Well, it’s that annual event that makes the start of May a crazy time. No, not Cinco de Mayo, the latest foreign holiday that’s been turned into an excuse for Americans to get wacky. It’s my birthday. Yes, old Stoutmeister is, well, older. So what does a 34-year-old beer blogger do to celebrate?

Drink beer, of course. Though it has to be within reason, as my allergies mutated into a sinus infection (third Crew member to get one of those this miserable, sniffy spring). So after the midnight showing of The Avengers (Scarlett Johansson in 3D … thank you, lord) to kick things off (it lived up to all my expectations; go see it ASAP!), I will be hanging with some of the Crew at Friday night’s Isotopes game, reporting on just what are all the good beers to enjoy out here (they smartly do not allow the press to drink during games we’re reporting on). After that we will probably hit up Tractor and a TBD brewery. Chama River just put 3 Dog Night, its GABF-award-winning Baltic porter, back on tap, so that might just prove to be too strong of a pull to resist.

After all that I will almost certainly be taking it easy on Cinco de Mayo, but plenty of local breweries will be having festivities going on, including:

• Nexus will release its Zaragoza Ale as part of a day of special food and music.
• Broken Bottle is taking $1 off pints all day and will be showing the UFC fight card in the evening.
• La Cumbre will feature Calishaw performing, beginning at 7 p.m.
• Before Cinco, Il Vicino will properly celebrate May the Fourth Be With You. Anyone in Star Wars gear can get their picture taken for the IVCB Facebook page, with the best or most outrageous costume being awarded a $20 gift certificate. So dig up that Boba Fett gear, people!

There will probably be other events that will be announced, so if you’re on Facebook and you haven’t done so already, click “like” on the pages of your favorite breweries. That is usually the best way to stay updated as not every brewery remembers to update their primary Web pages.

As for the rest of the Crew, no one has any major plans for the weekend beyond Friday’s shenanigans. Franz Solo will be doing important things, like working and house-hunting, while also enjoying a bomber of Stone’s Russian Imperial Stout (yum). E-Rock will be playing lots of music in lots of places all around New Mexico. Cryptogrind will be working on another writing project, while Shilling will be, uh, well, we don’t know. We hope to get him back out in the world of the living soon, but for now, we assume he’s fighting zombies to protect us all.

That’s it from us, hope you all have a great weekend, whether you’re celebrating a random birthday, Mexico’s independence from France, or just enjoying this wonderful time of year when baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer overlap.

Cheers!

— The NMDSBC