For beer lovers, San Francisco Beer Week is one of the finest weeks of the year. Okay, let’s be honest: It IS the best week of the year! So how can we make the best week of the year even better? By combining primo beer week events with great music.

These tastefully selected pairings have been curated specifically with the intention for you to enjoy a unique beer week offering and follow it up with a show within walking distance. That way, you can (responsibly) enjoy all the libations of your choosing and make it to the show safely. Beer will be flowing like the salmon of Capistrano all over San Francisco from February 8th through the 16th, and here are my picks for perfect beer and music matches:

Date: Sunday, 2/9
Show: Delorean @ The Independent
Beer: Barleywine Night @ Noc Noc
Distance: 13 minute walk

Our first night will find you at the Noc Noc for their Barleywine night. If you’ve never had a barleywine, they’re big, bold, fruity, intense, and very high in alcohol. Sounds great, right? Noc Noc will be serving five in particular from Northern California Breweries, including Marin Brewing’s Old Dipsea and Sierra Nevada’s Barrel Aged Big Foot (don’t miss this one). When you’re done you can walk 13 minutes up Haight and down Divisadero to the Independent where you can hit Delorean. They’re a four piece combining dance music and indie pop who had to cancel their last show at the Independent due to being kidnapped in South America. Let’s hope they make it safely to the show this time. Hopefully everyone else that goes to Noc Noc makes it to the show safely, too, because I have my doubts after all that barleywine.

Date: Tuesday, 2/11
Show: Hospitality @ Rickshaw Stop
Beer: Oskar Blues Night @ The Beer Hall
Distance: 4 minute walk

If you’re in the mood for infectious indie pop and heady northern Colorado brews, buy your tickets for Hospitality right now (only $10!). The Beer Hall is hosting this stellar lineup of forward-thinking Oskar Blues and it’s only a four minute walk to Rickshaw Stop. Oskar Blues have been a pioneer in the craft canning movement, and for good reason. Cans are lighter (cheaper to transport), impermeable by light (stays headier longer), more easily recyclable, and they get cold faster. There won’t be any cans here though, as the offerings will be on tap, starring Oskar the Grouch (smoked IPA), Merlow BA Chaka (Belgian Strong Ale), and Old Chub ON NITRO. At the Rickshaw you’ll be ready to ingest Hospitality, this peppy stripped down trio has been on the rise for over a year now.

Date: Wednesday, 2/12
Show: Boombox @ The Independent
Beer: Coronado Brewing Takeover @ Noir Lounge
Distance: 7 minute bus ride

Get your groove on and dance for a couple hours with Boombox at the Independent. Slinky, sultry, sexy strutting beats await you after your trip to the Noir Lounge for Coronado Brewing’s Tap Takeover. This California mainstay has been impressing craft beer lovers for a few years now but only recently has the brewery seen more of a national exposure. One sip of their Idiot IPA and you’ll realize why. Give it a try along with all of the other selections and then step on the 21 for a 7 minute bus ride up Hayes to the Independent.

Date: Friday, 2/14
Show: Blackalicious @ Slim’s
Beer: Sierra Nevada 62 Tap Takeover @ Zeitgeist
Distance: 13 minute walk

If you’re in the mood for some hip hop, Blackalicious is a must see on this Friday Valentine’s Day. It may not be the best for getting your romantic vibe on, but it’ll be great if you want to dance and shake your ass. And what else is better than shaking your ass with that special someone? Shaking your ass AND drinking beer! I’m straight up befuddled by the beer week listing this night at Zeitgeist: Sierra Nevada SIXTY-TWO TAP TAKEOVER. That’s not a typo. I was never even aware that they had 62 unique beers. We’ll see if this is some tomfoolery on 2/14. If it truly is 62 beers, you’d better believe the place will be loaded with hard to find rarities from the cellar. Supposedly they’re tapping the “extra special” kegs in the later afternoon/early night time, so if you hit this event before before you head to Slim’s you’ll be in good standing to sip on the best the brewery has to offer.

Bonus Pick!!! – Because I have extra love for Valentine’s Day.

Date: Friday, 2/14
Show: Quilt @ Bottom of the Hill
Beer: Beer Tasting + Sweets @ Blueprint Tap Room
Distance: 15 minute walk

Maybe some gentle psych rock is more your style on the country’s most romantically manufactured holiday of the year. Quilt has made a big impression lately with their pseudo-sixties revival indie rock. While sometimes soothing in its swaying pop melodies, on occasion it necessitates a full-body psych rock freak-out. Blueprint Tap Room is doing a dessert and beer pairing that is making my mouth water as I type this. Coffee and chocolate bread pudding with salted caramel sauce will be paired with Anderson Valley’s fantastic Bourbon Barrel Stout, and olive oil citrus cake will be paired with Buzzerkeley’s Belgian Strong Pale Ale. And there are more pairings. There are also a wide variety of West Coast breweries being featured, such as Deschutes, Ninkasi, Lost Abbey, Ballast Point, Green Flash, and Calicraft. When it’s beer week, these guys and gals don’t come unprepared. There will be some really great beer getting tapped here.

Date: Saturday, 2/15
Show: Jerry Garcia Band featuring Melvin Seals @ Great American Music Hall
Beer: Midnight Sun Brewery @ Amsterdam Cafe
Distance: 3 minute walk

Any night with the Jerry Garcia Band feat. Melvin Seals ends in a sweaty tired mess, and it’s great. It’s so soulful and cathartic that you’ll feel like you’re at church, but with only half the guilt. Midnight Sun is a brewery from Alaska that you may not have heard of, but they have been on point for years now. I’ve only been largely impressed with everything I’ve tried from them, and this beer lineup looks to be stacked with special releases. They’ve got a dark strong ale with spices and chilies, oak-aged T.R.E.A.T. (imperial chocolate pumpkin porter on nitro), and XXX-Black Double IPA. This pair is sure to impress – you’ll be having fun all the way through the midnight moonlight!