The Guinness Brewery is hosting their annual self-congratulatory toast this Friday at 11 p.m. All across the nation, pub goers will raise a glass to their favorite stout, but Denver gets an extra-special salute. Guinness head brewmaster Fergal Murray will be in town, touring some of Denver’s best pubs and sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of the Guinness brand and brews.

I chatted with Murray earlier this week, and I’m planning to swing by one (or more) of his planned pub stops to meet him in person. The Dublin native has been with Guinness for 15 years, and his full-time gig is to travel the world promoting his product. Not a bad job for a beer fanatic, eh? Denver was chosen to host Murray since we consume kegs upon kegs of the foamy brew. Murray says Colorado has a “great heritage of drinking beer” and that his prior visits to Denver for the annual toast were “quite an occassion.” We’ll drink to that.

Murray’s tour through town is just a way of saying thank you to our many Guinness guzzlers, and gives fans a chance to ask about the history, process, and future plans for the 247-year-old brewery. Want to join us on the official Guinness pub crawl? Find Murray and his stout-sipping revelers at the Cherry Cricket in Cherry Creek from 6:30 until 8 p.m. (approximately), the Irish Snug on Colfax from the 8ish until 9:30 p.m., and at Fado Irish Pub in Lodo from 10 until 11:30 p.m. The toast itself takes place at Fado’s at 11.