The release of Russian River Brewing’s Pliny the Younger was just the start of the brew-madness filtering through the Bay Area this month. Feb. 10 through 19 is San Francisco Beer Week, a hop-tastic gathering of thousands. Up in our neck of the woods, you’ll find a number of related events including the release of Racer X Double IPA at Bear Republic and the much-anticipated Winter Beer Dinner (345 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg); Barrel Aged Cellar Releases at Whole Foods Coddingtown Tap Room (390 Coddingtown Mall, Santa Rosa); IPA’s in Asia at McNear’s (23 Petaluma Boulevard North Petaluma); RateBeer’s Best of 2012 and beer-tasting dinner at Hopmonk Tavern (691 Broadway, Sonoma); Grand Teton Meet the Brewer (Taps, 205 Kentucky St., Petaluma) and the Black and White Beer Ball, a fundraising event for Autism (ales4autism.org for tickets and details).