Beer calendar for the week ahead: Great Divide gets jiggy while Vine Street gets dirty

Mashtuns, fermenters, kettles and other types of brewing equipment have been pouring into Denver breweries over the past few months -- from Strange Brewing to the Denver Beer Co, from Wynkoop Brewing to the Copper Kettle. And more equipment just got here.

Last week, Vine Street Pub installed its new system, on which the Mountain Sun string of pubs will brew the majority of its beers beginning this fall. In the meantime, Renegade Brewing, 925 West Ninth Avenue, is set to open sometime in the next two weeks with a fifteen-barrel brewing system. Here's what else is on tap this week:

Wednesday, June 8

The Bull & Bush unzips Saison de Suitcase 2011 today. Aged in used Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay barrels, this Belgian-style saison is going to be good.

Thursday, June 9

Find a free pint at Rock Bottom downtown, 1001 16th Street, which will tap its Schwarz Hacker Schwarzbier, a German dark lager, at 6 p.m. Rock Bottom offers free pints of its new beers between 6 and 6:30 p.m. The brewmaster describes this one as having "a coffee or chocolatey flavor...milder tasting and less bitter than the British stouts."

Friday, June 10

Dry Dock Brewing taps a cask of its dry-hopped Irish red for Firkin Friday; the tap room is open from 3 to 11 p.m. The brewery has also begun selling its fourth bottled offering, Apricot Blonde, at local liquor stores. But Dry Dock will be bottling the beer today and selling the 22-ounce bombers straight out of the brewhouse.

Saturday, June 11

Great Divide Brewing, 2201 Arapahoe Street, closes off the street for a giant block party celebrating its seventeenth anniversary today. There will be live music (Lil' Thunder, the Knew, Marty Jones and the Kentucky Street Parlor Pickers), street-truck food (Basic Kneads, Stick It to Me, Quiero Arepas and the Denver Cupcake Truck) and lots and lots of beer. Tickets, $25, are available at http://gd17anniversaryparty.eventbrite.com.

Estes Park Brewing, 470 Prospect Village Drive in Estes Park, hosts its annual Rocky Mountain Brewfest from noon to 5 p.m. It features beers from fifteen craft brewers. Tickets are $30.

Avery Brewing also hosts the second annual Boulder Sourfest today, but if you don't already have tickets, you're probably out of luck. This fest, one of the most popular new ones, sold out in less than fifteen minutes.

Tuesday, June 14

Six months ago, the brewers at Mountain Sun stashed away a dark-brown Belgian-style strong ale in merlot barrels, where they aged it with souring yeasts. Today, they'll tap the Dirty Dark at all three pubs (Vine Street Pub, Mountain Sun and Southern Sun) at 4:20 p.m.. Weighing in at 9.5 percent alcohol by volume, "this complex ale hits the palate with a pleasant tartness, woody tannins, and a hint of dark caramel," the brewery says.

City, O' City's firkin and food night returns with a cask of Hibiscus Orange IPA from Wynkoop Brewing Company.