are being especially vigilant, and when you mix in the high amount of drinking associated with the long weekend, it is surely better to be careful.

Image from Maker's Mark's homepage