Beer Week, cooking classes and more

Get out your calendars and scribble these down. Or click and drag them. Or do whatever you Mac users do:

• Foam fans, the first Charlotte Craft Beer Week is coming March 18-28 (yes, that's more than a week, but they're very excited). It starts from 7-9 p.m. March 18 with a Tap the Keg reception at Rock Bottom Brewery and continues with events all over the city. Get the full schedule here. Personally, I'm dying to know more about Freak Fest at Common Market. Isn't that usually held every Friday night?
• Taste of the Nation isn't April 14 (7-10 p.m., in The Atrium uptown), but if you buy a ticket in February, you get a $10 discount off the ticket price of $60 or $85 for VIP. Go to charlottetasteofthenation.com and enter the code "TASTECLT" in the promotional code field. This year's event features 25 restaurants, plus a mixologist event, silent auction and live music. Money raised goes to Share Our Strength to work toward ending childhood hunger in Charlotte. Details: 704-334-6134.
• Cooking Uptown, 1707 E. 7th St., will bring back Thursday evening classes in March. Owner Karen Cooley also has her lineup of April classes, and she's added a Lebanese class for March 20. Go to cookinguptown.com for the schedule.
• Heidi Billotto will teach a special Chef's Choice class at Johnson & Wales from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Feb. 20. The theme is "Easy and Elegant Dinner Party for Four," and the cost is $140. She also has Saturday morning classes through February at Reid's Fine Foods. Go here to register for the JWU class; go here for Reids.