Beer Love

Here in Tucson, February is a month of love, (alarmingly) warm weather and, most importantly, beer. Feb. 11 to the 21, brewers, restaurants, bars and locals across the Old Pueblo will celebrate Arizona Beer Week.

Beer Week definitely won't be boring—Tucson favorites including Tap & Bottle, Borderlands Brewing Company, Tucson Hop Shop and more will host tasting events, releases and even a beer crawl. Be sure to check out these 10 Beer Week events you won't want to miss. Go to www.arizonabeerweek.com for more details on all events.

Tap and Bottle (403 N. 6th Ave. #135) will host a beer week opener—a tap takeover by Historic Brewing Company and Arizona Wilderness on Thursday, Feb. 11. The two breweries will serve their own specialty lineup, brew collaborations with Tap and Bottle and AZ lady brew taps. To say the least, it will be an epic night full of laughs and shenanigans. The event starts at 5 p.m.

Continue Beer Week on the "rye"t foot. Ermanos Beer and Wine (220 N. 4th Ave.) will celebrate with the release of a new brew—Rye Porter. The beer has deep chocolate and coffee flavors that "hold like an iron fist wrapped inside a velvet glove of smooth creaminess." Wow. If straight-up beer isn't your shtick, though, Ermanos will also serve a 10-month-aged Flanders Red from Carlson Creek Vineyards and a beer-wine hybrid from Flying Leap Vineyards and Distillery. You can get a taste beginning 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12.

Hotel Congress, Ermanos, Thunder Canyon Brewery, Playground, Reilly, Pueblo Vida, Borderlands and a mysterious, unidentified downtown beer garden will all host local craft brewers' hoppy creations on Saturday, Feb. 20 for the second annual Tucson Craft Beer Crawl. Laura Adams Reese, Beer Crawl's PR rep, said the crawl "has a strong sense of place and downtown pride" that anyone can dig. Crawl starts at 1 p.m. Grab your tickets now at www.TucsonCraftBeerCrawl.com. Bonus: online ticket purchases are discounted.

On Wednesday, Feb. 17, Tucson Hop Shop (3230 N. Dodge Blvd.) will share the best Arizona brews from OHSO, Wrenhouse, Huss, Old Bisbee, Beast, Prescott, Historic, That Brewery, Fat, Cartel and Perch through their Native Arizona Brews event. Hop Shop promises they will "have something on tap that you've never tried before, or that tickles your tastebuds," according to its website. See www.tucsonhopshop.com/events for more information.

Hops & Heels invites "ladies who love their craft beer" to Union Public House (4340 N. Campbell Ave.) on Friday, Feb. 19 for a diverse selection of local craft beers to taste. The event will also host a beer class, live musicians, food pairings, vendors and more beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Reilly Craft Pizza (101 E. Pennington St.) opens its beer garden on Friday, Feb. 19 for a brew-off of the ages—the second annual Iron Brewer. Six local breweries including Ten Fifty-Five, Dragoon, Borderlands, Pueblo Vida, Barrio and Public will go head-to-head to see whose brews get the most votes from competition attendees. It all adds up to a good time: six beers plus six brewers equals one (un)memorable Uber ride home.

Pueblo Vida, Ten Fifty-Five Brewing and Dragoon teamed up to create a new brew collaboration—ENCORE. They'll debut their triple IPA at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 11 at Pueblo Vida Brewing Company (115 E. Broadway Blvd.), and they're promising it's going to be a real party fueled by live local musicians. Dancing is encouraged, but not required.

We've all had skunky beer—yikes. But what makes it nasty? What does DMS even mean? Pueblo Vida Brewing Company (115 E. Broadway Blvd.) will answer these questions at their "Off Flavor Class" on Monday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. They'll also force you to drink aforementioned gross beers, but they'll make up for it with one of their great-tasting taps to "cleanse your palate."

Emcee (and former Tucson Weekly editor) Dan Gibson tests beer academics' true knowledge on Saturday, Feb. 16 with their Spelling Bee[r] event at Tap and Bottle (403 N. 6th Ave. #135). Winners get prizes, losers get schooled. Sign up starts at 6:30 p.m. and the spelling starts at 7 p.m. Bee there or bee square.

Borderlands Brewing Company (119 E. Toole Ave.) will host a special release party for their tap collaboration with Mother Bunch on Thursday, Feb. 18. The brew, Saison, was made to "celebrate women in brewing." Borderlands will be the only place tapping the specialty beer at Beer Week. The one-time-only event starts at 6 p.m.