Want to get a taste of a brand new beer group?

Then try to make the first event tonight of what is to be a monthly series of them held by the Three Rivers Beer Club.

The group, "a social organization dedicated to the promotion and enjoyment of craft beers," aims to serve up some education on beer along with a chance to do some networking.

The event is from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight at the Allegheny HYP Club at William Penn Place and Strawberry Way, Downtown, and is open to the public (you don't have to belong to either the beer club or the HYP Club).

This month's "Beer & Bites" pairing matches four beers with four appetizers prepared by HYP Club Chef Shawn Slater. The menu is posted at the beer club's Web site, with the great name of maltdaddy.com.

Tickets are $15, which you can buy at that site, but walk-ups are welcome, too.

"I'm doing the education portion" of this first event, says J.P. McCarty, the group's event coordinator. But he hopes to have beer professionals hosting future gatherings.

The Ross man works as a hardware design engineer, but he is an avid homebrewer and beer fan. If you join the club (free), you'll get the monthly newsletter he plans to do.

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This new beer club is not to be confused with the Three Rivers Underground Brewers, or TRUB, a homebrewing club. It once again is sponsoring Brewing Up A Cure this fall. From 7 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 18 at Mr. Small's Funhouse in Millvale, you can enjoy tasting several homebrewed and commercial beers, two bands, food from several restaurants, and many auctions including one for a handcrafted wooden bar.

All proceeds benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The club's secretary, Bill Oates, says that last year, the first event raised nearly $10,000. "We are looking to double that amount this year." For tickets and more information, visit brewingupacure.org.

Trub, by the way, is the sediment and debris that settles to the bottom of a brewing kettle.

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Speaking of homebrew, Barley's & Hop's at the South Park Shops is holding another homebrewing competition at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26. For details, check barleysandhops.com.

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Magic Hat Brewing Co. is encouraging political participation with a pub crawl, to register voters (with HeadCount) and bring political discourse back to the bars and have some fun (with Zany Umbrella Circus). The Shadyside crawl starts at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cappy's, then moves on to the William Penn Tavern, then Shady Grove and finishes at Doc's. Visit magichat.net/people.

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This weekend is Bierfest 2008 at the Teutonia Mannerchor, the usually members-only German club on the North Side. From 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, you can get in for $10, or $15 for both days, and get a sample of several German brews. You can purchase additional bottles and food, and you get music and dancing. Be sure to check out the gorgeous Rathskeller. For tickets and information, call 724-444-6207 or 412-231-1486 or visit pghmannerchor.com.

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Tickets are pouring out the door for the Steel City Big Pour beer festival on Sept. 13 at Construction Junction in Point Breeze. In fact, the second, or evening, session sold out as of last week and organizers say the first session will, too. For more: constructionjunction.org.

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It's September, and that means it's time to go back to beer school. The Cultural Trust's Craft Beer School -- at the Cabaret at Theater Square, Downtown -- resumes at 6 p.m. Sept. 16 with a class on beer and pizza. Tuition is $25 per person (enroll for it and future classes at pgharts.org and 412-456-6666).

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Bocktown Beer and Grill in North Fayette serves up its first firkin of cask-conditioned brew -- porter from Bell's -- when the Michigan brewer is featured at the regular 6 p.m. Wednesday tasting on Sept. 10.

The following week, it's the second Pumpkinfest -- a now annual tasting of several pumpkin brews hosted by Vecenie Distributing's Tony Knipling. Chef Scotty Templeton will be rounding it out with pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie and other fallish foods (bocktown.com).

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New York Craft Beer Week kicks off with Third Annual New York Brewfest at South Street Seaport on Sept. 12 and runs through Sept. 21 (NYCbeerweek.com).

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We close with some bad news:

Another area brew pub has closed: John Harvard's Brew House in Wilkins.

This in the same year that we've lost Hereford & Hops in Cranberry, Johnstown Brewing Co. and Marzoni's Brick Oven and Brewing in Hampton (the last served beer brewed at another location.)

The chain has closed other underperforming John Harvard's, including two in the Philadelphia area and one in Washington, D.C.

"Kind of surprising that Pittsburgh lasted as long as it has," Wilkins brewmaster Steve Sloan said in an e-mail.

He cited, in addition to the general poor economy, factors ranging from increased raw materials costs to construction on Business Route 22 and the Parkway East.

We'll look forward to the next project of the affable and accomplished Mr. Sloan, who this spring brewed his 1,000th batch in Wilkins.