The Fiarmont hotel hosts a Saturday tea event. Surly Brewing celebrates the annual release of Darkness at Hopleaf tonight. Who Framed Roger Rabbit screens Sunday at the Portage Theater... for free. more ›

• There are a handful of Russian Imperial Stouts that are better than Three Floyds Dark Lord. Surly Darkness is one of them. Tonight Rodan (1530 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 773-276-7036) is tapping a keg of Darkness. It won't be around long.
• A reminder that this evening the Hideout host the release party for the Soup and Bread Cookbook from 5-8 p.m.
• Vinci's December wine dinner will feature selections from Huntington Wines. The dinner costs $45 per person and starts at 7 p.m. (1732 N. Halsted, 312-266-1199)

It was Labor Day Weekend and we just finished watching "Inglourious Basterds" downtown. Nowhere to go and nothing to do we wandered around and found ourselves at Jake Melnick's (41 E. Superior, 312-266-0400, jakemelnicks.com). Within minutes we were wolfing down their burger of the month and begging not to be served the Budweiser they give away for free with the burger. The bartender went out of the way to comp us a Surly Bender. She poured us a Surly Furious, instead. more ›

A reader mentioned last week that Hackney's South Loop location has an excellent beer selection. We think it's probably one of the more underrated beer bars in the city. Their draft selections are a creative and varied blend of some of the best European and American craft brews around. Minnesota's Surly Brewing Company is one of the latter. We've profiled their "Smoke" Baltic style porter earlier this year. While we wished we could get our hands on some 16-ounce cans, drinking Bender from the tap isn't a bad alternative. more ›