Got Beer? Spring Beahs A’Bloomin’: And the pros keep a’brewin’

The clocks spring ahead on March 10, and in this edition of “Got Beer?,” we’re springing ahead to guide you to some of the season’s notable gatherings, plus some more immediate pleasures.

The 8th Annual Newport Craft Beer Festival presents its VIB (Very Important Beer) session on April 26 from 8 – 10pm at Newport Craft Brewing Co. and the big bash under the big top on the 27th at the Great Friends Meeting House from noon – 3pm and 4 – 7pm. The NCBF is highlighting sour beers, but every other style will be pouring, natch. Get tix at newportcraftbeer.com – and get ’em soon, ’cuz beer fest tickets tend to go fast these days.

The Greenwich Odeum (59 Main St, East Greenwich) is throwing a fundraiser for itself on May 11 at 4pm. Little Rhody: Local Bands, Local Brews boasts four tribute bands (Allmans, Monkees, Doors, Neil Young) and an original headliner (Chapell), and a baker’s half-dozen of local breweries: Apponaug, Foolproof, LineSider, Proclamation, Revival and Wailers (and the Guild-affiliated Wash Ashore). Admission includes eight beer sample tickets; get more details at greenwichodeum.com.

The 3rd Annual Bacon & Beer Fest, brought to you by the folks from Beervana Fest and RI Food Fights, will take place at a soon-to-be-announced location on a TBA day in June (The Steel Yard, which hosted the first two events, is being renovated). Follow the organizers’ socials for the TBA reveals.

And as we noted a couple’a columns ago, Narragansett Beer’s BuyRITour is underway, and will run through spring, summer and fall, with events in each of the state’s 39 cities and towns, in alphabetical order. The ’Gansett folks will buy you a beer in the next couple’a weeks in Charlestown (March 7), Coventry (the 14th), and Cranston (the 21st and 22nd); hit their website for more dates and follow ’em all over the Biggest Little.

Okay, here are a few great reasons to hit the 401 beer trail in the next few weeks: Ragged Island Brewing in Portsmouth has a BIG can release party on March 13, with fresh batches of Two Tree DIPA, Old Boys Vienna Lager, Baulston Porter, Surfer’s End, Aquidneck Pale Ale and 5th Ward Stout. And the latter beer will be the brew o’ choice at a launch party at Midtown Oyster Bar in Newport on the 15th, with a slew of Irish-themed music and revelry in honor of Saint Patrick. Check raggedislandbrewing.com for a slew of other enticements. Whalers Brewing in Wakefield has a trio of new brews on tap: Sirius, a tropical Berliner Weisse; Pretender, a golden-colored stout; and Olneyville Megazord, a dry-hopped brown ale. And Foolproof Brewing is unveiling Tatou, a new rosé saison, in 12-ounce cans and on draft.

And the new Rhody breweries keep a-comin’: Twelve Guns Brewery will be setting up shop in Bristol (549 Metacom Ave). Homebrewer Kyle Michaud is going pro with a seven-barrel system; he’s aiming for a mid-summer opening (which likely means fall, the way these things usually roll); check the Twelve Guns Fbook page for updates. And Community Bruin is coming to West Greenwich (74 Nooseneck Hill Rd). Carl Mattson notes that his operation “will be the smallest nano-brewery in the smallest state in the US,” with a half-barrel setup; he adds that “the plan is to be small enough to experiment with some five-gallon homebrew-sized batches of beer to sample in the tasting room, as well as increase the volume to a more marketable sized half-barrel to a full barrel of production so customers may purchase some beer to go.” (And FYI, the name is a regional dialect play on “brewin’ some beah.”) Follow Carl’s progress at communitybruin.com.

For more beer news, check Lou’s blog, bottlescansclaphands.wordpress.com, or follow @BottlesCansRI.