One of the benefits of being in a large market and a growing craft beer market is that beer makers are making stops in the Los Angeles area. These “Meet the Brewer” nights are a great way to learn about a specific brewery and to sample either rare or new beers. The recent tap take-over at Verdugo Bar with Ballast Point Brewing is just one recent example. Starting tonight there are four upcoming beer events that I think will be fun and informative.

Birrificio Bruton at Library Alehouse

Tonight is the opportunity to sample Italian beer. From 5 to 7 pm you can meet Iacopo Lenci, “one of the brewers making some serious noise over in Italy.” Try his beers with some specifically paired nibbles.

Cantillon at Stone

Cantillon at Stone World Bistro in spring. Sounds good. How about seeing Cantillon brewer Jean Van Roy too? Oh and he is bringing Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru, Iris, Cuvée des Champions, Kriek classic Gueuze and Rosé de Gambrinus to the outside bar in 4oz pours from 3pm to 5pm this Sunday.

SoCal Beer Company at Blue Palms Brewhouse

April 4th is the first of four stops for this new brewery. You can be one of the first to sample their IPA or Red Ale at Blue Palms which is a frequent host of brewer’s. In fact, Coronado from San Diego will be up later in April.

Tuesday’s at Tony’s

If you want to meet the people behind California beer, then just head over to Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank. They have had Jeremy from Eagle Rock and this week they welcomed the folks from Black Market. If you missed them, coming in April and May are Moylan’s, The Bruery and Eel River. It is a great chance to try a range of brews from one brewery to compare and contrast.

For the Craft Beer of the Week, we head to the Abbey at St. Clairvaux in Vina, California, which happens to be in the vicinity of Chico and a certain famous brewery. Together they are creating a series of beers under the name of Oliva. Dubbel (which will be released at the end of the month) is the first beer in this collaboration. To be followed by a saison and a quadruple later this year. According to the Ovila website, this beer will have notes of caramelized sugar, cloves, raisins and black pepper from the Abbey-style yeast. Not only does it sound great but a portion of the proceeds go to help the order restore their chapter house.

This week’s Homework is to give a digital recommendation about your favorite beer bar. Comment about them here on FoodGPS. “Like” them on Facebook. Check in with them on FourSquare and give them the stars they deserve on Yelp. Why, you may ask? Well, these are the sites (among others) that people use to plan their nights out. And if you want the world of craft beer to grow then we need more people trying craft beer. And that means not just preaching to the choir on craft beer websites but getting the word out to the “outside” world.

Find more of Sean Inman’s writing on his blog, Beer Search Party.