Magnolia b-day beers

I think I celebrated my birthday on more days this year than any other year. And for the boring number 31! What a lucky girl I am. The final fiesta for my new age happened last night at Magnolia, a remarkable mid-week rally of med schoolers. Amid reminiscing about our recent vacations and discharging stress about "transitional clerkship," I revisited a tasty Mags beer I often neglect, the Blue Bell Bitter. You can see from Megan's face how much she was digging her Cole Porter. Scott briefly strayed from his all-IPA-all-the-time routine to try the Oysterhead Stout... only to take home a growler of Proving Ground. Not even a seafood brew can derail that man.

Humboldt does brew

In a partial repeat of Brew Tour Uno, Scott and I headed north to the land of Hemp Ale. Humboldt Brews in Arcata has changed its layout, but their signature beer still cuts it. As part of my dream day of a birthday, we hit Six Rivers Brewery in McKinleyville with high hopes. As you can see from Gagner's response to the Chili Pepper Ale, we weren't totally wowed. "Why would anybody do this to themselves?" It really was like a nasty liquid jalepeno popper. The Bluff Creek Pale Ale, which won the Rod Award, actually had some good hop to it and was deemed "tastier than Sierra" by our resident Sierra devotee. We also liked the Blarney Stout, which was on nitrogen, making it nice and creamy smooth.

The pub has a cool collection of vintage (1980s) microbrew posters and bottles. But the best artifact was the flier for some band called Ass Castle. The Boneless Children Foundation has some competition on the band name front.