Bad Lands Kölsch vs. Spotted Cow

This past week, we visited family in Wisconsin, home of New Glarus Spotted Cow. New Glarus does not distribute its beer outside of the Wisconsin boarders, and I decided to pick up some Spotted Cow and bring it back to my home brewery to compare to my Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch, which I plan to brew soon. 

I'm the meantime, my Bad Lands Kölsch is on tap, and Thursday I decided to compare it to the Spotted Cow. 

Honestly, I never considered Spotted Cow a Kölsch style ... and really still don't really. But when I started researching Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch, it seemed that most "clone" recipes I came across seemed to put it in that category.

Anyway, as a comparison of these two beers: 

Spotted Cow is considerably more hazy, although Bad Lands is certainly not crystal clear. Spotted Cow does seem to be like half a shade darker in color. Head formation and retention is very similar. 

Bad Lands seems to be lighter and more crisp on the pallet. Spotted Cow might have a fuller body. Bad Lands seem to have a cleaner flavor with less fruity esters than Spotted Cow. 

I think I get a little more noble hop flavor from Bad Lands. 

Honestly, though, these beers are more similar than I thought they would be. 

If I had to pick a favorite of these two, I'd pick Bad Lands, but I enjoy both beers. Of course it is much easier to get my beer than travel to Wisconsin and bring it back. 

As always, stay tuned on the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with beer, barbeque, biking and other things in my life: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.

June 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).

Ground Hog Premium Lager

Brewery: SheppyBrew
Style: Czech Premium Pale Lager
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 38
SRM: 3.7

Appearance

A brilliantly clear pale‑gold lager with a soft straw hue and a tight, persistent white head. The foam forms a fine, creamy cap that lingers as a thin lace down the glass. Bright carbonation streams upward in steady, lively columns, giving the beer a crisp, polished look that immediately signals refreshment.

Aroma

Clean, elegant malt leads the way — lightly bready, faintly sweet, and reminiscent of fresh‑cracked grain. A subtle floral‑herbal hop note rises behind it, offering a gentle Saaz‑like spice without dominating. Fermentation character is impeccably clean: no esters, no sulfur, just a classic lager profile with a soft, inviting malt presence.

2026 Fathers' Day Camping at Turquois Lake

This past Sunday was Father's Day, and my wife and kids took me camping.

For quite awhile, our family tradition has been to go camping on Father's Day weekend.

On this blog, you can go all the way back to 2011 Father's Day Weekend to see photos of us camping.

Back then, the kids were pretty small. They are not small anymore. In fact, this year all four of us were drinking alcohol beverages around the camp fire.

I'm not sure how much longer this tradition will continue, but I was lucky enough to have it go at least this year.

This year, like a couple of previous years, we camped just West of Leadville close to Turquois Lake.

Pork Belly Burnt Ends

So ... I've tried making "Burnt Ends" a couple times, but not really in what I would consider a "traditional" way.

And ... it has been quite awhile.

I tried Pork Butt Burnt Ends a couple years ago, and "Poor Man Burnt Ends" made from a Chuck Roast a little later.

It could be just me, but when I think "Burnt Ends", I think it should be made from a Brisket point or Pork Belly.

Part of the reason I've never done them is my Sam's Club didn't sell Pork Belly for quite awhile. But, recently I started seeing it there. Last time I was there, I picked a 5.88 lb. Pork Belly.

And ... about a week ago I used it to make Pork Belly Burnt Ends.

E is for dEnver bEEr Company - littlEton

As you know if you follow along on the A to Z Breweries series of articles, we've decided to continue on with Round 7. 

You also know that we will have to take quite a bit of "artistic license" as we go through the alphabet.

We were not able to find local breweries that begin with all the letters in Round 6, and of course this round has even less breweries to choose from.

I thought we'd have to relax our rules quite a bit, but honestly I'm not sure we even have rules.

So far, we've found breweries for A through D and as I mentioned in D is for Dry Dock Pub, "E" was the first (somewhat) challenging letter for us.

Last Saturday, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) told me she wanted to ride bikes to downtown Littleton to go to a shop or two, and thought we could do lunch at ...

E is for dEnver bEEr Company - littlEton

Bad Lands Kölsch (Batch 393)

If you read Ground Hog Premium Lager (Batch 392), you know I brewed last Saturday.

My wife was out of town on a "girls trip" for the weekend, so I had extra time on my hands.

With this extra time, I decided to brew Sunday also.

This should help get my beer inventory up. It actually also helps catch me up a little on tracking to a typical brewing year.

For this Sunday batch, after cleaning up the Ground Hog Premium Lager brew day, I prepared water etc... and a little later in the evening, I started an overnight mash.

For ...

Bad Lands Kölsch