X-Mas Ale Verticle Tasting

Every year, (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) SheppyBrew brewery brews an X-Mas Ale. Every year (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) I get out a bottle of all the years' X-Mas ales and try them together. This year was no exception, although it did take me longer this year to get around to it. New Year's Eve (yes the very last day of the year).

X-Mas Ale left to right 2009, 2010, 2011.

So today, I poured an X-Mas Ale 2009, an X-Mas Ale 2010, and an X-Mas Ale 2011 from the SheppyBrew brewery.

Bowen Beer Bottle Band

Here is a little Christmas music for your entertainment.

The Bowen Beer Bottle Band performs using only beer bottles, where each band member is in charge of two notes. They are really good:

Some Christmas Videos

I shamelessly stole these from Blog About Beer.specifically from the article "Christmas Beer Commercials – 12 Days Of Christmas Fun – Day 6".

Please visit the blog and let Logan know I sent you. This will ease my guilt for being a shameless thief.

Mayor of SheppyBrew Brewery

So, remember I told you I had joined foursquare and decided I was making it my mission to become the mayor of something? I mentioned that the health club I go to is probably the best bet (see Running for Mayor @BallyFitness). Just so you know, I am totally on track to become mayor of my Bally Total Fitness club. I've checked into Bally 6 times in 8 days, so I'm on pace to overtake the current mayor easily in the next 60 days as he is averaging one check-in every two days (30 check-ins in a 60 day period). If my calculations are correct, and if I maintain this pace, I will get to 30 check-ins in about 32 days from today.

Turns out that I was forgetting someplace I go even more ... SheppyBrew Brewery.

The Beer Song

Recently, a guy I know was telling me what a wine-snob he is.

For some reason, this reminded me of the  Beer Song by ElbowSkin. I posted it before on this blog (see Interesting / Amusing "news"). The video made me LOL, and I really enjoy the tune as well. I think the video deserves to be posted again.




Beer Song by ElbowSkin from Alister Robbie on Vimeo.

Pale Ale

According to the BJCP, an American Pale Ale can have an SRM anywhere from 5-14.

This beer is a 5 SRM:

and these are almost 13:

My APA is somewhere in between at 10:

Wandering through Golden

Connor and I visited Golden, CO on Saturday.We just sort of wandered around through the down-town area. Here are some pictures.

Right in the down-town area of Golden is the Clear Creek History Park. The park consists of a bunch of old-time buildings representing what life would have been like in the old gold-rush days. It is sort of fun to walk around and look at the buildings.

Running for Mayor @BallyFitness

After using Untappd for a month, I shared the badges that I had "earned" (see First Month of Untappd). Since then, I decided to check out foursquare . Mostly because Untappd can share its check-ins with foursquare.

The first place I checked in was my health club Bally Total Fitness. When I checked in, foursquare told me that "the mayor" was currently there. Interestingly enough, I recognized the face, although I don't really know the guy. I might have said "hi" to him once or twice, but maybe not. Of course, I had no idea what being a fourquare mayor meant, but I knew I had to try to become the mayor of something.

Not that it is a competition

I mentioned last year what a loser I am. Last year, I was completely dominated by my sister (Mrs. Bluefield) in our unofficial monthly blog post "competition". In the article, I mentioned that as of December 2010, I had "won" 3 months during the year to her 8 months. We ended up in a tie in December, and I had to work really hard to scrap for the tie. She coasted through the month effortlessly.

Stouticus Chili - icus

The former CEO of the company that I formerly worked for announced last Wednesday:

"Because of Beth’s recent chili smack talk, we will have a Chili-icus Cook Off.  The competition will be Monday, December 12th.  All types of chili will be accepted (...even potentially lame white bean and chicken chili from Ariel…)."

I had the former CEO's chili before, and while it is a fine chili, I would not characterize it as spectacular in any way. It is strikingly mundane. Personally, out of all the chili I've had in the past year, I would rank his somewhere around the 45th percentile. (leave a comment if you come across this, Tim)

I had not made chili in awhile, but I knew that I can make better chili than the chili he has given me.

So, this weekend, I made some chili.

Another batch of Stone Soup

Last Wednesday, I asked on Facebook and Twitter:

Might #HomeBrew this weekend but don't know what. Irish red? Black IPA? Regular IPA? Belgium black specialty ale? What do you think?

I got a vote for Irish Red (which would have been my new recipe of Eric's Red), and I got two votes for Black IPA. Since I really could have gone either way (and my wife didn't chime in with her typical override power), I found myself at the Brew Hut Thursday grabbing the ingredients for my Stone Soup IDA.

When I told Jeff (one of the guys who works at the Brew Hut) the grain bill and he saw the hops I was grabbing, he recognized that I was making a Black IPA. He mentioned that he hadn't brewed a Black IPA in awhile and really needs to make one. I told him that I have been telling myself forever that I need to make this recipe, but just never get around to it. Too many other beers to brew. If you brew beer, you probably know the feeling. He certainly did.

More #RepealDay Info

I got an email from the Contact Me form from a person who read my Happy #RepealDay post. She referred me to an article on the accreditedonlinecolleges.org blog: "28 Facts You Should Toast Post-Repeal Day". It is an interesting list of beer (and other alcohol ... but the beer stuff interests me the most) related factoids and links to more information on each of the facts.

I found it interesting and informative. You should check out the whole list:

---EDIT 05/10/2013 --- I got an email from a guy at accreditedonlinecolleges.org telling me that the link would go away and that I should remove it from my blog. That was nice of him. Now that the link is going away I am copying / pasting the post here so you can look at it. Credit goes to accreditedonlinecolleges.org

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28 Facts You Should Toast Post-Repeal Day

For those who just can't wait until St. Patrick's Day to celebrate the joy and joy-ness that is alcohol, Repeal Day fell earlier this week. Celebrating the passing of the 21st Amendment, which overrode the 18th outlawing the distribution and production of alcoholic beverages, it also stands as a lovely little way for the particularly patriotic to recognize America's freedoms. Most appropriately, with a cocktail or two in hand.

1. Responsible alcohol intake may help bolster memory:

   When enjoyed in low or moderate amounts, University of Auckland researchers noted that alcohol can actually improve one's memory and cognitive abilities. Low or moderate being the operative words here – depending on weight, gender, genetics and overall health, this means no more than one to three beers daily.

2. Red wine might help treat cancer:

   Great news for oenophiles! Red wine contains reservatrol, an antioxidant Rochester University scientists discovered helps kills cancer cells when combined with irradiation. Although it can't be considered a definitive cure-all, this might very well make wine an important ally in prevention and treatment alike.

3. Responsible red wine drinking might improve overall heart health:

   Along with reservatrol, red wine also contains flavanoids, antioxidants which encourage healthier hearts. When combined with a regimen of exercise and nutritious diet, they increase HDL cholesterol (the good kind), reduce inflammation and thin the blood to prevent dangerous clots.

4. Low to moderate drinkers live longer lives:

   More than heavy drinkers to abusers, obviously, but they also fare better than their teetotaler peers! Not only do they enjoy a lessened risk of heart disease and cancer, dementia, Alzheimer's (thanks to the improved memory!), strokes, enlarged prostates and arthritis – among other conditions – occur at a lower rate as well. In fact, researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism discovered that low to moderate drinkers had the lowest death rate of all causes than anyone else on the consumption spectrum.

5. Despite its high calorie content, alcohol doesn't result in significant weight gain:

   It seems bizarre and obviously counter to what one would assume, but this is a thing. Researchers can't exactly pinpoint the exact reason why the phenomenon of high-carb beverages resulting in minimal (if any) weight gain exists. Some theories think alcohol's increase of metabolism plays a role, while some think it discourages consumers from noshing on sugars. Although this doesn't explain away their compulsion towards beautifully greasy tacos once the bars close…

6. Intentionally fermented beverages date back to at least the Neolithic Era:

   Assuming brewing, fermenting and distilling aren't even older than researchers already know, intentionally created alcohol has been pleasuring and plaguing mankind since around 10,000 BCE. Stone Age mugs likely housed honey and/or berry-based beverages, which most believe originated as "happy little accidents."

7. The Ancient Chinese were the first to ferment wine:

   Hardly surprising, considering how they invented a myriad of other useful products still seeing action today, like paper, printing, fireworks, noodles and the like. University of Pennsylvania's Dr. Patrick McGovern and crew noted residue evidence of a wine brewed from honey, rice, and hawthorn fruit and/or grapes sticking to pottery dating back to 7000 to 6000 BCE. If his conjectures are correct, this means the earliest (currently) known, regularly consumed wine hails from Jiahu in the Henan Province.

8. Nobody's exactly sure how toasting started:

   Some say the ancient Greeks (or were they Romans?) dunked actual toast into their wine. Others think the tradition started as a way to test beverages for poison, making sure to clink glasses in a manner spilling drops into one another's cups. Just share any of the theories on Repeal Day. They're all pretty much equally viable these days.

9. Ancient Sumerians drank beer from straws:

   Long before the straws known and loved today – about 5,000 to 7,000 years ago, apparently. Using natural products, the ancient innovators enjoyed beers without accidentally ingesting the solids left over after brewing.

10. In ancient Greece, only men could participate in ritual wine drinking honoring Dionysus:

    Females, by contrast, held the exclusive privilege of maenadism. Neither ritual servicing the god of wine himself existed as the orgiastic, ecstatic rampages as depicted in the mass media. That would actually be the Romans and their Bacchanalia, which eventually grew so frenetic the government had to heavily restrict worship and laid waste to a goodly chunk of shrinage.

11. The word "alcohol" has medieval Latin and Arabic roots:

    Interestingly enough, it didn't start out describing intoxicating liquids, but rather cosmetics (Arabic), particularly those containing antimony (Latin). Alcohol (and al-kuhul) first appeared around the 1540s with this definition, eventually broadening to include any pure substance in the 1670s. The first known time "alcohol" as understood in today's English was 1753, referring to wine.

12. Weihenstephan Abbey is the world's oldest brewery in continuous operation:

    Nestled in the formerly eponymous Bavarian village (now known as Freising), the Weihenstephan Abbey houses Benedictine monks (not all Christians abstain!) keeping their beer brewing tradition alive longer than any other brewery in the world. These days, it touts its actual founding year as 1040, though references to receiving hops as tribute start in 768, and focuses mainly on producing lagers and wheat beers.

13. The tradition of smashing a bottle of champagne during a ship christening ceremony began in the late nineteenth century:

    Christenings themselves actually date back to ancient times, but the first recorded instances of champagne's use in the proceedings happened on November 18, 1890. Then-Secretary of the Navy Benjamin P. Tracy's granddaughter shattered a bottle of bubbly against the first American steel battleship, Maine.

14. The world's oldest known alcohol was consumed in 2010:

    And it only took 200 years! South of Aaland in the Baltic Sea, divers stumbled across a shipwreck with 168 champagne bottles and an unknown amount of beer. They handed it over to a sommelier. Then they totally drank it. Apparently the booze, which kept nice and cool at the bottom of the ocean, tasted just as fresh as it would have back in the 1830s when it was originally whipped up.

15. Henri IV Dudognon Heritage is, for now, the most expensive bottle of booze on the planet:

    A bottle of this cognac, manufactured in France since 1776, will only set buyers back about $2 million. #OccupyLiquorCabinet, anyone?

16. American homebrewing likely started around 1587:

    Obviously, if not before. 1587 merely marks the first known homebrewed beer in the United States. Whipped up in the Virginia colonies, it was likely made with corn rather than the hops American beer is mostly known for today.

17. Even at a time when homebrewing could land producers in prison, A Treatise on Lager Beers sold over a hundred thousand copies:

    Despite stern cover warnings about the illegal nature of homebrewing, Fred Eckhert's 1970 manifesto praised the practice, offering up instructions, recipes, and welcome relief from the same old swill. About 110,000 copies of this self-published, now classic, read sold and required seven printings to meet demand.

18. The Maltose Falcons hold the distinction of being the United States' oldest homebrew club:

    Among others, including California's Homebrew Club of the Year winner in 2010! Since 1974, these passionate Los Angeles-based homebrewers have banded together to spread a love of craft beer and DIY sensibilities, inspiring hundreds (if not thousands) of local groups nationwide.

19. Homebrewing is not legal in every state:

    It is, however, perfectly legal on a federal level – but only fermented, never distilled, beverages. Be sure to check the latest information before pursuing homebrewing as a hobby or home-based business. Even the states allowing it still regulate how much and how strong one can make.

20. In 1978, Jimmy Carter legalized homebrewing at the national level:

    Until that point, lovingly crafting beer and wine at home was still illegal, thanks to lingering legislation from the sour old Prohibition days.

21. May 7 marks National Homebrew Day:

    Yes, Congress officially recognizes a National Homebrew Day as of 1988. Fans celebrate by guzzling down some of their favorite beers or trying something new, while many creators themselves participate in the American Homebrew Associations yearly Big Brew event.

22. Homebrewing is most popular in Texas and California:

    Definitive statistics on just how widespread homebrewing really is don't exist, but popular site USABeerTrends offers up the best insight so far. Thirty-six percent of its participating readers hailed from Texas, followed at 21% out of California. Whipping up craft brews at home also pique many creative connoisseurs in Florida, Colorado, Washington, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oregon, Alaska, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.

23. No one age group is more likely to homebrew than others:

    The very same USABeerTrends survey noted that only the under-21 and over-50 crowd seemed to shy away from homebrewing. Every other demographic more or less enjoy it in equal measure, though 30% between 41 through 50 craft their own beers as opposed to 35% for both 21 through 30 and 31 through 40.

24. Most home brewers create between five and nine batches, at least in 2009:

    Thirty-nine percent, as compared to 13% for 1 to 4, 26% for 10 to 14 and 22% devotedly hammering out about 15 batches!

25. The American Homebrewers Association currently boasts over 27,000 members:

    And they partner up with over 1,300 breweries beneath The Brewers Association (founded 1941!) umbrella. Since 1982, thousands of members and beer aficionados have flocked to Boulder, Colorado to enjoy the Great American Beer Festival the organizations holds as a celebration of these hearty libations.

26. President Wilson actually vetoed the Volstead Act:

    An alternate name for the National Prohibition Act, Woodrow Wilson rejected the Volstead Act for technical rather than ethical reasons, only to be overridden by both the House of Representatives and the Senate the very same day.

27. FDR's Cullen-Harrison Act legalized the sale of beer and beer alone:

    Wine and spirits drinkers were left luckless when Franklin Roosevelt passed the Cullen-Harrison act in 1933, addressing Depression demand for something soothing to quell the…well…depression. This amendment to the Volstead Act legalized beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% or below.

28. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th:

    Shortly after FDR passed the Cullen-Harrison Act, the federal government decided to repeal Prohibition altogether, meeting Americans' demands and intending to curb illegal profiteering. The 21st Amendment overrode the 18th, stoking the ire of the temperance organizations responsible for its initial passing.

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Obviously, the beer facts (especially those on home-brewing) are most interesting to me.

Do you find any of these interesting / informative?  (leave a comment).

First Month of Untappd

I started using the social media drinking site "Untappd" about a month ago. I've been aware of Untappd for awhile, but never realized that they allowed people to enter their own home-brews to the database. Since most of what I drink is home-brew, it didn't seem like something I would be real interested in.

It does turn out to be an interesting way to track the beers that you drink. If you are a craft beer fan (beer geek), it is somewhat worthwhile to track your beer consumption. It helps remind you what you drank and how you liked it.

Happy #RepealDay

Did you know that December 5th (today) is Repeal Day? I didn't know until I got my December CraftBeer.com newsletter last Thursday. CraftBeer.com has an informative article about today's holiday: Celebrate Repeal Day: December 5.

In case you are too lazy to follow the link and can't guess from the context, the 21st amendment was ratified and prohibition was repealed on December 5th, 1933. Seems like as good a reason as any to celebrate. Don't you think? I think I'll have a beer today to toast the occasion.

Strange ... today isn't a work holiday for me. Seems like it should be.

A couple more beers from my list

We visited my sister in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. My sister was nice enough to go out and get a couple of beers for me to check off my "Best Beers in America List".

On Thanksgiving itself, I had the New Glarus Wisconsin Belgium Red. This beer was tied for #16 on the list, and I've been trying to get some since last year's list. Since New Glarus doesn't distribute to Colorado, and they didn't bring this beer to GABF, I am lucky to have family living in Wisconsin who were willing to help me get this beer. And I really enjoyed it with my Thanksgiving dinner. No one else at the table was much of a fan, which was fine since it meant I could have most of it. Both the aroma and flavor were full of cherry, but it had a nice Belgium malt backbone with nice funky notes from the yeast. This beer was indeed worthy of the list. It isn't something I would want to drink everyday, but it is nice for special occasions.

A little Shopping humor

This would have been a great video to share on Black Friday, but I didn't come across it until yesterday. I think this was very funny. It made me LOL. I was very close to ROFL. I didn't, however, LMAO.

You can view it right on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYbVpAwGGGs


Unrelated (and not-really-humorous) ... a couple articles I came across over the week that I thought were interesting:

NORAD is ready to track Santa's flight
I've shared before on this blog that the boys and I have followed the NORAD Santa Tracker on Christmas Eve. Apparently, the site is live for this year. Check it out at www.noradsanta.org.

Example - Hanson To Launch Mmmhop Beer
The band "Hanson" is apparently developing their own IPA. They are going to call it MmmHop. I didn't realize these guys were even around. I'm not sure I care they are making a beer. Someone tell me, did Hanson ever do anything besides their one "hit" MMMBop?

The history of the anthem at Hawks games
An article about how the National Anthem before BlackHawk games became such a phenomenon.



Have a good weekend everyone. Please leave a comment and let me know you read this.

November Blogging

I am shocked to report that November on this blog broke its "page view" record. This is the seventh month in a row of record breaking "page views" on this blog. After Thanksgiving weekend, I was sure that this month had no chance of getting its page views above October's, but these past few days showed pretty strong.

I am certain that December can't break this record. There is no way it can happen.

What have people been reading? This month, the most viewed posts on this blog have been:

Black Friday Beer Humor

Well, ok, these really have nothing to do with "Black Friday. But, I never participate in "Black Friday". If I ever did try to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, it would certainly drive me to drink one or more beers.

Happy Holidays

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Not too long ago, I got an email from my Dad. I copied and pasted the text of the email below. I do not know exactly where the email originally came from. I don't know exactly how much of this is actually from Ben Stein and how much is editorialized. I do know that Ben said some of this and that he did NOT say it all.

"Urban Legends" on about.com says perhaps 1/3 of it was actually written by Ben Stein. (see http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_ben_stein_christmas.htm). Towards the end, in the analysis, the Urban Legend article links to Ben's website so you can see what he actually said.

I will point out that the end of the "Urban Legends" article, the author does make a point that the White House has never actually referred to "Christmas Trees" as "Holiday Trees". And, of course, Ben's commentary is from 2005 (4 years before Obama took office), so it would have been really hard for him to criticize the Obama administration for making that switch.

I liked the sentiment of the email (or at least the parts that I think are Ben), though, and I thought I would share:

fun picture

This is a picture of "Sue" eating 3 out of our 4 kids this weekend. Connor wisely stayed away from the vicious T-Rex.

Tasting Free the Glutens

Well, you might remember that not too long ago I talked about brewing up a #GlutenFree beer. If not, you can look back at the post: Free the Glutens! This past weekend, I tasted a bottle from the batch. My wife also gave it a try. Together, we decided it was good enough to present to the gluten-sensitive mother of the children we took care of over the weekend (for the purposes of this blog post we are going to call her "Gretchen" so I don't have to type "the gluten-sensitive mother of the children we took care of over the weekend" over and over). 

The beer model thought it was really good. I thought it was pretty good. It starts off a little sweeter and perhaps a little fuller in the body than I thought it was going to. I really wish I had taken an FG, because I sort of wonder if I should have let it ferment longer. I do think it is nicely balanced and has a pretty good citrus hop presence. The sweetness combined with the taste of centennial hops give it a little orange flavor, which is quite pleasant in this beer. It does not come across as bitter as an IPA. Naming it an APA was the right call.

Wally's my Hero

From Dilbert.Com:

from http://www.dilbert.com/strips/2011-11-16

Still More Beer Motivation

Just a continuation of the post a couple weeks ago ....

and the post from a couple weeks before that:

100 Gallons of Beer

Not too long ago, in SheppyBrew Stats Q3 2011, I mentioned "It looks like I have a shot at hitting my 100 gallon limit for the year". For those of you who don't know, it is legal in the United States for an individual adult to home-brew 100 gallons of  beer for personal (non-commercial) use. A household of two or more adults is allowed 200 gallons per year. State laws differ. Colorado's home-brewing law pretty much simply says it is legal to brew what is legal according to the federal law. There are still a couple of states that don't allow legal home-brewing at all. It sort of sucks to be a home-brewer in those states. But, luckily that is not something I have to deal with.

So, I am allowed to brew 100 gallons of beer. My wife and I together are allowed to brew 200 gallons. When I started home-brewing (way back in 2009), that 100 gallons seemed like a completely impossibly huge number to hit. The 200 gallon limit was way beyond my wildest dreams.

New Belgium Snow Day

Ever since the Beer Model and I took our tour of New Belgium Brewery back in June, I have been looking forward to the release of New Belgium's new winter seasonal Snow Day Winter Ale. You see, Bernie (our tour guide) told us that it was replacing 2 Below and that it was going to be a black IPA. If you pay attention to this blog, you might know that I am a big fan of the Black IPA style of beer (or Cascadian Dark or American Style Black or Indian Dark Ale or whatever-else-you-want-to-call-it). See "Black IPA / IDA", "Cascadian Dark Ale", "Stone Soup IDA", "Psycho Dark and Bitter" if you want to see some of what I said about the style.

Beer Flowcharts

This little bit of humor comes from Gizmodo and an article titled: Workflow Charts Finally Put to Good Use Show Fundamental Men vs Women Differences. Poking fun at the relative simplicity of the man's world vs. the complexity of how women operate. It just never gets old ... does it?

Evil Corporations

I saw this on facebook awhile ago.

One of my virtual friends had commented on it, so it ended up in my news feed. I don't know the guy who posted it, and I do not know where he originally got it (I sort of doubt he did it himself). But, it amuses me.

Click on Image to view larger version

It took me so long to actually post it, because I was going to add clever and insightful commentary on that whole situation. I never got around to it, and I don't feel like it now.

The picture probably stands on its own pretty well, anyway.

Connor at the Museum

Tyler had a couple of birthday parties today. Mom took him. Connor decided that he and I should go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Here are some pictures from the day:

More Beer Motivation

Just a continuation of the post from a couple weeks ago:

Happy #StoutDay

So, here it is International #StoutDay. I hope you are having a good one. I'm hoping my sister can forgive me for saying this: "Happy #StoutDay!".

To be honest, Stouts are one of those styles that it took me getting into brewing to really appreciate. I would try one from time to time ... mostly as part of sample platters in brew-pubs, but would hardly ever get myself a pint. I never purchased stouts from liquor stores.

But, SheppyBrew has brewed a few Stouts, and I'm really beginning to seek them out more. And the more I drink, the more I like them.

I think most non-beer-geeks (at least here in America) think Guinness when they think Stout. But, "Stout" is a pretty wide range of beers, many of which are really unlike Guinness. Personally, I've never really been a big fan of Guinness. I still think the lack of carbonation make them taste too flat. I prefer more carbonation than the nitrogen smoothness I guess. I would say that I'm much more a fan of American Stouts than other types.

Arrogant Bastard tidbit

I was listening to the Sunday Session with Pizza Port's Jeff Bagby last Wednesday night while working out.

Jeff used to work for Stone and has brewed Arrogant Bastard. In fact, he was part of brewing the very first batch.

At the end of the interview, Tasty snuck in the question about what specialty malt was used in Arrogant Bastard. Jeff gave a hint that it was one high crystal malt ... not special B. He even said that 150 is about right. He also mentioned that the recipe is incredibly simple with one specialty malt and one hop.

Blogging Away

So last month, I mentioned that I didn't think October would be able to match September's page view stats (see 3218). I was wrong. October was the 6th month in a row of record-breaking page views. It didn't beat September by much, but it did none-the-less.

The theme remains the same: "If beer and women aren't the answer, then you're asking the wrong questions."

Here are the most viewed blog posts for the past 30 days:

#StoutDay Week

This week on Thursday is International #StoutDay.

What is International #StoutDay? I'm not sure I really know. The best way to describe it is #IPADay only instead of celebrating boring old IPA's, we are celebrating the rich and diverse style of Stouts.

I realize that if you don't know about #IPADay, my description doesn't make much sense. If you are a twitter tweeter and a beer geek, you know about #IPADay. If you are not, you don't really care and won't care about #StoutDay either. At least I don't think so.

Female vs. Male Brain

Here it is Friday again. Time to share some more humor, I guess. We are back to the spirit of the wildly popular "Visual Explanation of Women" series of posts.

Analyze and enjoy. Let me know if you LOL or ROFL.

Free the Glutens!

Image from Papazian's article

Glutens are nasty little creatures which hide in wheat (and wheat related) grains and attack an unsuspecting tribe of people know as the Celiacs. The Glutens perform bio-attacks on the Celiacs causing auto-immune reactions which are very unpleasant. Glutens are evil!

Actually, personally, I have nothing against glutens. I probably can't even begin to list the things that I enjoy eating and drinking that have lots of gluten in them. I doubt there is a day that goes by in which I don't consume multiple glutens. They are yummy. I'm glad I don't have to avoid foods that contain gluten.

One of my favorite sources of gluten is beer. Barley is full of gluten. So is wheat and rye. There are gluten-free beers out there, but they are sort of hard to find. I am told they don't really taste all that good either.

Bottling Hoptoberfest

So, I've mentioned that I bribed the people I work with in an attempt to get them to donate to the 2nd Wind Fund. It worked, so I had to brew up more Stouticus American Stout (darn!). I also brewed up a beer that I called Hoptoberfest , which is a Vienna Lager with much more late addition Hallertauer and Crystal hops than you would traditionally get in a Vienna Lager. You could almost call it a love-child between my 15 Year Anniversary Amber Ale and my Rocktoberfest Lager. It was designed with lots of Munich and Vienna malts, fermented with lager yeast at (mostly) lager temperatures, but hopped like the 15 year. Sounds absolutely yummy ... doesn't it? The sample I had certainly tasted like it would be good.

Beer Motivation

A few weeks ago, I started posting "Friday Humor" on my favorite online forum.  It started with the wildly popular post "Visual Explanation of Women" and continued for a few weeks in that same sort of theme.

The past two weeks, I skipped the Friday Humor and replaced them with "2011 #GABF Session 1" and the also-wildly-popular "Sexist Beer Labels"

Surprisingly, apparently a couple of my virtual friends made comments that make me think they miss the little Friday Humor feature of the blog.

I've stolen and posted funny motivational posters before on this blog. They amuse me.

SheppyBrew Stats Q3 2011

I just realized that it is now the 4th quarter of 2011 and that I have not done my quarterly posting of the quarter's SheppyBrew brewing statistics. (see SheppyBrew 2009 Stats, 1st Quarter Stats, 2nd Quarter Stats, 3rd Quarter Stats, SheppyBrew 2010 Stats, 1st Quarter Brewing Stats, 2nd Quarter Brew Stats)

For what it is worth, the 3rd Quarter Stats post from last year are the 9th most popular post all-time on this blog. I know you don't really care, but let's be honest, you've probably already lost interest and won't read the rest of this blog post anyway.

More Beer Labels

So, I got some feedback on my article "Sexist Beer Labels" that I thought I would share.

Some of my virtual friends from the Mr. Beer forum added in the following artwork:

Drinking Ellie's Brown Ale

While grilling some brats Saturday evening, I drank my third beer from the 5280 Seasonal Six Pack. Avery Brewing Company's Ellie's Brown Ale pours deep dark brown with a nice tan head. I do not know if I may have just been in the right mood for a brown ale, but I thought this beer was absolutely fantastic.

Back to the mash tun

Saturday, I took the wife and kids on a field trip to The Brew Hut to get ingredients for the 2011 version of SheppyBrew's X-Mas Ale. I brewed it up on Sunday.

The kids really like the Dry Dock

Of course, my big fermenter was full of Stouticus American Stout, so I got up early and bottled up Stouticus. This time, I mixed sugar and the beer in a corny keg and used my Beer Gun to bottle it up. It seems to have gone smoother this way, but that may have just been the fun of a new process. One decent advantage of using the keg is that it is easier to get every bit of beer out of the keg than it is out of a bottling bucket.

Brecken

Remember that not-too-long-ago I mentioned that I have hundreds of sister-in-laws? Well, with hundreds of aunts, that means my kids have thousands of cousins *.

Yesterday my wife and I got one more niece and the boys got another cousin.

The newest child is named Brecken ... I'm sure named after Breckenridge Brewery **. I think that is the coolest name I've heard in quite awhile.

Note: this is not a recent photo of Brecken.

I am a guy, so I don't remember any of the important stats other than everyone is doing fine. Congratulations to Carrie and Dave and Brecken!




* Actual numbers are not quite as high as described in this blog.
** Saying that "Brecken" is short for "Breckenridge Brewery" is speculation on my part. It is also most likely not true.

Sexist Beer Labels

Speaking of sexist ...I have mentioned before (see Beer Ads) that I am a fan of the BMC beer television commercials. They amuse me. Even the ones (maybe even especially the ones) that offend feminist beer geeks by objectifying women. Again, I am not proud of it, but it is the way it is. These sorts of commercials don't make me want to buy their product, but that is another story.

The BMC breweries may have the lead in great T.V. commercials, but craft breweries dominate in bottle labels. Here are just some of the wonderfully sexist labels out there. These are not even the most chauvinisticly offensive ones. I've never bought any of these beers (I did have samples of Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale and Stumptown Tart Strawberry Ale at GABF ... both very good), but if I saw one of these in my liquor store, I would at least consider buying it for the clever labels.

Drinking Psychotically

You may recall that not too long ago I brewed a beer that I called "Psychotically Dark and Bitter IDA" (see Psycho Dark and Bitter on this blog). It was a beer that I brewed to use up some Mr. Beer ingredients. (see the recipe at SheppyBrew.com).

This weekend, I poured myself a couple of bottles.

Regardless whether you call this a black IPA, a Cascadian dark, American style black or India Dark Ale, SheppyBrew's Psychotically Dark and Bitter Ale is wonderfully dark and hoppy and pleasant to drink.

2011 #GABF Final? Thoughts

What a weekend!

If you've never been to the GABF, I won't be able to properly explain it to you, so I won't even try.

A couple of  "notes to self"...

471 Double IPA

So, remember last week, I mentioned the 5280 Magazine seasonal six pack? Sunday (yes, the day after GABF), I decided to use my new grill and while doing so I tried my second beer of the 6 pack. This beer was Breckenridge Brewery's 471 double IPA. 471 IPA is one of BB's small batch series. It is a year-round beer, but as a small batch beer, it is also in limited edition. I do not think I've ever had this one, although it is possible that at some point I've sucked one down at some point at the Breckenridge Brew Pub. It is a 9.2% ABV beer with 70 IBU's.

The aroma is full of wonderful American citrus hops, although I do detect a bit of an English ale feel to the finishing hops. The beer does use Fuggles hops and I don't know if the English feel is a function of the fuggles or the grain bill or a combination of the two. The malt does smell rich and full. Very nice.

3218

Remember when I thought getting over 1000 page views for a month on this blog was a big deal? It was not that long ago that I reported May broke my page view record. Since then, every month has broken that record.

The page view total for September was 3218. I know that real bloggers probably think that is nothing, but for my little blog, that is a really big number.

2011 #GABF Session 3

Since the Saturday afternoon session is for Brewing Association and American Home-Brew Association members only, their was no "members only" line to get in quickly. It really helps put into perspective how great having access to the quick line was for the other sessions. We got there about 11:50 or so and had to walk almost all the way around the huge Denver Convention Center to get in line. Luckily, once the line gets moving, it is quick. Still, it is much nicer to do the short line.

2011 #GABF Session 2

Did I mention how much I love having access to the members only line? Well, I do. It might be worth the cost of admission to the AHA just because of that little perk.

Friday night I was lucky enough to be accompanied by the hottest brew babe in Denver (quite likely the hottest brew babe in the world). She had to drop off the kids and traffic sucked we didn't meet up at the light rail station until around 5:30 pm. When we got there around 6-ish or so, the general admission line was still extremely long, but we got to walk right in. It is cool how fast the general admission line moves, but walking right in is better.

2011 #GABF Session 1

Ok, so the members only line RULES!! The festival started at 5:30. I was in and had my cup collected by 5:35. As planned, I got to New Glarus early but they did not Belgium Red. Tried their Raspberry Tart instead. It was Ok. I also tried their Blacktop IPA which was fantastic. I thought it was probably my favorite beer of the night.

Pre-event #GABF Post

Ok ... it must be GABF time. My blog is seeing lots of traffic today and almost all of it is looking at GABF related content.

I think I'm ready for tonight. The GABF posted their Beers at the Festival page today. I did a quick cross-reference against my Thursday night #GABF plan. Quite a few of the beers I want to try are not going to be at the festival, but that isn't too disappointing. I'll get over it. Tonight is mostly about reconnaissance anyway. I have to be at work tomorrow, so I'll take it real easy tonight anyway.

Droid and beer

I have had severe phone envy of my wife since she got her Droid 2. But my Verizon "new every two" just came up I just got a new Droid 3. This is just a test email from the new phone as practice for the blog entries I will be making from GABF over the next few days.

The picture is of Victory brewing company's HopDevil IPA. The SheppyBrew Beer Model purchased a six pack for me while she and her mom were on their shopping weekend. Not bad at all.

Not a great photo, but ok for a blog test.

Now I really wish the GABF made a droid app instead of an iPhone app.!

Oh well, we will see how it goes.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Thursday night #GABF plan

A couple weeks ago (it is hard to believe it has already been almost two weeks) after the GABF map came out, I started to discuss My #GABF Game Plan. I think I am ready to finalize my plan for the Thursday night session of GABF.

Flashback India Brown Ale

Here it is ... #GABF week. Aren't you excited?

5280 Magazine recently came out with a seasonal six pack. Back in March I mentioned their Colorado Best Beers, and I guess that was such a success that they followed up with a seasonal six pack. I grabbed mine a few weeks ago.

Thankyou Stouticus

You may remember that Stouticus came about because the COO of the company I work for asked me to make a beer. I ended up sharing the first batch with everyone in the company.

When the SheppyBrew beer model signed us up for the 2nd wind fund again this year, I sent out an email at work offering everyone who donated some more Stouticus. A few people took me up on the offer by donating. Today, I brewed the "Thank you" batch of Stouticus.

The recipe changed just a bit from last time. You can see the recipe on the Stouticus page on the SheppyBrew site. It is a quite a bit higher in alcohol and is not nearly as afraid of the stout roast. It also uses some flaked barely (first time I've used flaked barely).

Making cookies

My wife left us again this weekend. Her mom is visiting and they went on a "shopping weekend". Personally I have a hard time thinking of something that sounds like worse torture than a "shopping weekend". I suppose a "shopping week" or "shopping month" would be worse, but not much else. I watched a movie last night that was close, but that only lasted 2 hours give or take.

So, what did the boys want to do with the women away?

They wanted to bake cookies.

Visual Explanation of Women III

As I mentioned in Visual Explanation of Women, my sister-in-law forwarded me an email. Here is another thing that was in it.

NOTE: To get the full effect of the animated image, you have to click on it to link to the actual big picture. 

Have you ever wondered how a woman's brain works?
 Well....it's finally explained here in one, easy-to-understand illustration:

Every one of those little blue balls is a thought about something
 That needs to be done, a decision or a problem that needs to be solved.

 A man has only 2 balls and they take up all his thoughts.

Green Flash West Coast IPA

Green Flash Brewing Company is one of millions of craft breweries located in and around San Diego, CA (millions might be a slight exaggeration). Their West Coast IPA is listed as tied for #48 on my 2011 Best Beer in America poll. I saw it in my liquor store last time I was there (the same time I picked up Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron).

West Coast IPA has an ABV of 7.3% and claims 95 IBUs. On the "Our Beers" page of the Green Flash website, it says:

A menagerie of hops is layered throughout the brewing process: Simcoe for unique fruitiness and grapefruit zest, Columbus for strong hop pungency, Centennial for pine and citrus notes and Cascade for floral aroma. A multi-dimensional hop experience.

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Last time I was in my liquor store, I grabbed a 4-pack of Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron. This was listed as tied for #34 on the 2011 Best Beer in America poll. Of course Dogfish Head will be at GABF, but I stayed away from that huge line last year, and expect I'll stay away again this year.

Just as a little editorial interjection. I will never understand why Sam Calagione's show, Brew Masters, was not more popular on the discovery channel. Their most fatal flaw was probably that it was a show that I liked. Whenever I decide I like a show enough to DVR every episode ... that is when the show is probably in trouble. Maybe, this is a topic for another time.

Anyway... back to the regularly scheduled blog post ...

#SexistPig but not Proud Of It

The other day, I was hitting old "you might also like" links in my blog. I am probably way too Sheppy-Centric, but I do that from time to time. This blog has been around a long time and lots of the posts I had completely forgotten about. Sometimes I find something interesting or amusing. It is really fun to look through my old blog posts. It interests me much more than it probably does you, but try it sometime and let me know if you find anything interesting. (i.e., leave comments please)

One of the posts I came across was 7th Commandment. I thought it was incredibly amusing. LOL, ROFL, LMAO, perhaps not quite ROFLMAO but hilarious non-the-less. Go ahead, read it. Man, I crack myself up sometimes.

Ommegang Three Philosophers

Right after the 2011 Best Beer in America poll came out, I stopped by my local liquor store to see if I could find a beer to check off my list. I came across a bottle of Ommegang Three Philosophers, and grabbed it.

It has been sitting in my fridge since then.

Belgium beers are a bit tough for me to evaluate. I am slowly but surely developing an appreciation for the funk derived from most Belgium yeasts, but that flavor and aroma really has to be restrained for me to like a beer. To be honest, if I can detect any flavor that is obviously yeast-driven, I automatically like the beer less than something with a cleaner yeast profile. That is why SheppyBrew's Buckwheat BPA doesn't really use a Belgium yeast, and I ferment it pretty cool. Yes, I should probably stop calling it a Belgium Pale Ale.

Visual Explanation of Women II

As I mentioned in Visual Explanation of Women, my sister-in-law forwarded me an email. Here are another couple of things that were in it.

By the way ... according to my blogger stats, Visual Explanation of Women was wildly popular. I had a huge "page view" day the date that I posted it, and it is currently already #5 on the all-time viewed list. That was sort of unexpected.

Anyway ... here are a couple more. These are not as good as the first ones.

#GABF Big Friendly Guide

In the category of  "ask and you shall receive" ... I got an email from my Contact Me form today in response to my blog post "My #GABF Game Plan".

Honestly, I was a bit bummed out that GABF spent the time and effort to develop an iPhone app. I love the concept. I just don't have an iPhone. Not only don't I have an iPhone, but I will never purchase an iPhone. My wife has an Android phone, so it would be better for me if they developed an Android app. But, personally, I think it would make much more sense to develop part of their website with this sort of functionality so EVERY smart phone could take advantage of the data they are making available for iPhone users.

My #GABF Game Plan

Over the weekend, I saw that the GABF Map has been posted. This means I can start designing my plan-of-attack for the festival. There are over 450 breweries and over 2000 beers. Obviously, I cannot try every one. I have my list of beer to attempt to sample. I know which breweries are going to be there but not which beers each brewery will serve. There are a few breweries I know for sure I want to hit in addition to my list. My buddy Diane from Mr. Beer told me to be on the lookout for "killer chile beer". I will, of course, be continually seeking sour beers as I wander.

Of course, the game plan needs to be flexible, but here are some elements I am pretty sure of (in no particular order):

Brewing more Rocktoberfest

I brewed up my Rocktoberfest lager this weekend. Yes, it is a bit late to save the Rockies season. I'm certainly not going to be able to drink it while watching them in the playoffs this year. It is also not going to be ready for any traditional Oktoberfest time period. Luckily, I still have some left from last time I brewed it, which was back in January. I had a bottle the other night and it was totally fantastic. Come to think of it, maybe I'm making this batch for NEXT year. On second thought, I can drink an Oktoberfest beer in the winter. Don't worry, it will be fine.

Beer Gun

I've done 7 blog posts in GABF month, and only one of them has been about beer or brewing. Shameful. Anyone coming from the Complete List of Beer Blogs will wonder why the hell this is listed as a beer blog. I guess Root Beer and Pretzels mentions BYO magazine. Does that count?

But don't worry, beer lovers. Today's entry does have to do with beer.

I used my Blichman Beer Gun for the first time yesterday. The beer gun is SheppyBrew's newest toy. In case you do not know, the beer gun is designed to transfer kegged beer to bottles. I probably should have tried a less-expensive home-made method, but I decided to treat myself to this extravagance. Since I have never bottled from a keg before, I cannot comment on advantages over other methods. But the beer gun is pretty slick.

Visual Explanation of Women

By the way, please don't forget ... I need donations for the 2nd Wind Fund of Metro Denver (see 2nd Wind Fund of Metro Denver (2011) )  I think we have a respectable number of donations, but nothing close to what we got each of the last two years.

Anyway ...

My Sister-In-Law (one of the hundreds that I have) forwarded my an email titled "Women As Explained by Engineers". I don't usually forward this sort of thing along, but I thought it was humorous enough to at least share a couple of the things in there. There are a couple more that I may share at a later date.

2nd Wind Fund of Metro Denver (2011)

Yes, we (the Colorado Shepard Family) are trying to help raise money again for the 2nd Wind Fund of Metro Denver. If you are my facebook friend, you might have already seen me post our fund-raising page. I also personally messaged some of you. At the time I am typing this into the computer, a couple generous people have donated and I have had several more let me know that they will donate.

The mission of Second Wind Fund of Metro Denver (SWFMD) is to decrease the incidence of teen suicide by removing financial and social barriers to treatment for at-risk youth. Personally, I cannot think of anything more tragic than kids committing suicide. This year is 2nd Wind's 10th anniversary of their fund-raising festival / run / walk. If you are a Denver-area resident, it is worth coming and checking out at the Jefferson County fairgrounds on Sunday, September 18th.

If you are not participating, PLEASE consider dropping by our fund-raising page and making a donation.

http://www.runningguru.com/RunWithMe.asp?mID=Shepard2963

Last year, the family raised $1,275.
The year before, we raised $1,100.
It would obviously be nice to beat those numbers this year. If you can help out, please do.

Pictures from the 2011 Breckenridge Duck Races

If you've been following around in the recent developments on the whole Tweedle Beetle saga. (especially my last blog entry) , you know that the Colorado Shepards attended the The Summit Foundation 24th Annual Great Rubber Duck Races.

You also know that this year (for the first time EVER) we overcame the cheating efforts of the Tweedle Beetles and WON! Yes, it was only 12th place, but that was good enough to make the list of winners and get a prize.

IN YOUR FACES, Tweedle Beetles!

Here are some pictures from Race Day:

Tweedle Beetles Return Part III

So, if you've been following along with  Tweedle Beetles Return Part I and Tweedle Beetles Return Part II. you may be asking yourself "Why is Sheppy so sure that the Tweedle Beetles are involved with this mess?" If you haven't been following along, go back and read Part I and Part II.

#StoutDay is November 3rd

Hmmm... remember I told you about the social media "International #IPADay" on this blog (August 4th)? Apparently, the powers that be decided that it was such a huge success that they would go ahead and follow it up with International #StoutDay on November 3rd. I'm not sure how they defined success, but I suspect it has to do with the number of #IPADay hash tags you could see on twitter that day (http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23ipaday).

Tweedle Beetles Return Part II

picture from geocaching.com (of all places)

I know you have all been waiting with great anticipation for the exciting conclusion to Tweedle Beetles Return Part I. Ok, you probably don't care that much, but it is my blog, and this is what I'm posting today, so deal with it. If you need to catch up, go ahead and read part I. Go ahead, part II will still be here when you are done.

So, I have all these emails coming into my sheppybrew inbox. There were not so many that it was unmanageable. It was just annoying. So, what did I do? I decided to program a CAPTCHA challenge into adding comments to my site.

Root Beer and Pretzels

We have had the 2nd part of a Mr. Root Beer kit for quite some time without a whole lot of interest from the kids about making it. In fact, I think the last time we did make root beer, I think was back in June of 2009.

But, for some reason, recently Tyler has been asking to make root beer, and this past Sunday, he and I finally did.

The Tweedle Beetles Return Part I

picture from geocaching.com (of all places)

I finally figured it out! Those sneaky little Tweedle Beetles are back! Well, I don't suppose they ever really left, but they have been quiet for quite some time. For whatever reason, they have decided to passive-aggressively attack me over the past several days. Sadly, it took me over a week to discover the identity of the attackers. Damn Tweedle Beetles!

Psycho Dark and Bitter

I brewed another batch of beer last night. I call this recipe Psychotically Dark and Bitter IDA (follow the link to see the recipe). It is another batch of beer designed to use up Mr. Beer ingredients that were given to me (ie free!) last year at GABF.

Of course, India Dark Ale (IDA) is what I like to call the Black IPA / Cascadian Dark Ale / American-Style India Black Ale / whatever-else-people-call-it. I just hate the Cascadian Dark Ale name simply because it implies that is a regional beer style exclusively created in and for the Pacific Northwest. I like (and have used) the name "Black IPA", but calling a beer "Black" and "Pale Ale" just seems too oxymoronish. I like "American-Style India Black Ale", but it seems a bit long for the name of a style. Here are some of the articles in this blog in which I have mentioned the style: "Black IPA / IDA", "Cascadian Dark Ale", "Stone Soup IDA".

Fermentedly Challenged and other misc blog stuff

Dave, the author of "Fermentedly Challenged" has commented on my blog a fair amount recently. I appreciate it enough that I feel that I should point out his blog to my other readers. I am not sure doing so will help his blog traffic. Probably not, but I don't think it can hurt either.

"Fermentedly Challenged" is a relatively new addition to the "Blogs I Read" section on the right side of my blog. He is a great source for Colorado-related news. In fact, he gives Colorado Beer News just about every day. That is one of my favorite parts of "Fermentedly Challenged". It is a great place to get Colorado-centric beer information.

Buckwheat BPA Brew Day

So, I brewed Buckwheat's BPA today. I got started before church by printing out the brew sheet from Beer Smith. Then, I heated up 8 gallons of water and put it in my 10 gallon cooler. I let it sit in there until I got home from church.

2011 #GABF Attending Breweries

Image from GABF Site

I just noticed that GABF has posted the attending breweries (Breweries at the Festival). I think this is a recent posting, but I just may have missed it up until now. I am not sure this is a final list. It might not be, but I don't think the final list would be much different than this one.

Of course, I have mentioned the GABF on this blog quite a bit: http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/GABF .

Part of the reason that this list is interesting to me is that I will be attending the festival and will use it to try to find beers on the Zymurgy Best Beers in America list that I don't get a chance to try elsewhere.

Here are the beers on the list that I have not had (or at least I don't know for sure that I've had):

Brewing Wetta Blonde with Mr. Beer

Until tonight, I have not brewed a Mr. Beer batch of beer in awhile. According to my records, I brewed "Eric's Red" on 12/21/2010 (see Brewing Eric's Red). I kept telling myself that I'm going to brew something with the HME's / UME's that I got Peter after GABF, but I just have not done it (until tonight).

Looking through ingredients in stock at the SheppyBrew nano-brewery, I had some Mr. Beer Classic American Blonde Ale HME and some Mr. Beer Pale Export UME. I also had some East Kent Goldings hops, some SafeAle American Ale (US05), and some honey. It just so happens that those ingredients are all I need to make my Wetta Blonde Ale. So, I decided to brew up some Wetta Blonde.

Just the Boys Camping

For most of the summer the boys have been saying that they wanted to go "just the boys" camping (this means without Mom ... in case you were not able to figure that out). This weekend was finally the time we did it. We decided to go to Buffalo Creek Campground, which was the place Tyler and I did our first "Just me and My Dad" trip. It isn't the greatest campground in the world, but it takes reservations and it certainly is not the worst place either.

Another taste of Cider (without the breast flashing)

Had another bottle of my homemade hard cider tonight. Check out "Simple Hard Cider", "Bottled Cider", and "Cider Drinking and Breast Flashing" as a reminder about the cider.

I think it is better than it was. It probably needed that little bit of age. I even had this bottle warm. I think it would be even better cold. I went ahead and put the rest of the bottles in the fridge so that next time I try it, it will be nice and cold. I'm not sure how long this will last, but I'll try to report back as it is in the bottle longer.

Little Lion Man

When I work too late into the night, I have a hard time getting to sleep.

It doesn't really help to be at the computer after. At this point, I really should be sleeping.

I do really like this song ... I wish the beer model could play it on the guitar. I suppose it probably is not nearly as good with one musician, though.

click to show lyrics

Weep for yourself, my man,
You'll never be what is in your heart
Weep Little Lion Man,
You're not as brave as you were at the start
Rate yourself and rake yourself,
Take all the courage you have left
Wasted on fixing all the problems
That you made in your own head

But it was not your fault but mine
And it was your heart on the line
I really fucked it up this time
Didn't I, my dear?
Didn't I, my...

Tremble for yourself, my man,
You know that you have seen this all before
Tremble Little Lion Man,
You'll never settle any of your scores
Your grace is wasted in your face,
Your boldness stands alone among the wreck
Now learn from your mother or else spend your days Biting your own neck

But it was not your fault but mine
And it was your heart on the line
I really fucked it up this time
Didn't I, my dear? (x2)

Didn't I, my dear?

Ahhhhh......

But it was not your fault but mine
And it was your heart on the line
I really fucked it up this time
Didn't I, my dear? (x2)

Didn't I, my dear?