In the lead up to the holidays and into the new year, Toronto is making the most of the cold snap with festive parties, beer festivals, pub crawls and fundraisers.

Here are my picks for the top food events and festivals taking place this winter in Toronto.

12 Bars of Christmas, December 11, 2014
This charity initiative for The Stop Community Food Centre will see 6 breweries and 13 craft beer bars join together for one ultimate beer crawl. Four buses running from 6pm to midnight will be making a circuit through 12 stops between Get Well and The Only Cafe. Bus passes cost $10 and $1 from every pint to charity.

Eat n' Mingle, December 12, 2014
Foodee presents this holiday social from 7pm at the Burroughs Building (639 Queen St. W.) The event will showcase catering partners Porchetta & Co., The Food Dudes, Japango, and Butter Avenue and tickets (priced at $30 per person) include all food sampling.

Toronto Plate Swap, December 21 2014
The Winter Chef Series is already underway with 12-course dinners being presented throughout the month. The series culminates with The Toronto Plate Swap at The Templar Kitchen (348 Adelaide St. West) where chefs will each create a dish for the multi-course tasting menu. Proceeds from the dinner (priced at $89) will go to support The Children's Breakfast Club.

Pop-ups at the Drake One Fifty, January 20 - 21 2015
The Drake One Fifty will continue to host out-of-town chefs in 2015 with the first pop-up dinner planned to feature a collaborative Portuguese fusion menu from David Santos of Thomas Keller's Per Se and resident Executive Chef, Ted Corrado.

Roundhouse Winter Craft Beer Festival, January 31 2015
The second annual Winter Craft Beer Festival hosted by Steam Whistle Brewery returns to the Roundhouse Park from 11am to 5pm. Over 20 breweries and 5 food trucks have already confirmed they'll be in attendance, and the first 500 people through the gates will get a 2015 festival toque. Tickets are on sale now for $20 (+$5 at the gate).

Winterlicious, January 30 - February 12 2015
The prolific prix-fixe festival returns at restaurants citywide. Look forward to the full list of participating restaurants and menus, plus the program for the culinary event series to be announced in the coming weeks.

FeBREWary, February 1 2015
Beau's month-long celebration of beers is back in February with new special editions released each week and events, and tap take-overs happening at beer bars all month. While details have yet to be released, word on the street is that the first release will correspond with International Gruit Day.

La Poutine Week, February 1 - 7 2015
Celebrate this gravy-covered national treasure at restaurants in Montreal, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Ottawa, New York and Toronto. Confirmed Toronto participants already include Poutineville, Cut the Cheese, Marky & Sparky's, Joy Bistro, Mr. Ciao, Holy Chuck, Caplansky's, Duke's Refresher + Bar, Fancy Franks and Lou Dawgs.

Yum Cha, February 21 2015
Spotlight City Events has big plans for 2015, and it all kicks off with a fresh roster of chefs dishing up their finest dumplings, bao and spring rolls at the second annual dim sum festival at Daniel's Spectrum. General admission will be $10, but there will also be the option to buy one of 200 passports ($50) that will be good for a whole year of delicious events.

Recipe for Change 2015 , February 26 2015
FoodShare Toronto's annual fundraiser takes place from 6pm to 9pm at the St. Lawrence Market North Building. A limited number of early bird tickets are available now for $100, for the party featuring 30 chefs, two craft brewers, and four wineries.

What did I miss? Add more winter food events to the comments.

Photo of the inaugural Yum Cha festival by Jesse Milns.