In case anyone needed an extra excuse to drink beer, Sacramento is in the midst of its second annual Beer Week.

The weeklong celebration, founded last year by Sacramento State student Dan Scott, has quickly become a fixture of the city’s culture. Bars and restaurants throughout the region host events all week showcasing their beer selection, and local breweries introduce new varieties or just show off what they already have.

As Scott said, California has more microbreweries than any other state.

“The craft beer revolution started here in Northern California with Sierra Nevada and Anchor (Steam),” Scott said.

Some larger breweries like Budweiser use grains like rice or corn in addition to the standard malt and hops to cut costs. Generally, craft brews do not do this. They tend to focus on taste rather than cost.

And so it is fitting that Sacramento should have a week dedicated to its beer community, Scott said. With well-known breweries like Rubicon and Lockdown based in Sacramento County, and Sudwerk and Lagunitas in the surrounding areas, there is plenty of reason to show off.

Sacramento needs (a celebration of beer),” Scott said. “We have got an amazing community of restaurants, breweries and alehouses that are serving the best beer in the world.”

Scott, a graduate student in Sac State’s public policy administration program, has been a lifelong beer enthusiast and has visited “hundreds of breweries.” But while he has brewed a little of his own beer before, he said he is primarily just a fan.

“I would rather drink a wide variety of other beers than a lot of my own,” he said.

Beer Week kicked off Thursday with the Sacramento Brewers Showcase at the Crocker Art Museum.

Held in the recently completed new wing of the museum, the event featured tastings of many of Northern California’s most notable breweries, as well as an opportunity to meet their owners and brewmasters.

Notable among the beers available for sampling were three varieties made specifically for Sacramento Beer Week. Beer Week beer director Rick Sellers said each has a unique story behind its production.

“It is fun to get brewers thinking outside the box,” Sellers said.

Sloughhouse Pale Ale, made by Sierra Nevada, is named for an interesting chapter in Sacramento’s history, Sellers said. Although it is not anymore, Sacramento used to be one of the best regions in the world for growing hops, a key ingredient in beer making. The Sloughhouse hop farm used to occupy the land where Sac State now sits.

True to its name, the finished product is very hop-heavy. Sellers said Sierra Nevada used primarily Citra hops, a variety known to give beer a fruity, citrus flavor and aroma. The beer also has a distinct peppery taste to it, which Sellers said is because of the rye used in the brewing process.

Lagunitas Brewing Company’s ParaDime Sac is another beer made specially for Beer Week, and probably has the best story behind its creation. Sellers, along with the owners of several local bars and breweries, took a trip to the Lagunitas brewery in Petaluma and collaborated on this dark, heavy beer. It has an intense, spicy flavor and a bitter edge, due to heavy use of malt and rye.

Sellers fondly remembers the day he designed this beer. He said they did plenty of sampling and got to pick from ingredients from a “buffet” of options.

“We made a night of it,” he said. “That was a good time.”

Paradime Sac will be available at the bars owned by the people who helped craft it, which includes The Shack, Golden Bear and Monkey Bar.

The third exclusive Beer Week creation, made by Davis-based Sudwerk, is Sacpiper Wee Heavy. The hops for this beer, a collaboration of local breweries, were grown at Jordan Family Farm in Penryn, which Sellers said is famous for growing wine grapes. The finished product itself has a very fruity, sweet flavor.

Knee Deep Brewing Company is perhaps the most notable participant in the Sacramento Beer Week festivities. The craft brewery, founded in 2006 by owner Jerry Moore, is based in Reno. The company is in the process of opening a brewery in Lincoln, however, and this is its first week in Northern California.

The company offered three varieties on Thursday night, including a rye beer called Ryedentity Crisis, as well as their IPA called Hopstar. Brewmaster Jeremy Warren, however, is most proud of Tanilla, a porter brewed with imported Tahitian vanilla beans. It has flavors of chocolate and coffee, along with the vanilla.

Knee Deep’s beers will be available all week at Dad’s Kitchen and The Shack.

Dad’s Kitchen customer Chris Johnson said he loves what he has tasted so far, especially the vanilla in the aftertaste.

“It is very smooth for a porter, but really flavorful,” Johnson said. He also said he definitely would be getting another.

Beer Week will end with Capital Beerfest at Cal Expo, which Scott said will be one of the biggest beer festivals in history, and will feature beers that “even the most die-hard connoisseur” has not sampled.

The Beer Week staff has even arranged for a shuttle to take drinkers to Cal Expo from midtown to “promote responsibility.” The shuttle will run from 30th and R Streets up 30th between 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

In the meantime, almost every establishment that sells beer will be hosting events during the week. These range from great deals to showcases of microbrews. The one sure thing is that everyone will be able to quench their thirst.

Alex Grotewohl can be reached at [email protected]