Join me for a beery bike ride on Sat., Nov. 21. East End Brewing's Scott Smith, who led an organized pedal this spring to deliver the first keg of his seasonal Pedal Pale Ale to the South Side, now is leading the ride to haul the empties back to his Homewood brewery. We'll meet for brunch starting around 10 a.m. at OTB (Over the Bar) Bicycle Cafe, then at noon head out on a 7-or-so-mile ride with city Councilman Patrick Dowd, city Bike Coordinator Stephen Patchan, Venture Outdoors' bike tour coordinator Seth Gernot, and we hope a bunch of others. Suggested donation for this "Reverse Keg Ride" is $5 per rider, all of which goes to Bike Pittsburgh and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank (and 500 riders participated on the spring Keg Ride). For more, visit eastendbrewing.com. And, at the end, Scott has promised us all the first tastes of his cold-weather seasonal, Snow Melt Winter Ale.

Beer, meet food

Beer dinners are popping up all over. So is one beer breakfast.

At 6 p.m. Mon., Nov. 16, it's the Harvest Beer Dinner, featuring Duvel and Ommegang brews, at Point Brugge in Point Breeze. Cost, with tax and tip, is $85 per person; reserve at pointbrugge.com or 412-441-3334.

Weds., Nov. 18, Bocktown Beer & Grill in North Fayette (bocktown.com) hosts beer and whisky writer Lew Bryson for a Barrel Aged Beer Dinner. Lew will lead attendees through a tasting of special oak-aged brews -- Arcadia Cereal Killer and Big Dick's Old Ale, Great Lakes Blackout Stout, Erie Railbender, New Holland Mad Hatter IPA -- with five courses for $35. The restaurant will be closed to the public during the event and reopen around 8 p.m.; buy tickets by calling 412-788-2333. (If you miss that, try the Kegs 'N Eggs breakfast there at 8 a.m. on Black Friday, the big shopping day after Thanksgiving; bocktown.com.)

At 7 p.m. next Thurs., Nov. 19, the Cafe at the Frick in Point Breeze is holding a four-course beer dinner featuring four brews from Cleveland's Great Lakes Brewing. Cost is $65.00 per person, which includes taxes and gratuity. Reserve and pre-pay by calling 412-371-0600.

Even the International Culinary School of the Art Institute Of Pittsburgh, Downtown, is holding a Winter Harvest Beer Pairing Dinner to benefit the EDMC Scholarship fund.

It starts at 5:30 p.m. Weds., Dec. 2, with a reception and then dinner (7 p.m.) of six courses paired with brews from Victory Brewing Co. in Downingtown. There also will be a gift basket raffle. Tickets are $20 for the reception only, and $75 for the reception and the dinner. For more information and tickets, contact Roger Levine at 412-291-6200 ext. 7532 or rmlevine@aii.edu.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.