X-Mas Lager 2026 (Batch 401)

I'm not brewing an X-Mas Ale this year!

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 is always a pretty similar Winter Warmer. High(ish) in alcohol. Dark amber to brown. A caramel malt flavor.

On top of the base beer, I've added all kinds of flavoring to make the beer more "holiday". Over the years, I added wood spirals, vanilla, cherry pomegranate, chocolate, peppermint, peanut butter, hazelnut, cherry, and many other flavorings.

But this year, no X-Mas Ale. This year I decided to brew ...

X-Mas Lager 2026

O is for Odell Brewing Sloan’s Lake Brewhouse

So, there was a bit of a delay in our A to Z series between  M is for Mad Macks Brewing and N is for 4 Noses - Broomfield.

And now ... we're up to the letter "O".

If you follow this blog, you know what I'm referring to ... but ....

If you don't know what that means ... my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I work our way through the alphabet, visiting a local brewery for each letter.

We've done this 6 full times and are working on #7. At "N", we're more than half-way through round 7!

Last round when on the letter "O" we picked O is for Odell Brewing 5 Points. This time we're going with another Odell Location:

O is for Odell Brewing Sloan’s Lake Brewhouse

N is for 4 Noses - Broomfield

It has been over a month since we've posted anything to the  A to Z series of posts.

If you're following along on the A to Z series of posts, and/or read M is for Mad Macks Brewing, you know we are up to the letter "N".

If you don't know what that means ... my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I work our say through the alphabet, visiting a local brewery for each letter.

We've done this 6 full times and are working on #7. At "N", we're more than half-way through round 7!

I mentioned last time that we are likely headed to Broomfield ... and Halloween Saturday we packed a lunch and headed up to ...

N is for 4 Noses - Broomfield

October Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

As you know if you follow this blog, I generally give a monthly update on my fitness / Strava goals. I'm sure no one besides myself really cares, but I figure sharing these publicly give me a little extra motivation because of the extra accountability.

Plus, from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was in the past.

In previous years, my goals have been mostly around cycling, but starting this year, I've started running as well.

If you're interested, You can always track these workouts on Strava. 

So far, I'm tracking pretty well to my 2026 Fitness goals, although a couple of aches and pains (not quite injuries) do seem to be slowing me down a bit (at least on running).

About Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch

So ... I brewed Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch a little over a month ago (see Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch (Batch #399)), and kegged it towards the beginning of October.

Despite the name, this is not really a Kölsch. And ... no Khupacabras were harmed in the brewing of this beer. Come to think of it, Kolorado isn't really a thing either.

The yeast I used for this beer was from a small Colorado yeast lab "Propagate Lab", and they named it Colorado Kolsch (#MIP-511). I harvested this from my newest version of Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch, which also wasn't really a Kölsch. I had harvested that yeast from my latest batch of Bad Lands Kölsch, which actually is a Kölsch style beer.

Random Photos

I have not posted on this blog in awhile.

I don't really have anything to say, but here are some random photos:

1519 Barker Exportbier (Batch 400)

I had a day off on Monday after being away for a wedding in north Minnesota (stone throw from Canada) over the weekend.

I did a run in the morning. Then I went on a bike ride. 

After the ride, I had lunch and then lay down for a little nap.

I had grains for a brew day ... and around 2pm ... I decided to brew a batch of beer.

It just happens to be my 400th batch of beer I've brewed since I started making beer.

This is actually the third time I've brewed this particular recipe ....

1519 Barker Exportbier