"Dry January" Beers

I don't really believe in "Dry January" in the same way I don't really believe in New Year resolutions.

I don't understand why if you want to make a change on yourself you would wait until January. If you want to make a change, do it when you identify the change you want to make.

If you're not feeling good because the amount of alcohol you're drinking right now ... don't wait for a specific month. Just stop drinking or reduce your drinking now.

But ... I do understand that "Dry January" is a major thing. You shouldn't decide whether or not YOU do "Dry January" based on my opinion.

Do what you think makes sense for you.

If you follow my Instagram page or my personal Facebook stories, you might have seen me adding a "Dry January" Beer every day this month.

Yes, I was mostly making fun of "Dry January" ... but is was also a way for me to support local breweries during a tough month for these small businesses.

I did throw in a few SheppyBrew Beers, but most were commercial breweries fairly close to my house.

And most, were beers I purchased and consumed at their respective breweries.

A couple of the breweries were in Aurora. 

Probably the most were Littleton Breweries. 

There were a couple of Lakewood Breweries.

Obviously some Denver Breweries.

At least one Arvada Brewery.

A least a few of these beers you've already seen on some of my A to Z posts this month.

One of the beers I posted on my stories was one I purchased from a brewery that went out of business in December.

The rest are from breweries that are currently up and open. 

Some of these were out at places out with the SheppyBrew Beer Model.

Some were on my back patio.

Several were on various bike rides.

I had light lagers. I had Stouts.

I had IPA's. Some classic, some west coast, some hazy.

Hoppy pale ales and amber lagers.

I even had a "Kentucky Common". 

Light and dark, and everything in between.

Heavy and light and everything in between.

So, my story showed one beer a day for every day in January.

For the most part, I posted a beer I drank that day, but for a few I saved beers from brewery visits to post on days I didn't actually consume a beer.

Somehow, it all worked out.

For the record, I won't post as many beers on my stories in February, but I am not abstaining in February either.

I'll probably do my usual "Dry February" ... no drinking on February 29th - 31st.

Happy New Year, everyone!

As always keep watching the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with my BBQ, Beer, Biking: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.Of course, don't forget to visit this blog often as well!

U is for LŪki Brewery

HA! Three A to Z Brewery Posts in a row!

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have a pretty good idea what this A to Z series is all about ... but just in case you're wondering ...

Back in February of 2015, I was embarrassed by the number of Denver Breweries that I had never visited.

I decided to make an effort to hit more of them.

As I started to look at the list, it struck me that I could go down the list alphabetically and find Denver-area breweries that started with just about every letter.

So, I did. And ... we've gone through 5 whole rounds. Now we're on our 6th time through the alphabet.

After T is for The Post Chicken & Beer (Rosedale), we are up to the letter "U".

U is for LŪki Brewery

T is for The Post Chicken & Beer (Rosedale)

We're still working through Round 6 of the A to Z Series of posts.

If you've been following the blog, you know we hit S is for Second Dawn Brewing Company just a couple of days ago.

And ... of course that means it was time to pick a "T" brewery.

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we did have a couple of "T" breweries to pick from.

Honestly, though one of the breweries on the list is one I really don't like. And a few others I was considering were a little farther than I wanted to travel.

I ended up picking a restaurant close to our house that isn't technically a brewery ....

T is for The Post Chicken & Beer (Rosedale)

S is for Second Dawn Brewing Company

So ... yes ... we are chugging away on Round 6 of the A to Z Series of posts.

We had a long 6 month delay between N is for North River Brewery (RiNo) and O is for Odell Brewing 5 Points, but our more recent posts have come fairly fast.

This is our 4th A to Z posts in December and January, and we're up to "S".

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we had a couple good choices for "S" breweries.

And ... a couple of Saturdays ago, based on the hours of operation, we packed a lunch and picked .... Big S. Little S. What begins with S?

S is for Second Dawn Brewing Company

2024 #Strava #YearInSport

If you've been following along on this blog for awhile, you may remember that I have been sharing my Strava YearInSport stats over the past couple of years.

I pay more attention to my cycling goals and totals on Strava, but the YearInSport stats cover all activities.

Sort of interesting to me. Not sure if any blog readers care, but I'll share regardless. To be honest, this just helps me compare year-to-year how I do.

It is also interesting to see what Strava reports in it's YearInSport stats from year to year.

Anyway ...

 

Hop-cember Pale Ale (Batch 387)

I brewed for the first time in 2025 this past Sunday.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you might have seen the brew-day post.

This is my first time brewing since I got the Skadoosh Blond Ale (Batch 386) batch done.

As I mentioned in SheppyBrew 2025 Year End Brewing Stats, I only brewed 95 gallons last year. I was actually planning on brewing this batch before the end of the year, but the timing just never really worked out.

So, I finally brewed it last Sunday. 

If I'm counting correct, this is my 387th batch of beer in my brewing career and my 101st batch of beer in my Anvil Foundry ...

Hop-cember Pale Ale

SheppyBrew 2025 Year End Brewing Stats

Here it is, 2026 already. It is crazy how fast the year flew by.

If you follow along on this blog at all, you probably know that after each quarter, I "report" my SheppyBrew Brewing Stats.

And, now it is time for me to report on the SheppyBrew 2025 Year End Brewing Stats.

So ... in the 4th quarter of 2025, I brewed 5 batches of beer:

• Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter
• Tafel Mystère Belgian Single
• X-Mas Ale 2025
• Yoker Belgian Tripel 
• Skadoosh Blond Ale

This puts me exactly where I was last year. I brewed 19 batches of beer for 95 gallons for the year. Another year at less than 100 gallons of beer.

Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter