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

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.

Ground Hog Premium Lager (Batch 392)

I brewed this past weekend.

If you read and remember 2026 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats, you know that this year has been slow in regards to brewing.

Since Q1, before this past weekend I'd only brewed Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager (Batch 390) and Where'd My ManGo Wheat (Batch 391), so I really have not been catching up with my normal brewing cadence.

I was on track for the least amount of beer I've homebrewed since 2009. Back then I was doing 2.5 gallon batches.

But, I took advantage of the opportunity to brew Saturday ...

Ground Hog Premium Lager

Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager (Batch 390)

I'm not brewing very much this year. As I've discussed, I'm on track to brew the least amount of homebrew for the year ever.

By a bunch.

But, I did brew a batch of beer this past Sunday.

Hopefully, I'll get another batch of beer in on Big Brew Day, which is coming up this Saturday.

So ... maybe I'll catch up some.

Even if I do, I don't anticipate catching up enough to get over that 100 gallon homebrewing limit.

Regardless, I got up early Sunday morning to start up the Anvil Foundry and brewed ....

Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager

Tengu vs. Samurai®

One of the beers I have on tap right now is "Whisper of the Tengu" Rice Lager.

"A rice lager brewed with reverence and restraint. Whisper of the Tengu is not a beer that shouts—it listens. It’s subtle, sharp, and quietly powerful, honoring the spirit of the mountain trickster with every clean, deliberate note. Ideal for quiet reflection, shared toasts, or moonlit mischief."

This is the first rice lager I've ever brewed (at least as far as I remember), and I think it turned out fantastic.

Rice lagers seem to have jumped in popularity somewhat recently, and I see them much more at commercial breweries than I did 5 and certainly more than 10 years ago.

I thought it would be fun to pick up a Rice Lager from a local brewery and compare it with Tengu.

So, I bought some of Great Divide's Samurai and this past Sunday I compared them side-by-side.

Mud Blood Baltic Porter (Batch 389)

I brewed my first Roll-a-Style beer of 2026 this week.

If I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 91 of the 108 styles in the BJCP Guidelines. My Roll-a-Style list is getting pretty thin.

It's already mid-March and this is only my 3rd batch of beer of 2026, so I'm not really brewing much so far this year.

It is already my third lager of the year and my third new recipe of the year.

If you read Roll-a-Style 4: 9C. Baltic Porter, you probably realized this was coming.

Mud Blood Baltic Porter

Roll-a-Style 4: 9C. Baltic Porter

It has been awhile since I've mentioned Roll-a-Style on this blog. 

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 roll a virtual 20-sided online die, and brew the style that corresponds with the number that comes up.

Pretty simple, right?

The last style I "rolled" was Roll-a-Style 16: 26C. Belgian Tripel back in October, and I didn't brew it until November with Yoker Belgian Tripel (Batch 385).

Recently, I brewed Whisper of the Tengu Rice Lager (Batch 388), which is a lager. I thought I'd harvest the Tengu yeast and brew a lager on my Roll-a-Style list.

So ... I pretended to roll a 4:

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

Johnny McClure vs Rainier Lager

If you follow along on this blog, you know that after my wife and I visited the Seattle area, I brewed a beer that I called Johnny McClure Rainier Lager.

It was inspired by a beer I remember seeing a lot when I was a kid living in Washington, Rainier Beer, but I wasn't really looking to clone Rainier at all. I purposely added more hops than Rainier to make it a SheppyBrew recipe.

Regardless, this past weekend I thought I'd pour my beer next to Rainier and compare the two.

🍺 Johnny McClure Rainier Lager

“Born in the woods. Refined in Gorst. Brewed by gnomes.”

Style: 'Merican Light Lager
Brewer: SheppyBrew
ABV: 4.9%
IBU: 16
SRM: 3.4

Appearance

Pours a pale straw gold with brilliant clarity and a tight, snowy white head. Effervescent bubbles race upward like a mountain stream, forming a persistent cap that laces the glass with each sip.

Aroma

Clean and subtle with hints of grainy malt, a whisper of corn sweetness, and a gentle floral lift from classic American hops. There’s a faint herbal edge that nods to the evergreens of the Pacific Northwest.

1519 Barker Exportbier (Batch 361)

If you've been following my Great Cycle Challenge, you know that I've been pushing pretty hard to log miles this month.

I've already done my 2nd Century of the Challenge, and as I type this I've logged over 500 miles on my bikes.

Sunday, I decided to take a bit of a break, and brew some beer.

I'm still taking a bit of a break from my Roll-a-Style list, and I thought I'd brew another lager.

You may remember that last September I brewed 1519 Barker Exportbier (Batch 361), which was a tribute to my college days.

There were enough issues with the first batch that I knew I'd like to brew it again.

This seemed like a good time to get the 2nd batch done.

1519 Barker Exportbier

 

Johnny McClure Rainier Lager (Batch 380)

So ... if you've been following along on this blog, you know that this year I've been concentrating on my BJCP Goal and the Roll-a-Style list when it comes to brewing beers.

I've brewed 87 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Guidelines.

This year, I've brewed 9 new BJCP styles.

I recently decided I wanted to brew a non-Roll-a-Style batch.

As I mentioned in the Seattle Trip posts, my wife and I recently visited Washing State.

I used to live in Washington, and while I never drank as a child, I remember Rainier Beer being around.

Cuttlefish Czech Amber Lager 🦑🍺

Style: Czech Amber Lager (Polotmavý Pivo)
Brewer: SheppyBrew
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 34
SRM: 15 (deep amber)

Appearance 👀

Pours a shimmering amber with flashes of copper and coral in the light. Dense, off-white foam crowns the glass like sea foam on a tide-washed reef. Moderate clarity and sparkle give it a polished, nautical charm.

Aroma 👃

Crackling toast and caramelized malt surface first, chased by faint herbal hops and a splash of ocean breeze (or maybe just noble spice). There's a subtle, almost briny undertone—as if the grains were whispered over by cuttlefish sages.

Cuttlefish Czech Amber Lager (Batch 378)

This past weekend, I killed two kegs, leaving me with only two beers on tap. I suspect Halfway to Helles Leichtbier is also running low.

I have Gob Stopper Grape Ale fermenting, but I'm in danger of running low on my homebrew.

As I mentioned in 2025 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats, I've slowed down brewing quite a bit lately, so this certainly should not come as a surprise.

But, I figured I needed to get some beers in the pipeline.

You might have seen my recently posted Roll-a-Style 2: 3C. Czech Amber Lager, and if you did, you probably realized this was coming ...

Saturday, I ran off to my favorite LHBS to get ingredients and Sunday I brewed....

Cuttlefish Czech Amber Lager

 

Roll-a-Style 2: 3C. Czech Amber Lager

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year.

As of the time of this post, if I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 85 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 7 new BJCP styles (8 if you include Tasman Pilsner).

I have my Roll-a-Style list, which helps me keep track of styles that I still need to brew.

The idea is that I use a 20-sided online die to decide which style to brew next. 

In early July, I was running sort of low on inventory, and needed to brew to get the pipeline going. 

I rolled my 20-sided online die, and rolled a 2 ... 

 

Halfway to Helles vs Astrosuds Lager

So, part of the logic around brewing Halfway to Helles Leichtbier in May had to do with my May "Seasonal" Helles in a Hand Bock-sket.

Last year, while drinking Hand Bock-sket, I made the comment:

#WillDrinkInJune. Great bready malt character. Loving this beer. I think the only improvement I can think of is making it lower ABV ... But it wouldn't be a Maibock then 😎

I believe this was shortly after drinking a beer at Green Mountain Brewing Company that really reminded me of  Hand Bock-sket, but was lower in ABV. It's name was "AstroSuds Lager".

While a 5A. German Leichtbier isn't really anything like a lower ABV Maibock, it is sort of similar in that they are both German lagers.

Before my latest camping trip, I saw cans of AstroSuds Lager in Green Mountain's beer cooler, and I decided to pick up a four pack.

Around that time, I poured the Halfway to Helles Leichtbier and AstroSuds to compare side-by-side.

 

Roll-a-Style 3: 5A. German Leichtbier

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year.

As of the time of this post, if I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 83 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 5 new BJCP styles (6 if you include Tasman Pilsner).

I have my Roll-a-Style list, which helps me keep track of styles that I still need to brew.

The idea is that I use a 20-sided online die to decide which style to brew next. However, sometimes, I have decided what I want to brew and "pretended" to roll the number I wanted to brew.

May is coming up, which would be a time to brew the "seasonal" Helles in a Hand Bock-sket, and I thought this year it would be fun to brew a lower ABV German Lager to replace the Hand Bock-sket beer.

The one lower ABV German Lager I still had on the list was 3, and I pretended to roll the online die ...

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

Tasman Devil Pilsner

In the 2021 BJCP Style guidelines, there is a section called Style Guidelines Appendices and References.

And ... in there, Appendix B: Local Styles.

One of the "Local Styles" is X5. New Zealand Pilsner. 

"A pale, dry, golden-colored, cleanly-fermented beer showcasing the characteristic tropical, citrusy, fruity, grassy New Zealand-type hops. Medium body, soft mouthfeel, and smooth palate and finish, with a neutral to bready malt base provide the support for this very drinkable, refreshing, hop-forward beer."

It is a style that I generally enjoy quite a bit, and I usually will order it when I see it at various breweries.