There are dozens of beer events throughout New York Craft Beer Week, so each day, we make our picks on the best events. For a full list of every event, check out the Events section of the New York Craft Beer Week website.

BEARS-SAINTS BEER OFF
Location: Idle Hands Bar (25 Avenue B, at 2nd St., East Village)
Time: 1pm
Cost: Free
It’s Day 3 of Beer Week, but also Week 2 of Football Season, so Idle Hands is pitting beers against each other as two teams play each other. Watch the New Orleans Saints take on the Chicago Bears as they pour beers from Louisiana’s Abita and pit them against Illinois’ Two Brothers, plus all drafts are just $5.

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There are dozens of beer events throughout New York Craft Beer Week, so each day, we make our picks on the best events. For a full list of every event, check out the Events section of the New York Craft Beer Week website.

FRENCH BEER SERIES
Location: The Ginger Man (11 E. 36th St., at 5th Ave., Midtown)
Time: 5pm
Cost: Free
It’s an invasion of French beers tonight, with eleven brewers represented, including some never before available in the United States. Practice your high-school level French comprehension as you meet brewers and try beers from Jenlain, Pietra, Castelain, La Choulette, and many more!

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A label from last year’s Cantillon Zwanze. This year, you won’t be seeing any label like this on a bottle

Famed Belgian brewery Cantillon had a problem. Bottles of its annual, rare experimental Lambic, Zwanze, were in the hands of the wrong people. This beer is rare enough that beer geeks will go out of their way to get their hands on it - and pay a pretty price to do so. Essentially, the beer was on the black market, being sold on eBay for well above its retail price. That didn’t sit well with brewer Jean Van Roy, who posted this letter on the Cantillon site last month:

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There are dozens of beer events throughout New York Craft Beer Week, so each day, we’ll make our picks on the best events. For a full list of every event, check out the Events section of the New York Craft Beer Week website.

FREAKTOBERFEST
Location: Southpaw (125 5th Ave., at Sterling Pl., Park Slope)
Time: 7pm-1pm
Cost: $50, tickets still available
Get freaky at Southpaw with the official kickoff event of craft beer week, which features music performances, freakshow acts, and unlimited tastings of dozens of beers from breweries like Allagash, Smuttynose, Brooklyn Brewery, and sponsor Shmaltz. Plus, try some of the Coney Island Brewing Company’s guest beers, brewed by local homebrewers, with hilarious names like the Korndog Kolsch and Marty Markowitz’s The Big Cheese(cake) Ale.

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Happy Friday! Today is the first day of New York Craft Beer Week! From today through the 25th, there will be dozens of beer events all over the city, plus beer and food pairings at select restaurants, beer discounts, and even a few new beer releases.

You can find all the details about the week in the New York Craft Beer Week Passport. For $10, it also gives you access to $3 servings of craft beer at over 150 different locations all over the city. To get one, just go to one of those locations and pick it up!

In addition, this year, there’s an app for that. The Android and iPhone apps are now available for purchase through the Android Marketplace and iTunes. There are free and paid versions - the free version gets you all the info you need; the paid version gets you the same beer discounts all over the city that you’d get in the Passport. Just search for “NY Craft Beer Week” and you’ll find both versions.

So, strap in, because it’s going to be a big week!

Here are the beer-related goings-on after work tonight in and around New York:

• New York Craft Beer Week starts tomorrow, but some places are getting a jump start tonight. Good Beer (422 E. 9th St., btw. 1st Ave. and Ave. A) has their Craft Beer Week kickoff event tonight with Breckenridge starting at 6:30pm. Enjoy discounts on Vanilla Porter, 471 Small Batch IPA, Golden Homer, and more. Meanwhile, down in Bay Ridge, Ski Bar (7314 5th Ave., at 73rd St., Bay Ridge) has Abita in the house to kick off Craft Beer Week tonight at 7:30, including ESB2, Andygator, Black IPA, and more on tap.
• Kuhnhenn takes the taps at Barcade (388 Union Ave., at Ainslie St., Williamsburg) tonight starting at 5pm. They’ll have 13 beers from the Michigan brewery, including their Solar Eclipse Russian Imperial Stout, Simcoe Silly Pale Ale, and the Mango Play in the Hay, a wild ale made with mangoes.
• Harpoon’s got ten beers and a cask at Bronx Ale House (216 W. 238th St., at Broadway, Kingsbridge, Bronx) tonight starting at 6pm. Try the new Imperial Rye, Docesna, and a one-off cask of UFO White dry-hopped with Cascade hops.
• Bierkraft (191 Fifth Ave., at President St., Park Slope) hosts Rogue Ales tonight at 7pm, with beers like Morimoto Soba Ale, Mom’s Beer Hefeweizen, and Somer Orange Honey Wheat, plus another eleven more on tap.

And remember, for more updates, be sure to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and check us out on Foursquare for great lists of beer bars, stores, and breweries!