Topeka may be the capital of the state, but it is becoming clearer each year that Lawrence is the Kansas capital of beer.

Sorry Topeka. We’re not trading.

If you don’t believe me, just watch what happens in the next few hours. Today is the day that craft beer lovers from around the region have circled, and it is not just because it is Kansas Day. No, today — at 6 p.m. — is when tickets go on sale for the third annual Kansas Craft Brewers Exposition. (But happy Kansas Day, by the way.)

The expo is set for March 8 at Abe & Jake’s Landing at Sixth and New Hampshire streets. Last year it was estimated that tickets for the event sold out in about 45 minutes. But organizers have made a change this year that they hope will make it easier for more people to attend. The expo will hold two sessions on Saturday. Session No. 1 will last from noon to 3 p.m. Session No. 2 will last from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

But you probably still shouldn’t dally in getting your tickets, which are $30 per person. They will be available online at ksbrewfest.com or at a few locations. In Lawrence, the only locations are at Free State Brewery and at 23rd Street Brewery. If you are in Topeka, they are available at the Blind Tiger Brewery. If you are in the Kansas City area, they are available at 75th Street Brewery and Bacchus & Barleycorn. If you are in Manhattan, well, you probably will need a lot more beer than we can legally offer you to make that experience bearable. (Tickets are available at the Little Apple Brewery, however.)

A portion of ticket sales again will be donated to the nonprofit Downtown Lawrence Inc.

As for the beer, Abe & Jake’s again will be packed with brewers. The current list of brewers attending stands at 35. It, of course, includes Free State and 23rd Street here in Lawrence. It also includes heavyweights such as Boulevard, Odell, New Belgium and Sierra Nevada. And it includes a whole bunch of ones that just sound like fun: Left Hand Brewing, Crazy Eye Brewing, Peace Tree Brewing and Cinder Block Brewery. See the full list here.

If you are not familiar with how the expo works, your ticket gets you access to sample brews from all the different vendors, and it also is your chance to talk with the brewers about their craft.

Craft beer expos have become a big deal in the world of event-based tourism, and it will be interesting to watch how this one grows. Lawrence is well-positioned, it seems, to have one of the more successful beer expos in the country. Free State Brewery founder Chuck Magerl is extremely well-respected nationwide in the craft beer industry and has developed a ton of contacts in that world. Magerl is one of the organizers of the expo and has thrown his full support behind it. Lawrence-based Grandstand Sportswear and Glassware is the major supplier of glass growlers for the craft brewing industry worldwide. And in Kansas City, Boulevard Brewery is certainly now well-funded after it was purchased by Belgian brewer Duvel Moortgat. It is well-known the Belgians have beer money coming out of their lederhosen. (I know lederhosen is German, but when you have as much money as the Belgians, you can afford to buy imported breeches.)

Lawrence’s downtown and the unique venue of Abe & Jake’s along the Kansas River also could help set the expo apart from others in the region. The fact that the event has expanded to two sessions this year is significant. It will be fun to watch what expansions may take place in the future.

In other news and notes from around town:

• Maybe we should make some type of artwork to express our love of beer in Lawrence. I know what we could use for material: beer bottles. A new report from City Hall indicates we have plenty of them. For 2013, area residents recycled 1,197 tons of glass through the Ripple Glass recycling bins that are located across the city. That, according to city calculations, is the equivalent of 4.7 million bottles. Now, I’m not saying all of them are beer bottles, but if you have ever stuck your head in one of those recycling bins (don’t leave it in there very long, by the way), you’ll have to admit a lot of them are beer bottles.

So, as I tell my accountant this time of year, let’s have some fun with math. The latest Census estimate has Lawrence’s population at 89,512, and, yes, that includes students. So 4.7 million bottles would equal 52.5 bottles per year for every man, woman and child in the city. The Census estimates that the population above 18 years old in Lawrence is 73,847. (I know the drinking age is still 21, but somehow I think we’ll still be scientifically valid by using over 18 years of age.) That equates to 63 bottles of beer per year for every person over 18 years old. In other words, about one and a quarter beers per week.

That sounds about right — if I am an extremely naive parent who wants to believe their university students spend about 98 percent of all their time at the library.

No, what this little math exercise has proved to me is that there is still a lot of beer bottles that get thrown in the trash. As a reminder, the city’s curbside recycling program — which will begin in October — will accept glass. It will be interesting to see what those numbers are, because as I think I have mentioned, Lawrence really likes beer.

• It is less clear whether Lawrence likes the idea of a new rental licensing and inspection program. As we have been reporting for months, the city is seriously considering an inspection program that would cover the entire city, instead of just the single family rental units that get periodic inspections.

Well, there is news on that front. A key vote on the program was scheduled for next week’s City Commission meeting, but that has now been postponed. City Commissioner Jeremy Farmer says he wants more data about the city’s current rental inspection program before he’s ready to cast a vote. A new date for the vote hasn’t yet been set, but I know some commissioners will push for it to be within a month.

Farmer has said people shouldn’t take his request for a delay as a sign that he is withdrawing his support for the program. But it is worth noting that the program doesn’t appear to have an abundance of votes on the City Commission. Mayor Mike Dever and Commissioner Mike Amyx both have expressed various concerns over how the program would be structured. I hope to bring you more on this new development later today.

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