2020 Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

It is winter. Time to brew a Winter Saison.

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

Yes, here at SheppyBrew Brewery, we brew at least 4 saisons every year.

Winter Spring Summer Autumn.

I call them my Seasonal Saison series of beers.

The Arctic Vortex Winter Saison happens to be a black saison, because winter is generally dark ... and it would be boring to make all my saisons look the same.

This past weekend, I brewed this year's Arctic Vortex Winter Saison.

Got the ingredients on Friday. Made a yeast starter on Saturday. Brewed on Sunday.

P is for Peak to Peak Brewery

If you follow my "A to Z Denver Breweries Project", you know that I finished 2019 strong.

During the year, I worked my way from  1 is for 14er Brewing Company to O is for Ohm Brewing Company.

Most of those brewery visits were after July.

I got to B is for Briar Common Brewery + Eatery in early April, and didn't get to C is for Colorado Plus Brew Pub until August.

So, I hit 16 new breweries in alphabetical order over 11 months ... and 13 of those in 4 months.

My first time through, it took me 20 months to get to "O" (O is for Our Mutual Friend Brewing Company).

I don't think I'll keep up the ridiculous pace that I did after August last year, but I am planning on finishing my way through the alphabet by the end of 2020. If I do one a month, I should finish by November.

Then, I'll probably start over again, but we'll talk about that when we get there.

So, as you know ... after "O" comes "P". Big "P". Little "p". What begins with "P"?

Peak to Peak Brewery P, p, P

#5000MilesIn2020

Soooooo ... if you follow SheppyBrew on Instagram or Facebook, you might have seen me post that I logged over 2,500 bike miles on Strava in 2019.

If you saw my posts about the Great Cycle Challenge, you know that 1000 of those miles were in June, and I hardly did any riding at all before May.

Seeing those numbers, I thought something like ... "I can ride 5,000 miles in a year ... easy".

("easy" might be stretching it)

SheppyBrew 2019 Year-End Brewing Stats

2019 is over. It sure went fast. SheppyBrew did brew a bunch this year.

As you may know, the Brewery likes to post quarterly updates on how much we have brewed. You can see all these updates (including the one you are reading right now) by following this link: Sheppy's Blog: Brew Stats.

The forth quarter was light compared to the rest of the year. We only brewed 4 beers.

• X-Mas Ale 2019
• Dearg Irish Red
• What the Helles Dortmunder
• Peppermint Porter

Those 4 batches totaled almost 20 gallons of beer, bringing my 2019 total up to almost 110 gallons over 20 batches of beer. 

O is for Ohm Brewing Company

If you follow this blog semi-regularly ... you're probably familiar with my "A to Z Denver Breweries Project"

Basically, I am making my way through the many breweries in the Denver area.

At some point, I thought it would be fun to work my way through alphabetically, so that is what I'm doing.

Between March of 2015 and January of 2019, I worked my way from A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company to Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company

In 2019 ... I have already worked my way from 1 is for 14er Brewing Company to O.

And ... quite frankly ... most of those brewery visits have been since August ... less than half a year.

I flying through the alphabet this time through. Flying!

Why am I moving so much faster? Well... this time the Beer Model is more involved, and she pushes me much harder than I was pushing before.

Also (probably even a bigger factor) ... my kids are both in High School and it is increasingly difficult to get them up on the weekends to go do things ... so my wife and I find ourselves doing more things without the kids.

This includes drinking at breweries.

Anyway ... as I mentioned, we are up to "O". Big "O". little "o". What begins with "O".

O is for Ohm Brewing Company

Christmas Ribeye Roast

Last year, I smoked a Christmas Ribeye Roast, and my wife wanted prime rib again this year, so we decided that I would smoke one again for Christmas dinner.

The process is fairly simple.

Apply rub.

Smoke low and slow for a few hours until the internal temperature is a little lower than you want it to finish at.

Sear the roast on all sides to get a nice crust on it.

Let it rest few minutes and then slice it up.

Serve and eat.

Easy.

Just like last year, we got a 6ish pound Ribeye Roast on sale at our grocery store a few days before Christmas.

Just like last year, I trimmed up some the fat and applied a rub to the roast on Christmas eve.

N is for New Image Brewing Company

As you probably know if you follow this blog semi-regularly, I have made it my quest to visit more Denver breweries.

Back in 2015 ... I noticed that if you look at a list of Breweries in the Denver area ... most of the alphabet was covered in the fist letters of Brewery names.

In March of 2015, I decided to start with "A" (A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company).

In January of 2019, I finished with "Z" (Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company)

And, this year, I've started over at A is for Alternation Brewing Company.

I call it my my A to Z Denver Breweries Project, you can follow along by bookmarking the link.

Remember M is for Mirror Image Brewing Company? As you can tell, I'm working my way through the brewery alphabet much faster this time than the first time.

At the end of that M post, I mentioned ...

"I have an "N" brewery picked out. Stay tunded on Sheppy's Blog: A to Z to find out what I pick."

Not only did I have one already picked out, but The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I had already visited the brewery when I wrote that.

N is for New Image Brewing Company