Bike to Work Week

Did you know it is Bike to Work Month? Did you know it is Bike to Work Week? I didn't know it until late Tuesday, but according to the League of American Bicyclists, May is Bike to Work Month and this week is Bike to Work Week. Today is even Bike to Work Day.

According to the League's 2013 Bicycle Friendly State Rankings, Colorado is ranked 2nd in "bike-friendliness", and since moving to Colorado I always told myself I should commute to work more. When I was a consultant, it was often hard as I had to be driving to various clients. I ended up riding a couple times a year.

Since joining a "real" company with an actual day-to-day location, though, I had ridden to work maybe 3 or 4 times in 3 years. My main excuse is that after a 15 mile bike ride, I am generally very sweaty. My old building did not have a shower, and I used that as an excuse not to ride.

Still More @Untappd Badges 9

It has been a long time since I've posted about my newly earned untappd badges (see First Month of Untappd and Running for Mayor @BallyFitness , and Some more Badges @Untappd , and Still More @Untappd Badges), and Still More @Untappd Badges 2 and Still More @Untappd Badges 3 and Still More @Untappd Badges 4 and Still More @Untappd Badges 5 and Still More @Untappd Badges 6, and Still More @Untappd Badges 7 and Still More @Untappd Badges 8).

I just don't come across as many opportunities to get them. I have 87 of them, and am running out of ones I don't have, and other than the special day or event ones, most of them are ones that are not necessarily easy for me to get.

Laser Salt and Eldorado Canyon

Last year, we were invited to go with a group of people to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I designed and brewed a beer to bring with us for that trip, calling it Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale. You can read quite a bit about the whole experience (including this blog post at http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Laser%20Salt).

Once again, we are invited to go with the same group. The Beer Model and I were planning on brewing Laser Salt again on Big Brew Day, but as you may recall, we had to brew something else that weekend (see Brewing for the Nationals). So, we had to move this year's Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale brew day to this past weekend.

I got started much earlier Saturday than we got started Big Brew Day. In fact, I was starting to chill the wort this weekend about the time we got started last time. My wife doesn't believe in doing anything before the sun comes up, especially brewing.

Hurray for #HomeBrewing in Alabama

At the beginning of 2013, there were still 2 states in which Home-brewing beer was illegal.

In March, Mississippi finally passed a bill to legalize home-brewing, leaving Alabama.

And now, the Alabama senate finally passed a bill that legalizes home-brewing beer in their ass-backwards state. As soon as the Governor of Alabama signs the bill, thousands of home-brewers will officially be legal.

See the American Homebrewers Association's Alabama Homebrew Bill Passes Senate .

Congratulations on joining the rest of the country, Alabama. It is about time.

Brewing for the Nationals

Did I mention that my Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier won first place at the Denver Regional round of AHA's National Home-Brew Competition in Category 7 : Amber Hybrid Beer?

Yes, I have mentioned it to lots of people. Hopefully I am not coming across too much as an arrogant, bragging ass. At some point I'll share some of the humbling things about the other beers I entered to the competition to knock myself down a couple pegs.

As I mentioned in Kind of a Big Deal, the first place win advanced my beer to the finals of the National Home-Brew Competition. Unfortunately, I did not save enough bottles to send to the finals.

This meant I had to brew it again this weekend.

As lots of you know, the first Saturday of May is National Homebrew Day, and for as long as I remember, the American Homebrewers Association has organized a Big Brew Day. Basically it is just an excuse for homebrewers to get together in packs and brew together.

The SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) and I have made it a tradition to brew together on Big Brew Day. You can follow lots of posts (including this one) by going to my Big Brew Day label on this blog. Originally, I was planning on brewing Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale with her, but the home-brew competition win changed that plan. We had to brew Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier. Luckily, the Beer Model was ok with this.

The Business of Brewing

Ooops!

I'm late. I had every intention of getting this posted Friday. I actually started the article a few weeks ago. I was going to finish it up Thursday night, but as it turns out, something exciting happened in my imaginary Brewing life that made me work on a different blog post on Thursday night. It was Kind of a Big Deal for me.

So, I decided to post this a little later. We can call it a Beer Blogging Sunday instead. Hope the rest of beer blogging community understands and doesn't shun me for my late submission.

Here it is ... time for another month's "The Session" (aka Beer Blogging Friday).

This month's topic comes from Chuck at allbeers.

He is interested in reading about The Business of Brewing. 

He writes:

 "In this Session, I’d like to invite comments and observations from bloggers and others who have first-hand knowledge of the complexities and pitfalls of starting a commercial brewery. What were the prescient decisions that saved the day or the errors of omission or commission that caused an otherwise promising enterprise to careen tragically off the rails?"

Well, here at the SheppyBrew Brewery,  we have not "gone commercial", but we like to make believe that we are a real brewery, or someday could become one. So, I don't have the "first-hand knowledge" that Chuck is looking for, but for the purposes of this article I will pretend I know what I am talking about.

Kind of a Big Deal

If you follow SheppyBrew Brewery's Facebook page, you already know this, but I am now officially an award-winning brewer. If you don't follow the SheppyBrew Brewery's Facebook page, you really should. Go like SheppyBrew!

Yes, believe it or not, my Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier won first place at the Denver Regional round of AHA's National Home-Brew Competition in Category 7 : Amber Hybrid Beer. It also had a mini-best-of-show designation. I'm not sure what exactly the mini-bos means, but it is better than not getting a mini-bos.

I'm kind of a big deal.

April 2013 Blogging

April did not beat the page-view record on this blog, but it did end up in 2nd place all-time behind March. I think this is more reasonable behavior than the steady rise the blog had from May of 2011 through January of this year. Some months should be up some should be down.

Since I know that the curiosity is killing you (yeah, right) the top 10 most viewed posts in April are: