One way to celebrate San Diego’s beer bounty? Drinking regionally crafted brews with bites that complement hops and barley.

And this annual Taste Of San Diego Craft Brews event on Feb. 16—a fundraiser for the San Diego History Center—builds excitement for a spring exhibition titled “Bottled & Kegged: San Diego’s Craft Brew Culture.”

Get a digital sneak peek at the exhibit, learn about the county’s 60-plus breweries, participate in an auction…and savor the fact that you’re drinking beer in a museum.

Taste of San Diego Craft Brews 2013

5 to 9 p.m. Saturday Feb. 16. San Diego History Center, 1649 El Prado Suite 3, Balboa Park. $45; $75 VIP. (619) 232-6203 or sandiegohistory.org/tasteofsandiego.

Thanks to a Taste Of insider, here’s the double-team menu for next Saturday’s event. Or, as we like to call it, Ideas For Our Own Knockoff Beer Dinners:

  • Stone Brewing Co.’s Stone Smoked Porter & Oaked Arrogant Bastard with Carnitas’ Snack Shack’s pork cheek pâté, cracker, pickled mirepoix, lardo, smoked sea salt
  • Ballast Point Brewing Co’s Sea Monster Imperial Stout & Dorado IPA with Urge American Gastropub’s signature meatloaf and mac & cheese bites
  • Hess Brewing’s Grazias Vienna Cream Ale with Toronado’s agave-charred watermelon salad with cojita cheese & arugula spiced pistachios
  • Aztec Brewery’s Sacrifice Red IPA & Noche de los Muertos with So Rich Chocolates’ Citrus Crush, white chocolate with crystallized grapefruit peel
  • AleSmith Brewing Company’s Grand Cru & AleSmith IPA with Ritual Tavern’s butter-poached bay scallops, fingerling potatoes confit with lemon and watermelon radish
  • Green Flash’s West Coast IPA & Hop Head Red with Leroy’s Kitchen & Lounge’s aged Gouda beer soup with pancetta and caramelized onion pulled pork sliders
  • Karl Strauss’ Tower 10 IPA with Venissimo Cheese Co.’s Red Dragon Cheese
  • Monkey Paw Pub & Brewery’s Valentine Ale & Barley Wine with Small Bar’s orange-lemon sourdough French toast with seasonal berries, whipped cream, Shagbark hickory syrup and house-ground spicy hop sausage
  • Rock Bottom Gaslamp’s Angry Dragon Imperial IPA with Rock Bottom Gaslamp’s beer-braised short rib sliders with horseradish crème sauce
  • Rock Bottom La Jolla’s Moonlite Porter/MaryJane IPA/Naughty Scot with Rock Bottom La Jolla’s seared pork tenderloin with a cocoa spice rub