Pulled Pork Shepard's Pie

Remember a few weeks ago I made Brisket Shepard's Pie? It turned out awesome.

At the time I mentioned that I would probably like to try a pulled pork Shepard's pie at some point too.

Well ... I had some frozen left over pork butt in my freezer that I decided to put into Shepard's Pie this past weekend.

W is for Wah Gwaan Brewing Company

Can you believe we're already at "W" in round 3 of our A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts?

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

It struck me that if I went down the list, the starting letters of the brewery names represented almost every letter of the alphabet. That was when I started my A to Z Denver Breweries Project on this blog.

I finished Round 1 in February of 2019.

At that point, I started back at A, and got through round 2 by November of 2020.

And ... now here we are at "W" of round 3.

As I mentioned in V is for Vision Quest Brewing Company, we actually had quite a few "W" breweries to choose from.

Saturday, we picked one ...

W is for Wah Gwaan Brewing Company

Easter Ham

As I mentioned in Easter Saturday Ribeye Roast, I made the mistake of asking my kid what he wanted for Easter dinner.

His answer was "Ham".

I guess the good news is that I've cooked enough "Double Smoked" Hams over the years that I've pretty much have it down.

Basically I follow the "recipe" that I used for the 2019 Easter Ham and the Christmas of 2018 Double Smoked Ham.

The only real difference this time was that I did the actual cooking on the Weber Kettle.

Just as I did last time, I created a glaze. The ingredients were a little different, but it was the same idea.

Easter Saturday Ribeye Roast

Last Easter, I bought a 12 pound Ribeye Roast, and cooked half of it for Easter dinner.

The other half, I vacuum sealed and froze to use at a later time.

I cooked New Year's Ribeye Roast, this year, but since it was on sale, I bought a fresh one for that meal. The one from last Easter remained in the freezer.

I got the roast out to thaw for this year's Easter dinner, but made the mistake of asking my son what he wanted as the main dish for Easter dinner.

He said "Ham".

So, as I had thawed Ribeye Roast, I decided I would make it for dinner Saturday.

Easter Saturday.

Spare Ribs

Just yesterday, I posted that the previous Sunday I had brewed my 2022 Melting Stream Spring Saison (Batch 309).

Later that day, I smoked a rack of Spare Ribs on my Weber Kettle.

At some point between the time I wrote that post and now, I was looking at Sheppy's Blog: Melting Stream, and noticed the title of blog post last time I brewed Melting Stream ...

Melting Stream and Spare Ribs.

I thought it was a cool coincidence that I smoked ribs last time I brewed this recipe.

I guess it isn't that amazing. I brew the Spring Saison every year, and I almost always smoke something on Brew Days.

I just thought it cool and I thought I'd share. So, that is what I'm doing now. Here are some pictures of my ribs:

2022 Melting Stream Spring Saison (Batch 309)

Spring has sprung here in the Front Range of Colorado.

Here ... that means a few nice sunny days in the 50's, 60's, or 70's followed by a couple cold snowy (or rainy) days followed by more sunny warm weather.

Because of this spring cycle ... melting snow from the mountains makes its way into streams. Rivers flow down into the high plains by Denver and to the East.

I love the image of the melting snow filling up the streams during this time of year.

This is what inspired the name for the SheppyBrew Spring Seasonal Saison ...

Melting Stream Spring Saison

Last weekend, I brewed it again. I've been brewing these Seasonal Saisons since 2014, and this is the 8th time I brewed Melting Stream.

V is for Vision Quest Brewing Company

Believe it or not ... we're getting really close to the end of the third round of our A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts.

About a month ago, we ventured out of the Denver area into Boulder for U is for Upslope Brewing Company.

This, of course, means that we needed a "V" brewery.

For round 1 ... we used V is for Vine Street Pub and Brewery.

In round 2 ... we just happed to have a trip planned to Vail at the right time and were able to use V is for Vail Brewing Company.

Believe it or not, if we're willing to travel a bit, there a few more "V" breweries we can use for this round, and any future rounds we might do.

This past Saturday, we decided to take a trip to the closest of these options in Boulder.

V is for Vision Quest Brewing Company

McShepardSons Comparison

Remember a couple weeks ago I brewed a double batch of McShepardSons Irish Ale (Batch 308)?

Well ... I did.

In one fermentor, I pitched Voss Kveik Ale Yeast. In the other I used SafAle English Ale.

The Voss ferment finished up in a few days. The English ferment finished about a week later.

Friday after work, I decided to compare the two beers.

They are both beautiful red ales, but the colors are slightly different. The kveik ale is just a touch darker. I think this is mostly due to the Voss beer having more time to clarify. 

Groomsday Pic Pint

My friend "Joe" contacted me again a couple weeks ago, letting me know that he wanted to send me another gift to help promote a new site ... "Groomsday".

He thought I might like one of the company's laser-engraved Personalized Groomsmen Beer Glasses.

I agreed, and sent him a picture of myself so that he could send me a Laser Engraved Pic Pint.

All glasses are engraved by our amazing artist, who extracts your guys out of the pictures you send him and engraves them on the glass. This beer glass holds 15 oz, the perfect amount to enjoy.

Brisket Shepard's Pie

Last time I made brisket, I vacuum sealed and froze most of the point.

See Superbowl Brisket.

Since then, the brisket point has been sitting in the freezer waiting for an opportunity for me to use it in a relatively quick meal.

This past weekend, my wife and kid wanted to go out and watch The Batman, and as it is a long movie, I knew I wouldn't have a whole lot of time in the afternoon to prepare dinner.

I thought a Shepherds (Shepard's) Pie would be something good to make with left-over brisket.

This is something I thought would be great to prepare in the morning and just pop on the Weber Kettle for an hour or so.

So ... Saturday morning, I made some mashed potatoes, and heated up the brisket in a gravy with onion and corn.

2022 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats

We have completed Q1 of 2022, which means we can report the SheppyBrew Brewing Stats for the quarter.

Compared to Q1 of 2020 (when we brewed 7 batches for 35 gallons) and Q1 of 2021 (when we brewed 8 batches for 42 gallons of beer), the first quarter of 2022 has been pretty low.

We've only brewed 5 batches. We've only brewed 30 gallons.

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

This puts me on pace for my 3rd highest year for volume of beer brewed, but certainly 1 quarter doesn't mean very much for projecting a total for the year.

The beers I brewed this quarter were:

• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• Colorado Strong IPA
• Colorado Vienna Lager
• Boo Berry American Wheat
• McShepardsons Irish Ale (double batch)

I.Hate.Beer

I've decided to give up beer.

This morning I woke up with an over-whelming hatred of beer.

I hate the smell. I hate the taste. I hate making it. I hate drinking it. I hate looking at it. I hate thinking about it. I hate taking photos of it. I hate blogging about it.

I. Hate. Beer.