Breweries don’t need an excuse to make a special beer. But it certainly doesn’t hurt. This weekend, Angry James Brewing Co. and Outer Range Brewing Co are celebrating their anniversaries, and with them comes an avalanche of fresh brews dropping.

Silverthorne’s Angry James is celebrating its fourth anniversary through Saturday, Jan. 29. Friday, Jan. 28, will have live music from Neighbors starting at 5 p.m. The celebration culminates Saturday with the release of its anniversary India pale ale on draft and in cans when doors open at 11 a.m. The American-style IPA is 8.2% alcohol by volume and is brewed with Citra, Chinook and Mosaic hops.

Fans of IPAs should also make their way to Outer Range on Saturday for the Frisco brewery’s fifth anniversary from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Outer Range usually celebrates in December, but the party was moved to January because of the scale. A whopping 18 beers will be released, ranging from light Pilsners to dark stouts with plenty of IPAs in between.

Along with the beer, multiple retailers will have pop-ups. Expect to see Basecamp Wine & Spirits with Champagne, Hoplark release a new HopTea, gear from Weston and more. The brands will be dotted around a huge, heated tent outside that will have its own bar.

Near the tent are obstacles built for a rail jam right in the parking lot. Athletes like Darby Pappas, Corey Van Aken and others are scheduled to compete for prizes. As you watch, munch on food from Bird Craft, Pure Kitchen or the new Lady in the Wild food truck.

Camille Shoemaker, who has worked at Outer Range in addition to making pastries for Mountain Dweller Coffee Roasters inside the same building, is taking the next step in her private chef business with the food truck. The cuisine will focus on farm-to-table Mediterranean dishes like falafel, couscous salad and chicken bowls as well as hummus and baba ghanoush and tzatziki dips.

The food will be prepared from a 1956 camper that Shoemaker got from her sister and has been working on since the fall. It combines Shoemaker’s passion for sharing food as well as her desire to constantly learn new things.

While debuting at Outer Range, the camper van won’t often be seen in Summit County. Shoemaker is moving to Denver, and the business will mainly be used for farmers markets, private events and weddings rather than have a set location schedule.

“I’ve worked at Outer Range for two years, and I’ve known (co-founders Emily and Lee Cleghorn) for four or five years,” Shoemaker said. “They’re both really amazing people and have been huge mentors for me and my career and my business.”

People can wash it all down with the multitude of Outer Range beers. Most coming out that day are new, but there are also classics like a version of the Steezy IPA and a rerelease of Timber, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with vanilla that has been sitting in a cellar for two years.

One standout is the fifth anniversary double dry-hopped IPA made with Mosaic, Nelson, Galaxy and Motueka hops. It is 7.8% ABV, and Lee Cleghorn said the beer reflects their brewing IPA style.

Some more interesting IPAs include Boujee and a double dry-hopped variant of In the Deep Steep. Both are made with Phantasm, a special powder that comes from Marlborough sauvignon grapes from New Zealand. The compound increases the white wine and tropical notes found in the hazy beers. Boujee also has grape must, the freshly crushed fruit juice, from California as an ingredient to accentuate the flavors even more.

Other unique offerings include Jaunty — a peach cobbler milkshake IPA — and Spritz, a fruited kettle sour made with dark cherry, lemon zest and orange that is meant to taste like an Aperol spritz cocktail.

Lastly, there’s an imperial pastry stout cuvee kit made up of Nutella, banana and crepe beers packaged in three 500 milliliter bottles. People can buy the trio already cuveed, or blended, for a crepe flavor on tap, or people can mix them at home in their desired ratios. The beers can be paired with the same-flavored crepes made by Shoemaker.

“Start small,” Lee Cleghorn said as a tip for home blenders. “An ounce of each one to figure out what you like.”

With so many options to choose from, which will you pick first?

Jefferson Geiger is the arts and entertainment editor for the Summit Daily News and managing editor for Explore Summit. Have a question about beer? Send him an email at jgeiger@summitdaily.com.