.Silicon Valley Beer Week

River Rock, located on Murphy Avenue in downtown Sunnyvale, is part of the latest trend in beer-craft technology, allowing patrons to serve themselves from 40 taps displayed at eye level along one wall. With no bar or bartender, beer lovers pay by the ounce and may sample as much, or as little, as they want from a dizzying variety of brews--from light to dark, sour to porter. There's a beer with more than 11 percent alcohol by volume, and another that comes in at about 4 percent. There's even red and white wine, cider and a single tap of kombucha.

So he took to the podium, looked over the dais, and ever-so-gently scolded San Jose's mayor and council, which, in honoring him for winning the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, had gathered in the very building that erased his parents' American dream. Nguyen and his brother, just children when the family fled Vietnam and assumed the burdensome mantle of refugees, were just as helpless as adults when their parents were forced to sell their business and see it demolished for a gleaming $343 million City Hall tower and rotunda. Whatever is left of the New Saigon Market lies fossilized at a depth reserved for milk-carton mobsters and earthworms.

>The $20 general admission fee covers a tasting flight of seven 3-ounce pours, as well as four hours of live music and tipsy mingling in the warm, rustic ambiance of the vast venue. There will also be a VIP lounge for those who want to support local nonprofits, and the $40 admission grants early-bird entry to the beer garden and exclusive access to the Brewers' Lounge, where guests can pick the brains of local brewmasters. VIP members will also get a taste of Chef Lee Hernandez's seasonal selection of small plates.

So he took to the podium, looked over the dais, and ever-so-gently scolded San Jose's mayor and council, which, in honoring him for winning the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, had gathered in the very building that erased his parents' American dream. Nguyen and his brother, just children when the family fled Vietnam and assumed the burdensome mantle of refugees, were just as helpless as adults when their parents were forced to sell their business and see it demolished for a gleaming $343 million City Hall tower and rotunda. Whatever is left of the New Saigon Market lies fossilized at a depth reserved for milk-carton mobsters and earthworms.

Heinz Jones enjoys the simple things in life, or so it would seem. Maybe it's his red, foot-long beard. One gets the impression the former techie has found the keys to eternal contentment. And yet, as he discusses the genesis of Forager Tasting Room + Eatery, his eyes light up with a glint of ambition. He isn't so content after all. Forager is on a mission to revolutionize the local culinary and sips scene.

The India Pale Ale is a lot like like reality TV: its dominance within, and influence upon, the industry that birthed it is undeniable. Just as virtually every network has a take on the reality genre, it seems impossible to find a taproom or beer aisle without at least one IPA.