Anniversaries, luaus and an international collaboration on tap

By The Thirst Team

Golden’s Cannonball Creek Brewing celebrates its 11th anniversary all weekend, with caricatures, a free retro game arcade, live music, kids piñata, food trucks and exclusive beers.

Luau party at Pikes Peak

It is expected to finally warm up by this weekend, so patrons can really warm up at a luau party at Pikes Peak Brewing in Colorado Springs. The event starts at noon Saturday, and includes live music, a pineapple milkshake IPA and a pineapple pork special.

Sanitas run for the rest of us

If a marathon is too ambitious for your new year’s resolution list, you can certainly handle the 0.5K run at 10 a.m. Saturday at Sanitas Brewing in Boulder.

Run around the brewery, and return for a sauna, cold plunge, yoga, prizes and beer.

Mocktail class at Lady Justice

Need to class up Dry January? Shea’s Provisions will host a mocktail mixology class at 7 p.m. Friday at Lady Justice Brewing in Aurora. Learn to make a NA hibiscus paloma, a blackberry balsamic basil sour, and a pine and sage collins.

Casks and chili

Hogshead Brewery in north Denver hosts a cask fest starting at 2 p.m. Saturday, with 12 beers from area breweries; and an invitational chili cookoff at noon Sunday. Tickets are available at the door for both events.

Launch Pad chili cook-off

Aurora’s Launch Pad Brewery hosts a chili cook-off at noon Saturday. Contest entry and samples are all free, and the brewery always has plenty of beers on tap to wash it all down.

Founder’s birthday party

Martin Walter would be 163 this week. He is the founder of Walter’s Brewery in Pueblo, so the brewery is celebrating at 7 p.m. Saturday, with a handlebar mustache contest, live music, cake and more.

Collab fest update

Tickets are on sale for Collaboration Beer Fest on March 30 in Westminster, and information is trickling out about the brewing collaborations. The more distant collab this year pairs Vail Brewing Co. with Hakuba Brewing of Japan. The Vail head brewer met the Hakuba head brewer on a Japanese ski trip (did you know that a Japanese ski resort gets more snow than any other ski area in the world?), and they worked together on a Japanese rice lager with plums.

Closer to home, three Fort Collins breweries will celebrate their 10th anniversaries. Horse & Dragon, Snowbank and Zwei all opened in 2014, and will make an Italian pilsner for the festival.

As always, please send us your events and announcements. We’re happy to share them. And enjoy your Colorado craft libations responsibly.