3 Blondes and a Redhead

So .... I actually have 4 wonderful SheppyBrew beers on tap right now. It has been awhile since it has been the case that all my taps have a beer on them.

Catching up with Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (Batch 398) and then Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch (Batch #399) seem to have done what I hoped.

The beers I have "on tap" are

• GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA 
  Hoppy "Cold IPA" ... a hoppy rice beer brewed as a lager with IPA hops. The citrus hops come through nicely in a crisp, clean base.
  
  
• Brain Freeze Rauchbier 
  My Roll-a-Style 6B. Rauchbier, which is basically a smoked Marzen. The amount of smoke malt is less than 10% of the grain bill, which isn't really as much as most Rauchbiers. I the smoke comes through nicely without being overpowering.
  
  
• Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale 
  This SheppyBrew Classic has been brewed 15 times with various grain bills and yeasts. The past few times have been pretty consistent. I refer to this as "fat tire light". The Beer Model says this is her favorite SheppyBrew Beer, which is why it has been brewed so often.
  
  
• Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch 
  Actually not much of a "Kolsch" ... it really presents more like a session IPA. It was designed a my first "No-chill" beer with only CTZ in the boil, but Cascade, Centennial, and Citra added as a dry-hop. 

2026 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats

Well ... it is October, putting us past the 3rd Quarter of 2026. We can report on the SheppyBrew Home Brewery "Brewing Stats" for Q3.

If you read the Q1 report, you know 2026 started off very slow. Slow enough that I was on track to brew the least amount of beer EVER.

In the Q2 report, I had brewed a little more, and was no longer on track for the least volume of beer ever, but still probably the lowest since my Mr. Beer days. 

Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch

September Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

As you know if you follow this blog, I generally give a monthly update on my fitness / Strava goals. I'm sure no one besides myself really cares, but I figure sharing these publicly give me a little extra motivation because of the extra accountability.

Plus, from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was in the past.

In previous years, my goals have been mostly around cycling, but starting this year, I've started running as well.

If you're interested, You can always track these workouts on Strava. 

So far, I'm tracking pretty well to my 2026 Fitness goals, although a couple of aches and pains (not quite injuries) do seem to be slowing me down a bit (at least on running).

Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch (Batch #399)

Last Saturday, the Brew Model and I normally would have probably gone on a bike ride.

However, the Denver Century Ride was going on, and we didn't really want to navigate bike paths with potentially hundreds of others.

Originally, Saturday the 26th was going to be "Doc's Quad Brew Day", which meant my buddy Doc would brew a batch. His wife would brew a batch. The Beer Model would brew a batch. I would brew a batch.

Plans changed and we did it the previous Saturday, with Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (Batch 398). And, our hosts decided they would only do one batch that day.

When they were not doing two batches, we decided to "only" do one too.

This meant that we had ingredients ready to brew with. Last Saturday we used them on the "original" planned brew day without Doc and his wife .

Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch

I finished #GCCUSA2026

Yesterday, I got in an 18 mile ride to finish up my 1000 mile September, raising over $5,300 to help fight Childhood Cancer with my Great Cycle Challenge.

The rider / donation page will remain available for at least another month ... and I'll be signing up for my 12th year in 2027 ... so if you want to donate, you still can:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard

M is for Mad Macks Brewing

If you're following along on the A to Z series of posts, and/or read K is for Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar, you know we are up to the letter "M".

If you don't know what that means ... my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I work our say through the alphabet, visiting a local brewery for each letter.

We've done this 6 full times and are working on #7. At "M", we're basically half-way through round 7!

Considering we only hit A is for Alley Brews Brewery & Coffee Shop this past April, we're flying through this round of the alphabet.

And, as promised ... "M" is one of those letters that we actually had a good choice, and this past Friday, we visited ...

M is for Mad Macks Brewing

#GCCUSA2026 Hero Jersey Shots

In #GCCUSA2026 Jersey Shots, I shared photos of me in GCC Jerseys.

I left out the "Hero Jerseys" that I've earned over the years, so I thought I'd post those.

Here they are:

2020 "Spider Man"

#GCCUSA2026 Jersey Shots

As you know if you've been following along, I'm riding 1000 miles this month as part of the Great Cycle Challenge.

If you'd like to help out with a donation ... here is my rider page:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard

I've been doing this thing every year for the past 10 years and over that time have collected quite of few GCC Jerseys.

As of a couple days ago, I've taken selfies of all these jerseys (other than 2016, which doesn't fit me and is now in my wife's closet).

Here are those photos:

2017

Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (Batch 398)

So ... remember in Brain Freeze Rauchbier (Batch 397), that my friend "Doc" had a plan to help us "catch up" a little on our low beer inventories?

Well, his plan was a "Quad Brew Day" at his home brewery. 

I would brew a batch. My wife would brew a batch. He would brew a batch. His wife would brew a batch.

As it turned out ... neither his nor my wife really planned on brewing a batch themselves, so really it would be Doc brewing two batches and Me brewing two batches.

And ... they ended up needing to babysit their new grand child later in the day, so they decided to just brew one batch.

Honestly, I had not been excited about having to transport (and set up and clean) both my brewing set ups. So, when they said they might be doing one batch, I told them "we" would only be doing the Beer Model's batch....

Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale

Brain Freeze Rauchbier (Batch 397)

Even though I have 4 beers on tap, I feel like my beer inventory is pretty low. Every time I pour a beer, I think a keg is going to blow.

Apparently, my friend "Doc" hasn't brewed much this summer, and is in the same boat.

He proposed a plan to help with both our inventory issues, and it will allow us to catch up a little. We're planning on brewing together at Doc's Brewery soon-ish.

More on that later.

Still, I wanted to get a brew day in before we get together. I actually wanted to get an appropriate lager on tap for Oktoberfest season.

If you read, Roll-a-Style 10: 6B. Rauchbier, you knew this was coming .... on Sunday I brewed:

Brain Freeze Rauchbier

PBR vs. PBR

If you follow along on this blog, you likely remember that I screwed up the Potato Beer.

I won't go into details ... if you need a reminder you can check out the I screwed up the Potato Beer link. For now, I'll just say SheppyBrew's Potato Barley Rye (PBR) is a bit salty.

It isn't completely undrinkable, and I don't have a lot of HomeBrew "Inventory", so I still have the beer on tap.

K is for Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar

If you're following along on the A to Z Series of Posts, and read L is for Landlocked Ales, you know we skipped over "K".

It just so happened that there wasn't really anything close to our house on the Colorado Brewery Map & List that would really work for us.

But ... we had plans to stay up in the mountains over Labor Day weekend, and my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) came up with a fantastic idea.

We were staying up in Copper Mountain, which is a short down-hill bike ride down to Lake Dillon.

So, we brought our bikes, and on Saturday morning we headed down to visit ....

K is for Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar

3 Floyds Zombie Dust

So ... remember Zymurgy's Best Beers in America?

Zymurgy is the American Homebrewers Association's magazine. As a member, I continue to get it, but don't really get around to reading it much.

One of the issues I always looked forward to was their Best Beers in America lists. For awhile, I would look at the list, make my own list of beers I had never tried and then attempt to track them down to taste them.

I would share these on Sheppy's Blog: Zymurgy BBIA. The last time I posted an article mentioning the list was early 2015.

August Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

As you know if you follow this blog, I generally give a monthly update on my fitness / Strava goals. I'm sure no one besides myself really cares, but I figure sharing these publicly give me a little extra motivation because of the extra accountability.

Plus, from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was in the past.

In previous years, my goals have been mostly around cycling, but starting this year, I've started running as well.

If you're interested, You can always track these workouts on Strava. 

So far, I'm tracking pretty well to my 2026 Fitness goals, although a couple of aches and pains (not quite injuries) do seem to be slowing me down a bit (at least on running).

L is for Landlocked Ales

If you've been paying attention to the A to Z Series of Posts, you might have noticed that we had to stretch a little for the past few letters.

The whole idea of A to Z is to help pick local breweries.

But ...

H is for Homegrown Tap and Dough is a pizza restaurant / tap room.

We just blatantly gave up and skipped the letter on I is for IDK.

We visited a beer bar on J is for Jake's Beer Bar.

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) came up with a great idea for "K", but we are actually going to come back to that one.

For now we're skipping ahead to "L". Big L. Little L. What begins with L?

L is for Landlocked Ales

2026 Tribute Day Photos

Here it is ... September already. 

As you know if you follow me at all, I'll be cycling 1,000 miles in September to help raise awareness and money to fight childhood cancer.

It is called the Great Cycle Challenge.

If you'd like to help out, head to my "Rider Page" at

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

If you follow me on Facebook, you might have seen me posting about "Tribute Day" on Wednesday, August 26.

Roll-a-Style 10: 6B. Rauchbier

The last time I did a Roll-a-Style post on this blog was Roll-a-Style 4: 9C. Baltic Porter back in February.

Yeah ... that was a long time ago.

So, it is probably worth a quick reminder: I created a list of BJCP beer styles that I've never brewed. When I want to decide which beer style to brew next, I originally rolled a virtual 20-sided online die, and brew the style that corresponds with the number that comes up.

Pretty simple, right?

After my 9C. Baltic Porter, I was down to 12 beer styles to brew, so I'm now using a 12 Sided Die.

It is close to Oktoberfest season, and I've unofficially declared this the "Year of the Lager". There is actually a style that fits Oktoberfest perfectly.

So .... I pretended to roll a 

GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA (Batch 396)

If you're new here, it will probably surprise you to know that I hate Gnomes. 

Well ... that isn't technically true. I don't HATE them. It would be much more accurate to say that Gnomes absolutely terrify me.

It creeps me out the way these little creatures sneak around causing mischief. The way they pretend to act like real people is unnatural. Their little voices send chills down my spine. Oddly enough, leprechauns and tommyknockers don't bother me. I can't completely put my finger on what it is, but something about gnomes are completely frightening. Quite often when I see several gnomes together, I scream like a little girl.

I can't help it, they freak me out. My wife has a similar issue with spiders. It certainly doesn't help that the use an unnecessary "G" in their name. Uggggg.

Chatfield SUP Photos

We went Paddle Boarding on Chatfield Reservoir again on Saturday.

This is the second time using the Akaso Brave 7 LE Action Camera. I think its supposed to be more of a video camera ... but I've yet to really take a video worth saving.

Oh Well.

One of us fell in. Sadly, it wasn't me.

Colorado is in a drought and Chatfield Reservoir is certainly showing that we need lots more rain than we've been getting. 

I'm really hoping for more snow this winter, and any rain we get between now and then is very welcome.

But, even with the low water level on the lake, it is always fun to get out there and paddle around.

Here are some pictures ...

J is for Jake's Beer Bar

If you're following along on the A to Z Series, you probably know we're in a tough section of the alphabet.

Round 7 started out nicely. A, B, C, D, F and G all had local breweries that started with the respective letters. E was a little stretch, but not bad at all.

On H is for Homegrown Tap and Dough, we picked a local Tap Room and Pizza Place rather than a brewery.

We totally punted on "I" with I is for IDK.

"J" was another letter that didn't really have any good choices on the Colorado Brewery Map & List, but I thought there was a good downtown Littleton Beer Bar we could slot into this spot.

J is for Jake's Beer Bar