I'm pretty sure there is a holiday honoring some sort of food product every single day, with overlapping weeks and months to celebrate others. They reach a saturation point at which I tune them all out. But American Craft Beer Week, which began yesterday and runs through Sunday, is an exception, naturally.
There are too many items for me to track down, but Brian Brown at the Plano Craft Beer Examiner has done an admirable job compiling the most comprehensive list I've seen.
A few I'd recommend:
Tuesday, Peticolas Brewing Co. (Michael himself, one presumes, as it's a one-man operation) will be at the Addison Flying Saucer.
Deviant Dale's, a really nice amped-up double IPA version of Dale's Pale Ale, will be featured at the Fort Worth Saucer.
The Pub in McKinney is tapping Dogfish Head 120 Minute, though I can't find the tapping time anywhere (no answer when I called) and it will probably sell out in the time it takes you to read this sentence.
The Holy Grail Pub is tapping (512) Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan
Porter, which combines four things I love (whiskey, barrel-aging,
double-anything and porter) with one I hate (pecans). Sounds like a
great beer, as I love the original Pecan Porter despite hating pecans
with such passion that I sometimes tell people I'm allergic just to make
sure they keep their nuts off my plate.
And The Common Table's Brewsday
Tuesday features North Coast Brewing Company Acme IPA, a keg of
Brooklyn Brewery Blast! and He'brew Beer Rejewvenator.
Wednesday, the Lake Saucer features North Coast's Acme and Scrimshaw with food pairings. You can meet Alaskan Brewing Company brewer Curtis Holmes at 8 p.m. at Union Bear, or try Sierra Nevada's Life and Limb 2 at 5 p.m. at the Meddlesome Moth.
Thursday, the Moth taps Avery Brewing Co. The Beast Grand Cru, Flying Saucer on the Lake serves up a Dogfish Head dinner and The Pub in McKinney taps Dogfish's Red and White.
Blackfriar Pub will have a lateral tasting of Real Ale Empire and Great Divide 18th Anniversary at 6 p.m.
Friday, you can try the unfiltered version of Rahr Bucking Bock at the Bottle Shop while World of Beer in Arlington taps Rahr Summertime Wheat with an addition of strawberry and hibiscus. Plano's Fillmore Pub offers Great Divide 18th Anniversary Wood Aged DIPA and Dogfish's Black and Blue.
Black and Blue will be featured again at the Moth Saturday, while the Lake Saucer has "leftover madness."
And Sunday may have other things going on, but the only one I can recommend is BrewRiot, which Lauren Drewes Daniels already has pretty well wrapped up. My homebrewing friend and I entered as Loop 12 Brewing Co-Op, though I didn't have much to do with the one or two brews we'll have for sampling. I would add that I found it a bit perplexing that nonprofessional homebrewers are asked to pay an entry fee as well as give away kegs of beer when the only prizes on the line are commemorative posters or mugs. But I haven't been able to attend the previous two, so I don't know, there may be a good reason for that. We'll just have to make sure we get our $20 entry fee's worth in samples from our fellow brewers, pro and home alike.
There are plenty of other great events, so be sure to drink something crafty this week.
Update, Wednesday 10:50 a.m.: A BrewRiot organizer emailed to clarify that along with the typical fest expenses such as insurance, TABC and police, the brewers' entry fees go toward table rentals and also include six wristbands per team -- not a bad compensation after all.
Also, Blackfriar Pub has a pretty cool event Thursday, which I have added above.
