W is for Wild Sky Brewery

Sadly, a bunch of Denver area breweries have closed. Many are continuing to struggle and I'm sure others will continue to close.

Many of the A to Z breweries no longer exist.

Last Friday, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) suggested we visit a closed brewery. I figured she knew it was no longer open, but apparently she missed it closing.

Usually, it happens the other way ... she notices things like that when I miss them.

In this case, I had also recently seen a Facebook post from the same brewery at its other location announcing that their other location regrettably was closing too.

As luck would have it, we're on "W" for our A to Z series of posts, AND this closing brewery starts with the letter "W".

W is for Wild Sky Brewery

 

Super Sunday Fun Run B-Race

As you know if you read 2026 Fitness Goals, I'm training for a Half Marathon in April, the "Platte River Half Marathon". 

I'm following Runna's Half Marathon plan, and one of the options in the Runna app is including "B-Races" as part of the plan. 

In case you're unfamiliar, a "B‑Race" is a race you do during training to help you prepare for your main race, which is called your "A‑Race". 

Fairly obvious if you think about it in context, but it was not a term I knew about until I started with Runna.

Coincidently, there was a 5k Race planned that starts and ends at the same spot as my "Platte River Half Marathon" that took place last Sunday.

Super Sunday Fun Run

2026 Fitness Goals

So ... as you know if you follow this blog, I'm actually pretty physically active for an old decrepit couch potato. 

Quite often, usually about once a month, I've posted updates on my on Strava cycling goals. The last time I reported on this was December Update on 2025 Cycling Goals.

Towards the end of last year, I started running, so in 2026 I decided to add a couple of running goals as well. 

I thought I'd share my 2026 "Fitness" Goals today ...

 

V is for Living the Dream Brewing Company

Last Saturday, I was viciously attacked by an animal. 

Not a dog. Not some wild animal. Not a hungry or threatened reptile. Not a stinging or biting insect. Not an aggressive rodent.

I was attacked by a HOUSE CAT!

In a freaking brewery!

Depending on the individual city / local ordinances, many of the Denver-area breweries advertise that they are "dog friendly" ... ie ... as long as your dog is well-behaved, you can bring your dog.

I've never seen a brewery communicate in any way that pet cats are welcome.

 But ... when we packed up a lunch, went on a short hike, and visited ...

V is for LiVing the Dream Brewing Company

 

"Dry January" Beers

I don't really believe in "Dry January" in the same way I don't really believe in New Year resolutions.

I don't understand why if you want to make a change on yourself you would wait until January. If you want to make a change, do it when you identify the change you want to make.

 

U is for LŪki Brewery

HA! Three A to Z Brewery Posts in a row!

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have a pretty good idea what this A to Z series is all about ... but just in case you're wondering ...

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

I decided to make an effort to hit more of them.

As I started to look at the list, it struck me that I could go down the list alphabetically and find Denver-area breweries that started with just about every letter.

So, I did. And ... we've gone through 5 whole rounds. Now we're on our 6th time through the alphabet.

After T is for The Post Chicken & Beer (Rosedale), we are up to the letter "U".

U is for LŪki Brewery

T is for The Post Chicken & Beer (Rosedale)

We're still working through Round 6 of the A to Z Series of posts.

If you've been following the blog, you know we hit S is for Second Dawn Brewing Company just a couple of days ago.

And ... of course that means it was time to pick a "T" brewery.

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we did have a couple of "T" breweries to pick from.

Honestly, though one of the breweries on the list is one I really don't like. And a few others I was considering were a little farther than I wanted to travel.

I ended up picking a restaurant close to our house that isn't technically a brewery ....

T is for The Post Chicken & Beer (Rosedale)

S is for Second Dawn Brewing Company

So ... yes ... we are chugging away on Round 6 of the A to Z Series of posts.

We had a long 6 month delay between N is for North River Brewery (RiNo) and O is for Odell Brewing 5 Points, but our more recent posts have come fairly fast.

This is our 4th A to Z posts in December and January, and we're up to "S".

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we had a couple good choices for "S" breweries.

And ... a couple of Saturdays ago, based on the hours of operation, we packed a lunch and picked .... Big S. Little S. What begins with S?

S is for Second Dawn Brewing Company

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.

It is also interesting to see what Strava reports in it's YearInSport stats from year to year.

Anyway ...

 

Hop-cember Pale Ale (Batch 387)

I brewed for the first time in 2025 this past Sunday.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you might have seen the brew-day post.

This is my first time brewing since I got the Skadoosh Blond Ale (Batch 386) batch done.

As I mentioned in SheppyBrew 2025 Year End Brewing Stats, I only brewed 95 gallons last year. I was actually planning on brewing this batch before the end of the year, but the timing just never really worked out.

So, I finally brewed it last Sunday. 

If I'm counting correct, this is my 387th batch of beer in my brewing career and my 101st batch of beer in my Anvil Foundry ...

Hop-cember Pale Ale

SheppyBrew 2025 Year End Brewing Stats

Here it is, 2026 already. It is crazy how fast the year flew by.

If you follow along on this blog at all, you probably know that after each quarter, I "report" my SheppyBrew Brewing Stats.

And, now it is time for me to report on the SheppyBrew 2025 Year End Brewing Stats.

So ... in the 4th quarter of 2025, I brewed 5 batches of beer:

• Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter
• Tafel Mystère Belgian Single
• X-Mas Ale 2025
• Yoker Belgian Tripel 
• Skadoosh Blond Ale

This puts me exactly where I was last year. I brewed 19 batches of beer for 95 gallons for the year. Another year at less than 100 gallons of beer.

Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter

December Update on 2025 Cycling Goals

I do quite a bit of cycling for a middle-aged couch potato.

With all the BBQ I make and eat, and all the beer I brew and drink, biking a ridiculous amount helps keep me somewhat in shape.

So ... I spend lots of time cycling around the foothills of Denver.

If you're interested, I always track on Strava. (even if you're not interested)

Anyway ... as you may remember from 2025 Cycling Goals, I had 5 cycling goals in 2025:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth / #8200MilesIn2025 / #16EverestsIn2025 / Triple Bypass Ride / #GCCUSA

2025 is now over ... and ...

Here is an update for these goals as of the end of December, 2025: 

Finished the 12 Days of 5k's

As I mentioned in 12 5k's of December, I signed up for the American Cancer Society's 12 Days of 5ks on Facebook virtual challenge advertised in my Facebook feed.

I'm not much of a runner, but I've been following some Runna running plans since April or so.

I was going to be doing 8 5k's on the Runna plan anyway, so I thought "how hard can it be" to run 4 more runs during the month.

Q is For Brad's Pit BBQ

If you follow along on this blog, you probably know about the A to Z Series of posts, and that we are quite a ways through "Round 6".

In case you don't know ... back in February of 2015, I was embarrassed by the number of Denver Breweries that I had never visited.

I decided to make an effort to hit more of them.

As I started to look at the list, it struck me that I could go down the list alphabetically and find Denver-area breweries that started with just about every letter.

So, I did. And ... we've gone through 5 whole rounds. Now we're on our 6th time through the alphabet.

"Q" is a tough letter. One that we've had to take "artistic license" on the "breweries" we picked.

This time, I didn't really pick a brewery at all ...

Q is For Brad's Pitt BBQ

R is for Resolute Brewing Company Centennial Brewery

As I mentioned in P is for Platt Park Brewing Co, we are re-engaging our A to Z Series of posts project.

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I are working our way through he alphabet to pick local area breweries to visit.

We were paused for quite awhile, but we're now back at round 6 of this little journey.

Of course after "P" comes "Q", and as I mentioned, I think I have a plan for "Q", but on Saturday after Christmas, we decided to skip ahead to "R". 

Don't worry, we'll come back.

But for now ...

R is for Resolute Brewing Company Centennial Brewery

2025 "Seasonals"

If you've followed this blog at all this year, you know that I wanted to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal and my Roll-a-Style list in 2025.

As a side-effect, I purposely ignored most of my "SheppyBrew Seasonals". 

After brewing Mardi Blonde (Batch 370) Birthday Brew and Oisin Owl Irish Stout (Batch 371), I thought to myself that those could be considered February and March "Seasonals".

The Mardi Blonde fit right into the "Mardi Gras / Lent" season in place of  Mardi Bock, and of course Oisin Owl being an "Irish Stout", it was perfect for St. Patrick's Day in March.

At that point, I started thinking that maybe with a little planning, I could come up with replacement "Seasonals" for most months even while brewing new beers based on the Roll-a-Style list.

So ... like I had done with 2024 Seasonals, 2023 Seasonals, and 2022 Seasonals, I started tracking how I could slot 2025 beers into the monthly "Seasonal" matrix.

2025 Mardi Blonde