There's a little story behind the name 1519 Barker, which I shared both on the recipe page "1519 Barker Exportbier", and on the brew day blog post 1519 Barker Exportbier (Batch 361)
My intention of brewing 1519 Barker was to capture the essence of how I remember my favorite beer in college.
The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I are done with Round 5 of our A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts.
We started last August with A is for AC Golden Tank Room and just recently finished with Z is for Zymos Brewing.
Amazingly enough, we were able to cover most of the letters of the alphabet without taking too much "artistic license".
We made it to "H" before we didn't have a brewery that started with the letter and decided to do H is for Left Hand RiNo Drinks & Eats.
And, if I'm counting correctly, we only had to choose a total of 9 breweries that didn't start with the letter we were on. Not bad considering we've been through the alphabet 4 times before this round.
Will-o-Wisp Autumn Ale is a bewitching brew that captures the essence of fall without relying on the overdone pumpkin spice craze. This ale is crafted with a blend of rich, caramel malts that provide a deep amber hue and a robust, toasty flavor. Hints of dark fruit and a subtle earthiness round out the profile, making it a perfect companion for crisp autumn evenings. The finish is dry and slightly bitter, balanced by a smooth, lingering maltiness that leaves you craving another sip.
Every year since I started homebrewing (way back in 2009), I've brewed an X-Mas Ale to have around the holidays.
The base beer was always a very similar "Winter Warmer", and I'd add various ingredients to make it more of a "Holiday" Beer.
Over the years, I added wood spirals, vanilla, cherry pomegranate, chocolate, peppermint, peanut butter, hazelnut, cherry, and many other flavorings.
Some years, I brewed the base beer without the "festive" flavorings.
When I started thinking about the 2024 X-Mas Ale, I had been doing the Roll-a-Style series of brews for over a year.
17A. British Strong Ale had been sitting on the list for quite some time, and at some point I wondered if I should just mark off that as a style that I had already brewed as one of my base-beer-only X-Mas Ales.
But ... I decided that this style wasn't exactly what I was brewing on the base beers.
I decided, though, that I would switch up the base a bit to make it match the "British Strong" a little closer, and make this new recipe the 2024 X-Mas ale.
I pretended to roll an "18" ...
After my #1200MileSeptember, it isn't a surprise that I've been cycling less in October. Even so, I logged over 625 Strava cycling miles for the month.
As of the 1st of the month (which is when I'm typing this), I'm over 6,900 miles with over 353,000 feet climbed for the year. I've blown away my #11EverestsIn2024 goal and only need less than 200 miles to hit #7100MilesIn2024.
With 2 full months to go, it is almost a certainty that I'll be able to log 200 miles.
Of course, I also extended my #MetricCenturyEveryMonth streak with my October Metric Century.
