Newish Sonoita winery Hops and Vines is holding the best drinking and/or eating event we've heard of lately. It happens at 4 p.m., Friday, Aug. 10. From the winery's website:

Beer Bacon Wine Chocolate Cheese!
A great night full of Bad Decisions! Bacon cupcakes, chocolate fountain, artisan cheese, craft beer, amazing wine! Did I mention The Fluffer?

Call out from work, skip the gym! Come down to beautiful Sonoita 45 minutes south of Tucson. Bisbee Brew will be there! Call up your craziest friends, get a sitter, do what you gotta do, but don't miss Arizona Hops and Vines 1st Annual Bad Decisions!

Might I also add that it's a full 10 degrees cooler down in Sonoita? Oh, and The Fluffer is a wine, if you were wondering. Tickets are $10, and we're pretty sure that includes access to the tether-ball and horseshoe courts.

Nobody's talking about it yet, but something is up with Vaudeville Cabaret at 110 E. Congress St. The bar, largely known for holding a slew of punk-rock, hip-hop and other events during the past decade or so, is apparently closed. The phone has also been disconnected.

But if you check out the bar's Facebook page you can see it's been populated by information from Congress Street Clubs, the outfit that runs the downtown nightclubs Zen Rock and Sapphire Lounge. We called down to Congress St. Clubs this afternoon to see what's up with all this. Their response for the time being is "no comment," but they assured me they'd call when details about whatever they plan to open in the Vaudeville spot are finalized.

There's also a note on the Congress Street Clubs Facebook page insinuating that they're opening a new bar and lounge downtown. But, to confuse things further, we've heard rumors that Congress Street Clubs is also behind a new bar going in at 63 E. Congress St., where Knucklehead Alley used to be.

We've all heard of microbreweries, but nanobreweries are a concept you don't hear as much about. In fact, the up-and-coming Tucson operation Ten Fifty-Five Brewing is the first local operation we've seen that classify itself as a nanobrewery, describing its mission thusly via its Facebook page:

We want to make beer for beer drinkers like us; adventurous beer drinkers that are just as likely to try something new as they are an old favorite. We are committed to the idea of the local nano-brewer; a small batch company using fresh ingredients and open minds to make some great tasting brew. Look for us soon, we'll be looking for you.

Our four staples:

Sugar Skull Chocolate Milk Stout - Built on a solid milk stout recipe we'll be adding free trade Ecuadorian Cacao nibs and Tahitian vanilla. My grandmother loves this easy drinking stout.

Lazy Duck American Wheat - This crisp wheat beer is refreshingly light for its style, perfect for a hot Tucson summer. The use of torrified wheat makes for a dry, crackery finish.

Leap Pale Ale - This flagship brew will be a craft beer drinker’s favorite. This beer makes good use of flavorful American hop varieties, but is gentle enough to appeal to non-hop-heads.

Two Suns Citra IIPA - This brew is a hop-head’s dream! The Citra hop variety lends bright, tropical citrusy notes, and is well complemented by the rich, slightly sweet background. This is an all-around big beer, in every way.

Yes! Yes! Yes! More of this sort of thing, Tucson, if you please.

It looks like Downtown is getting yet another watering hole by way of a new place called Rhum Bar that's going in at 256 E. Congress St.

The name on the liquor license application is Travis Reese, co-owner of 47 Scott and Scott and Co., which are located respectively at 47 and 49 N. Scott. Ave. Reese and his partner in the business, Nicole Flowers, nailed it with those concepts, getting nods in the national press and pleasing many a diner with incredible comfort food and some of the best cocktails in the city.

We've got a message into Reese to see what's up with Rhum Bar. We'll be back with an update when we hear from him.

While we're on the subject, 47 Scott currently has a summer special featuring two drinks, two meals and a dessert for $47. There's more on that over here.

Tucson's two Whole Foods locations have taken advantage of a new state law (pushed through by the Walgreens people, of all things) to offer growler fills. Currently, the same list of beer options are available at each location, but word is that the managers of each store will break out on their own, selecting beers demanded by the clientele. Good stuff available so far, including Chandler's San Tan Count Hopula, a super delicious red imperial IPA. More growler filling stations are surely to come, including Tap & Bottle on North Sixth.

While there might not have been much cross-over in their clientele, Colors Food and Spirits and the Cactus Moon are only a few miles from each other off Craycroft and now they're both closed. On the Colors Facebook page, there's no word from the owners or anyone else from the establishment, but several of the bar's entertainment providers have chimed in to eulogize the club:

How many brewing operations do we have so far here in Tucson? There's Gentle Ben's, Barrio Brewing Co. Thunder Canyon Brewery, Nimbus and the two newcomers: Borderlands Brewing Co. and Dragoon Brewing Co.

There's also the small outfit Catalina Brewing Co. up in Catalina, a couple of locations of the chain BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse and the small brewery called The Address that's run by the owner of 1702.

But it looks like there are still more people planning to get involved in the local brewing business. In recent weeks two liquor license applications have been filed for two more brewing operations: Corbett Brewing Company and Sentinel Peak Brewing Company.

The name on the application for Corbett Brewing Company is Scott James Cummings, who I think is the owner of a bar and restaurant down on Fourth Avenue. I put in a call down there to see what's up with this new place, but haven't heard anything.

The name on the Sentinel Peak Brewing Company liquor license application is Jeremy Hildebrand, who I have never heard of. The listed address is 1102 W. Grant Road, though, which I believe is the old slaughter house where they've been holding haunted houses for the past several years.

If drinking delicious beer and learning about making mead sounds like your idea of a good time you might consider carving out a little time for an event next Saturday.

Local chef and mead-maker Jerry Morgan is teaming up with the guys down at Borderlands Brewing Co. for a demonstration on mead at 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 4. That, by the way, also happens to be the American Homebrewers Association's Mead Day.

Morgan is an interesting guy who has a lot of knowledge about crafting this ancient honey wine - more about that here - and the demonstration should be a good one. Sadly, the brewery isn't able to allow Morgan to dish out any mead samples due to liquor laws, but you will walk away with enough information and inspiration to go home and brew a batch of your own.

The brewery is located at 119 E. Toole Ave., and it opens at noon on Saturdays.

• The people at Plaza Liquors say this is one of their finest "sour" beers.

Sour beers aren't actually sour, but I understand why they're known as such. The beer has a tart flavor like a cider, but it's different. It's almost like the human tongue can't figure out what to do so it files it under the sour category so you don't go crazy over analyzing the situation.

I like trying new and different beer, which often means trying different ales, stouts, porters or strange brews with different hops or other additives. But this sour thing is like a whole new species of beer, and according to some it's rapidly becoming rather popular.

Today I stopped in at Plaza Liquors at 2642 N. Campbell Road to see which sour beers they had in stock. One of the ladies working said sour beers are her favorites, adding that they are quickly becoming popular with local beer connoisseurs They had a half-dozen or so in stock, each featuring different flavors, brewing techniques and origins.

Another beer expert at Plaza Liquors says the beer is imparted with the unique sour flavor through the use of a special wild yeast that, if used improperly, can wreak havoc on the fermentation process. He rattled off the scientific name of the yeast strain and a bunch of other facts, further cementing my opinion that Plaza Liquors is the best place to buy beer in Tucson.

1702 also has several sour beers on tap right now, specifically Tart Lychee, Monk's Cafe and Duchesse.

I don't recognize many of the ingredients on this new cocktail menu at Wilko, the restaurant right on the corner of Park and University, but that makes it all the more intriguing.

These drinks and others are available for $2 off during happy hour, which happens from 3 to 7 p.m., every day.

There's more information on the restaurant here.