Colorado Vienna Lager vs Upslope Mexican Dark Lager

Remember in Colorado Vienna Lager vs Modelo Negra, I compared my Colorado Vienna Lager to both Modelo Negra and to  Prost Munich Dunkel.

While the styles have similar characteristics, these are not really Vienna Lagers.

I mentioned that I had cans of Upslope's Mexican Dark Lager in my fridge that I also should have compared (see U is for Upslope Brewing Company).

I typed "Maybe I'll do that side-by-side sometime soon."

Last Sunday, I did my side-by-side.

Upslope's Mexican Dark Lager still isn't a Vienna Lager. Honestly, it is closer to Modelo Negra than either of the other beers. But still, it was fun to compare.

Colorado Vienna Lager vs Modelo Negra

So ... I've been drinking Colorado Vienna Lager.

I think I've already had more of Colorado Vienna Lager (Batch 310) than I ever had of Colorado Vienna Lager (Batch 306) before the Disappearing Beer tragedy occurred.

At some point, I thought it would be fun to compare my Colorado Vienna Lager with commercial Vienna Lagers.

Unfortunately, it isn't real easy to find Vienna Lagers to buy. I remember hearing that Modelo Negra was considered a Vienna Lager, but when I looked it up on Untappd, it is listed as a Munich Dunkel.

I looked around at my favorite beer store, and I didn't see anything labeled Vienna Lager.

So I picked up Modelo Negra. Just for fun, I also picked up a six pack of Prost Munich Dunkel cans.

Colorado Vienna Lager (Batch 310)

Remember that in my post "Disappearing Beer" I shared that I didn't get to drink most of my first batch of Colorado Vienna Lager?

Heck ... I didn't even get to check it in on Untappd! (Yes, I check in most of my homebrewed beers on Untappd).

I've been wanting to brew Colorado Vienna Lager again so I could enjoy more of the beer.

Friday, I got the Root Shoot malts at my favorite homebrew shop, so that I could brew it on the weekend.

On Saturday, I prepared my water and set the timer to heat up while I was sleeping. I got up early Sunday to brew ...

 Colorado Vienna Lager

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)

Disappearing Beer

I discovered something sad on Sunday afternoon. 

I was intending to write a blog post about my two recent "Colorado" beers. Both Colorado Strong IPA and Colorado Vienna Lager feature a malt bill completely composed of malts from local Root Shoot Malting.

On Friday, I noted that Colorado Vienna Lager was

 "pretty much perfect now. Carbonation and clarity right where I want them. Yummy flavor. Beautiful color."

In other words ... this beer was ready to start drinking more than just samples. Drinking "for reals".

Colorado Vienna Lager (Batch 306)

I brewed a Vienna lager yesterday.

It is only my third batch of beer this year, but it was my 306th of my brewing "career".

As I've mentioned a few times on this blog, I've been using Root Shoot malts quite a bit lately.

One of my favorite homebrew shops has been featuring their malts, and I have really like the character that I get from the ones I've used so far.

Much like the Colorado Strong IPA (Batch 305), I designed the recipe with all Colorado malts. As I mentioned I really like the Vienna malt from Root Shoot, and this beer used it as its base.

I called the recipe:

Colorado Vienna Lager