Roll-a-Style 12: 15C. Irish Extra Stout

I've mentioned a few times that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal and my Roll-a-Style list this year.

Early in the year, I brewed Merida Scottish Ale, using harvested Irish Ale Yeast, and I wanted to continue that yeast with an Irish Ale.

I have 15C. Irish Extra Stout on the Roll-a-Style List and with St. Patrick's Day coming up, I thought that would be a great beer to have on tap for this holiday.

So, I pretended to roll a 12

Which, of course corresponded to the 15C. Irish Extra Stout.
 

I is for Incantation Brewing

If you follow this blog, you probably know that the SheppyBrew Beer Model is forcing me to continue along with round 6 of the A to Z series of posts.

We recently finished up A to Z Denver Breweries Round 5, and while we certainly have a bunch of breweries left on the Colorado Brewery Map & List, I wasn't sure if we'd continue along with the A to Z series of posts.

But, apparently, my wife is sure, and we're continuing.

Happy wife. Happy life. 

And ... so far we've made it through C is for Cohesion Brewing Company. We posted that article early this month.

And as you know, after "C" comes ... "I".

I is for Incantation Brewing 

Roll-a-Style 1: 25A. Belgian Blond Ale

I've mentioned a few times on this blog that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal and my Roll-a-Style list this year.

I have harvested Belgian Ale Yeast from Tafel Mystère Belgian Single (Batch 367), and since I have a few somewhat high ABV Belgium styles to work through on the list, I decided to actually plan stepping up the harvested yeast rather than wait for the random roll to get to these styles.

The first Belgium on the list is 25A. Belgian Blond Ale, and so ....

I pretended to roll:

 

Merida Scottish Light Ale (Batch 369)

2025 is flying by, isn't it?

As I mentioned a few times recently, I'm not going to brew very many (if any) "Seasonals" this year, concentrating instead on the BJCP Goal.

I'd really like to mark off several BJCP Styles that I've never brewed.

Of course, who knows how well I'll follow-up on this plan. It is very possible that I'll get caught up with something else. But, follow along on this blog, and you'll find out.

At the same time I bought ingredients for the Tasman Devil Pilsner (batch 368), I bought ingredients for another brew ....

If you read Roll-a-Style 8: 14A. Scottish Light Ale, you probably know what beer that is ...

Merida Scottish Light Ale

2024 #Strava #YearInSport

If you've been following along on this blog for awhile, you may remember that I have been sharing my Strava YearInSport stats over the past couple of years.

I pay more attention to my cycling goals and totals on Strava, but the YearInSport stats cover all activities.

Sort of interesting to me. Not sure if any blog readers care, but I'll share regardless. To be honest, this just helps me compare year-to-year how I do.

 

Roll-a-Style 8: 14A. Scottish Light Ale

As I mentioned in 2025 Roll-a-Style List, I'd really like to concentrate a little more on my BJCP Goal, and my Roll-a-Style List this year.

I have some Irish Ale Yeast harvested from Hooligans Stout, which I brewed in November.

There were a few Scottish Ales on the Roll-a-Style List, and I decided that the Irish Ale yeast would work well in those beers. I decided to tackle the 14A. Scottish Light Ale (60 Shilling) first.

So, I pretended to roll an 8 on my 20 Sided Online Die. This corresponds to the 14A. Scottish Light Ale on my list.

 

Tasman Devil Pilsner (batch 368)

Well ... here it is 2025 already. Happy Brew Year!

As I mentioned in SheppyBrew 2024 Year End Brewing Stats, in 2024 I brewed my lowest volume of brewed beer since 2018.

I didn't even get to 100 gallons, which also has not happened since 2018.

I expect 2025 will yield about the same amount of beer, but I guess we'll have to see.

With holiday guests and other cheer, my beer inventory is getting a little low, and for quite awhile I've been wanting to get a New Zealand Pilsner on tap.

So ... this past weekend I brewed:

Tasman Devil Pilsner

2025 Roll-a-Style List

Well ... if you've been following along on this blog, you know I've decided to concentrate on renewing my  BJCP Goal with a "Roll-a-Style" list.

The concept is pretty simple. I have a list of beer styles that I have not brewed. I assign numbers (1 - 20) to the styles. When I want to brew something new, I roll a 20 Sided Online Die, and brew that style associated with the number I rolled.

Sometimes I actually pick the style I want to brew and "pretend" I rolled the die, but either way, I'm working the list down of styles that I've never brewed.

There are more than 20 beers, so I include a "bench" of beers to move into the list once another gets brewed.

There are some beer styles I decided not to include because I know I won't like drinking them.

When I was going through 2024 Update on the 2021 BJCP Goal, I realized that there are some beer styles that are not on my list, but probably should be.

So ... I decided to add a few more beer styles to my "bench".

SheppyBrew 2024 Year End Brewing Stats

Well ... as I'm typing this, I'm not 100% sure I'm done brewing in 2024, but I think I am.

So ... I'll go ahead and type up the draft of my 2024 Brewing Stats. And when you're reading this, you probably won't know if I ended up brewing again or not because it will no longer be a draft and I will have updated based on the (potentially) last brew of the year.

Anyway ... in the 4th quarter of 2024, I brewed 5 batches of beer:

• Will-o'-Wisp Autumn Ale (no pumpkin)
• Pack o' Hooligans Stout
• X-Mas Ale 2024
• Decemberfest Lager
• Tafel Mystère Belgium Single

This puts me at 19 batches of beer for 95 gallons. This is the least amount I've brewed since 2018, which was the last time I brewed less than 100 gallons for a year.

Will-o'-Wisp Autumn Ale (no pumpkin)

C is for Cohesion Brewing Company

If you follow this blog, you probably know that the SheppyBrew Beer Model is forcing me to continue along with round 6 of the A to Z series of posts.

We recently finished up A to Z Denver Breweries Round 5, and while we certainly have a bunch of breweries left on the Colorado Brewery Map & List, I wasn't sure if we'd continue along with the A to Z series of posts.

But, apparently, my wife is sure, and we're continuing.

Happy wife. Happy life. 

So, after B is for Barrels & Bottles Brewery, we needed a "B" brewery, and the SheppyBrew Beer Model let me know that we would be visiting ....

C is for Cohesion Brewing Company

2024 Update on the 2021 BJCP Goal

If you follow this blog, you know I've renewed my old BJCP Goal.

Through a series of blog posts, I've discovered / acknowledged that I had not brewed whole categories in the 2021 Style Guidelines (see BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines, I lied, and 2021 BCJP Styles to Brew).

Since then, I've covered all the categories (or at least I'm pretty sure I have now) ... 

And .... at some point, I decided to not only try to get every category covered, but work through all the styles (at least the ones that I'm interested in drinking)

I even came up with a "Roll-a-Style" concept to give me help deciding which style to brew.

At the end of last year, I posted 2023 Update on the 2021 BJCP Goal. I thought I'd post another update at the end of 2024. 

Here is that post ...

In 2024, I've only reduced my Roll-a-Style list by 5 beer styles. Instead, I concentrated on 2024 Seasonals.

In 2025, I'm planning on hitting the Roll-a-Style list harder. My unofficial goal is to reduce the list enough that I'll be rolling a 12 sided die by the end of the year (as opposed to the 20 sided die I've been rolling).

Keep an eye on Sheppy's Blog: Roll-a-Style, and you'll be able to follow along how I'm doing. 

December #7100MilesIn2024 Progress

I do realize that no one really cares about my Strava goals, but honestly, I'm not sure there are many people who read this blog.

So, these posts are more for me to remind myself how things went during the year.

And ... well ... I blew away my #11EverestsIn2024 goal and my #7100MilesIn2024 goals. 

I actually cycled just under 650 miles in December, which is a bunch for a winter month, putting my 2024 total at 8,062 miles. 

I gained 31,464 feet in elevation for the month, putting me at 409,081 feet of elevation gained for the year. 

I've also extended my #MetricCenturyEveryMonth streak to 41 straight months with at least one 100 km (62.2 miles) ride.

 

2024 Seasonals

Early in 2022, I spent some time identifying "SheppyBrew Seasonals". I tied a specific SheppyBrew beer to every month in the year.

For whatever reason, after the year was done I shared 2022 Seasonals I had brewed during the year. I had brewed all but 3 of the "Seasonals".

I reported on the 2023 Seasonals as well, missing 4 months. Now that I've established the pattern, I feel like I have to share my brewed "Seasonals" for 2024.

I actually made it a brewing goal in 2024 to brew all my "SheppyBrew Seasonals". Around July or August, I got tired of the idea, but I had hit all the months so far, so I forced myself to finish them up.

2024 Mardi Bock