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Your Best Bets at Chicago Craft Beer Week

We have it on good authority that your beer-drinking quota is way down this month. The culprit: a lack of citywide celebrations of artisan brewers. Well, starting today—when Chicago Craft Beer Week kicks off—that particular drought ends. Herewith, the celebration’s five key events.

THURSDAY

Like Dessert, with More Beer

What you’ll drink: Gentlemen’s Club (an Old Fashioned–inspired beer); Vanilla Barrel Aged Brrrbon ’13 (a bourbon-inspired beer); Raspberry Russian Imperial Stout ’13 (a, um, Russian-inspired beer), all from Portland’s Widmer Brothers.
What you’ll eat: Crème brûlée, carrot cake, flourless chocolate cake—each paired with one of the beers.
What you’ll do: Mixing and matching.

THURSDAY

Drink Lots of Beer, Win a Bike

What you’ll drink: Snifters of New Belgium Gruit, flavored with herbs like wormwood and yarrow.
What you’ll eat: Gruit-infused beer-can pulled-chicken sliders.
What you’ll do: Buy a lot of beer. Each beer you buy gets you a raffle ticket for a bike. Just don’t ride it home.

FRIDAY

A Very Well-Timed Hangover Brunch

What you’ll drink: Birdsong saison, a hair-of-the-dog beer from Temperance Beer Co., Evanston’s first craft brewery.
What you’ll eat: Pretzel-bread-pudding french toast and hash brown poutine.
What you’ll do: Wonder how you’re going to survive another nine days of Beer Week.

SATURDAY

Donut Beer. Repeat: Donut Beer.

What you’ll drink: An imperial stout brewed with donuts from Evil Twin.
What you’ll eat: Yes, it’s hard to know what goes with donut beer. But when in doubt, always go with the menu item called “massively thick-cut bacon.”
What you’ll do: A pretty good Homer Simpson impression.

SUNDAY

Sideshow Freaks and Lagunitas

What you’ll drink: Lagunitas; this event is held at their new Pilsen brewery.
What you’ll eat: Pizza, tamales, donuts... you’ll probably find some peanuts, which go so well with beer and the circus.
What you’ll do: Gawp at sword swallowers and burlesque performers; discover how well circus rides and beer mix.