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

X-Mas Ham

When I asked my kids what they wanted for Christmas dinner this year, my eldest said "ham".

While ham is not my favorite holiday food, I aim to please, so I went ahead and decided to do my "typical" Double Smoked Ham.

My wife got the standard spiral cut ham, around 10lbs.

On Christmas morning I made a glaze / sauce with a coke base and various spices. 

I also made a brown-sugar based "rub".

I placed the ham in a cooking pan, and then poured about half the glaze over the ham, and sprinkled the rub over it.

12 Beers Of Christmas

Way back in 2020, I did a little blog series ... The 25 Beers of December. For the first 25 days of December that year, I drank and took a picture of a different beer. It was sort of an Advent calendar of beers.

For some reason ... my little 12 5k's of December made me think about this little project. I didn't think of it soon enough to do exactly the same thing, but I thought a "12 Beers Of Christmas" might be sort of fun.

On Sunday, December 14, I pulled a pint of Wrexham Lager out of my beer fridge. This is apparently a 140 year old recipe, brewed in 1882 when two German immigrants set forth to brew in the UK. It is nicely session able at 4.0% ABV. Crisp, clean, and "iconic". Subtly hopped, light and refreshing.

Wrexham Lager

🍺Skadoosh Blond Ale

Style: American Blond Ale Brewer: SheppyBrew ABV: 4.6% IBU: 26 SRM: 5

👀 Appearance

A pale golden hue with a soft, bready glow. The beer pours with a modest white head that lingers just enough to leave a delicate lace on the glass. Its clarity is bright and inviting, a beacon of simplicity in the pint.

👃 Aroma

Gentle notes of fresh bread and light malt sweetness rise first, followed by a subtle floral touch from Cascade and Saaz hops. There’s a whisper of rye spice underneath, adding intrigue without overwhelming the nose.