Pork Butt on the Kettle

Over the weekend, I smoked a Pork Butt on the Weber Kettle for pulled pork sandwiches.

As I mentioned on Hickory Smoked Mac and Cheese blog post, my son was home from college.

Hickory Smoked Mac and Cheese

If you follow this blog ... you may have read this before ... but my kids really like the Smoked Mac and Cheese that I make.

Whenever my oldest is home from college, and we ask if there is anything he'd like to request, Smoked Mac and Cheese is close to the top of the list.

He has been home for Spring break, and Saturday I made some.

I'm not real good at following recipes, but my reference starting point is always the one I have listed on "Smoked Mac and Cheese".

McShepardSons Irish Ale (Batch 308)

As I mentioned last week in Disappearing Beer, my Beer Inventory is very low right now.

I have a keg of Boo Berry American Wheat, and a little bit of beer in my keg of Colorado Strong IPA.

Boo Berry is mostly for my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model), and Colorado Strong will blow any time now.

So, if I want homebrew to drink in the near future, I had to brew this past weekend.

To help catch up quickly, I decided to do a 10 gallon batch.

I also decided to go with a low-ish ABV beer to help ferment faster.

Since I was doing a double batch anyway, I decided that one of the fermentors would use Kveik yeast in hopes to speed up fermentation.

As St. Patrick's Day recently occurred ... I thought I'd brew an Irish Red ... sort of a belated seasonal. 

McShepardSons Irish Ale (double batch)

Disappearing Beer

I discovered something sad on Sunday afternoon. 

I was intending to write a blog post about my two recent "Colorado" beers. Both Colorado Strong IPA and Colorado Vienna Lager feature a malt bill completely composed of malts from local Root Shoot Malting.

On Friday, I noted that Colorado Vienna Lager was

 "pretty much perfect now. Carbonation and clarity right where I want them. Yummy flavor. Beautiful color."

In other words ... this beer was ready to start drinking more than just samples. Drinking "for reals".

U is for Upslope Brewing Company

If you follow this blog, you know that a couple weeks ago, I posted T is for Tivoli Brewing Company.

If you're familiar with the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts, you know that next up was a "U" brewery.

According to the Colorado Brewery List, there is one brewery in the Denver area that starts with the letter "U", and I used that one in Round 1 way back in January of 2017 ... 

U is for Ursula Brewery.

I had to get a little creative in Round 2 with U is for oUter Range Brewing Company. Not only does "Outer Range" not start with a "U", but it is not really in the Denver area.

So ... for this round of the A to Z project, I had to expand my criteria a bit. As it turns out, Boulder, Colorado has a few breweries that start with the letter "U" including ...

U is for Upslope Brewing Company

Boo Berry Wheat (Batch 307)

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) brewed with me Sunday.

We'll brew together from time to time. Sometimes I say I do it so that I'll have a second adult brewer in the household, making it legal for me to brew more than the 100 gallons per year.

Honestly, though, I'm quite certain no one pays that close attention to the homebrewing law, and I don't really have to establish her as a brewer to be ok with the law.

The real reason is that it is fun to pretend that she's in charge of brewing.

I'm not sure why she does it. Apparently she thinks it is fun to brew with me from time to time as well.

Sunday, we brewed one of her favorite recipes ...

Boo Berry American Wheat

Catching up #5000MilesIn2022 and #10Everestsin2022

Today is March 6th. 

Last year by March 6th, I had cycled around 787 miles and climbed 52,937 feet while biking.

As I mentioned last month, I've started much slower this year than last. I think mostly this is has to do with less cooperative weather, but I've also perhaps been a bit more lazy this year than last.

So far in 2022, Strava says I've cycled 783 miles and climbed 4,217 feet.

I'm actually catching up. If I were to divide my riding equally over the year, order to reach 5,000 miles for the year (my Strava goal #5000MilesIn2022), I am now 108 miles behind plan.

I'm 8,327 feet behind plan to get to #10EverestsIn2022.