Drink good beer for a good cause from 6 to 9 p.m. on June 17. The event is a Pittsburgh Rugby Club fund-raiser for Children's Hospital's Down Syndrome Center. Cost is $20 in advance (at Ruggers Pub, South Side) or $30 at the door for the microbrew-tasting/food-eating/charity social, held at the Terminal Properties at Fourth and Carson streets on the South Side (beneath the Liberty Bridge). For details: 724-561-7164.

One of the events of the June 17 to 23 BikeFest will be a June 23 bicycle brewery tour (for those 21 and older) that will end up at Homewood's East End Brewing Co. for the release of Pedal Pale Ale. Small kegs of it will then be transported to a few area taverns -- by bike "beer messengers" -- to be dispensed via tap handles made by Free Ride! out of salvaged bike parts. Details: www.bike-pgh.org and www.eastendbrewing.com.

Next up: The ninth Great European Beerfest, subtitled "6,000 Square Feet of Beer," takes over the parking lot of the Sharp Edge Beer Emporium in East Liberty on June 25 (there are two three-hour sessions at 3 and 7 p.m.) and 26 (there is one at 2 p.m.). Tickets are $37.50 and include unlimited sampling of Continental beers. Designated drivers can get in for $5. For details: www.sharpedgebeer.com or 412-661-3537.

And coming July 23: The eighth State College MicroBrewers & Importers Exposition ($35; www.scbrewexpo.com or 814-692-8529).

The National Homebrewers Conference -- and brewing competition -- hits the Holiday Inn Inner Harbor in Baltimore next Thursday through Sunday. Attending will be members of TRASH, the Three Rivers Alliance of Serious Homebrewers, which holds its own competition this Saturday. Details: www.beertown.org/events/hbc/ and www.trashhomebrewers.org.

Reportedly getting a icy reception in the Pittsburgh area, and that's meant in a good way, is the new Coors Cooler Box, which holds not only 18 plastic bottles but also ice -- you just dump the beer right in and go.