Tristan White of Dragoon Brewing Co. says the brewery could be days away from releasing its first beers.

"Hopefully we'll have them on the market this week," said White, adding that the only thing holding up distribution of the brewery's first two beers is filtering the product and packaging it for sale.

White said the Stronghold Session Ale is sort of a "cross between Fat Tire and Newcastle" with an alcohol content of about 4.5 percent. The other beer is an IPA described as "big and hoppy." It boasts an alcohol content of about 7.8 percent.

Dragoon Brewing Co. has a tasting room but it won't be open until the grand opening in May. If you want to keep up on where the beers will be available - not to mention extra information about the run of specialty beers the brewery has planned - check in via Twitter for updates.

Don't let yourself get distracted by the Christmas related puns (hey, I feel you guys, editing video is a major pain) because the first episode of "Hopped Up" (by Charles Lynch and Nick Fimbers), a new web show dedicated to "breweries, beer bars, gastropubs and microbrew friendly bars," as it says on their Facebook page. First up, the super nice guys at Tucson Weekly-friendly brewery Borderlands. Looking forward to the next episode, fellas.

There's a free wine tasting this Friday, March 16, at Sanders Galleries at 6420 N. Campbelll Ave. Jon Rogers from Wines Without the Mystery says it will feature French wines and some rather amazing cheese, which will make for a lovely evening of sipping and snacking in the gallery's beautiful courtyard.

The event takes place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. There's more on the gallery over yonder.

The guys down at Borderlands Brewing Company are adding some extra tasting hours to coincide with the regular 2nd Saturdays Downtown event that takes place Downtown each month.

Until now the tasting room was only open on weekdays, which has been a bit of an inconvenience for those who love Borderlands' beer but can't make it down there during the week. Now, all is right in the world.

The tasting room will be open from noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, March 10, and every second Saturday of the month after that. See you there.

What was going to be called the Trainwreck Saloon at 213 N. Fourth Ave. is now known simply as The Wreck, and it's open.

I received a strangely brief e-mail this week that said the original name would not be used, which sort of explained why the Trainwreck Saloon's Facebook was abruptly pulled from the internet last week. I called last night and the guy who answered the phone says the place is now called The Wreck. We're guessing that one of the other Trainwreck Saloons across the country, and there are a few, wanted their name back.

So anyway, it looks like people are pretty much getting wasted down at The Wreck. Perusing their Facebook account brings forth tales of people getting impromptu haircuts and removing brassieres in public. There also appears to be an abundance of bar-top dancing and daisy-duke wearing. More on all that over here.

It's Arizona Beer Week everyone, and what better way to celebrate than drifting into one of the local El Charro Café locations to try one of the restaurant's new signature beers.

The 1922 Amber Ale brewed by Barrio Brewing Co. and available at all five El Charro Café locations is said to be "a premium two row malt with two levels of American crystal malt and touch of light chocolate malt which gives the beer a slightly caramel taste balanced with Columbus and Cascade hops for a great finish."

In other craft-beer news, 1702 has started serving its own house-made beer. I noticed one of the place's porters on the menu there last weekend, which was going for $2.50 for a five-ounce glass. 1702 is also holding events every night this week in celebration of Arizona Beer Week, with an event tonight featuring Widmer Brothers beers and giveaways. More on that here.

It's not listed on the Arizona Beer Week calendar, but Noble Hops Gastropub is holding a couple of event next week. The people who handle public relations for the restaurant sent an e-mail yesterday after reading my effusive complaining regarding Tucson's lack of participation in the event.

Noble Hops has a beer-paired appetizer sampling on Wednesday, Feb. 22, featuring brews from Ska Brewing Company and Great Divide Brewing. Company reps will also be on hand to answer questions about their wares. $40 and reservations are recommended.

Noble Hops also has a tasting next week featuring beers from Deschutes Brewery. That takes place from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 23; it's free; and it sounds like they'll be handing out some beer schwag, too.

The annual attempt to break the world record for the largest simultaneous toast takes place tomorrow and Tucsonans will be gathering at the Hut to do their part. The Dusty Buskers and the Keltic Kowboys are providing music, and there will be Irish stew.

The actual toast takes place at 10 p.m., but doors open at 7 p.m.. the cover charge is $10 with proceeds benefiting the annual St. Patrick's Day parade.

It’s a sad showing as far as Tucson support for next week's Arizona Beer Week, with only a handful of events scheduled locally. The mighty 1702 is the only place truly throwing down with events taking place Monday through Friday, although there are events at Maynards Market and Kitchen, Pasco Kitchen and Lounge and the Zona 78 location on West River Road as well.

You can read about the local events here. It doesn‘t appear all of 1702‘s events are listed there, so you might want to contact them directly. The event at Pasco - which is $30, including four courses - will include the local unveiling of SanTan Brewing’s Sex Panther Double Chocolate Porter. The other events include another beer dinner and a tasting. Is it possible to yawn oneself to death?

I wonder if any of the local microbreweries even knew about this event of if they opted out for some reason. I know it's sponsored by the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild, but it doesn't even appear that Barrio Brewing Co., which is a member of the guild, is participating. Weird.

The new beach-themed bar Fini's Landing is shaping up nicely at 5689 N. Swan Road. It even has a cool boat-shaped bar with decent views of the nearby mountains. You can check that out on Facebook, if you're into that sort of thing.

This place is a project by two guys who left the Hut at 305 N. Fourth Ave. last September. So far we have precious little information about what will be going down at said location, but according to the Fini's Landing website hiring is underway, so an opening can't be that far off.