Pours obsidian-black with a velvety tan head that lingers like jungle mist at midnight. The body is opaque, yet alive with glimmers of burnt amber when held to light. Legs cling to the glass like shadow spirits.
Layers of dark chocolate, roasted malt, and licorice swirl with unexpected bursts of ripe tropical fruit—papaya, mango, maybe a banana whisper. The warm fermentation brings esters that add intrigue and illusion to every sniff.
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.
Style: American Grape Ale
Brewer: SheppyBrew
ABV: 7.0%
IBU: 16
SRM: 7 (radiant violet)
Concord grape front and center—like you just cracked open a juice box at recess. Beneath that: gentle floral honey, a whiff of grapevine must, and faint cereal notes from the malt. Nostalgic without being fake or flashy.
Tart grape onset morphs into gentle sweetness mid-palate, lifted by honey malt and clean fermentation. A crisp finish keeps it from going syrupy, and low bitterness balances the fruit. Tastes like if childhood had a craft beer sponsor.
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 86 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 8 new BJCP styles (9 if you include Tasman Pilsner).
And ... I have ingredients and will probably brew my Roll-a-Style 15: 16C. Tropical Stout soon.
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 late-ish July, I was killing time one day and thought I'd spend time coming up with a new recipe.
To figure out what beer I'd brew, I rolled my 20-sided online die, and rolled a 10 ...
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 86 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 8 new BJCP styles (9 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 15 ...
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 ...
It's July, which means that we've made it through the second quarter of 2025. It is time to "report" on the 2025 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats.
Q1 was pretty busy, and I was on track for 120 gallons of beer in 2025.
Q2, on the other hand wasn't nearly as busy. I only brewed 4 batches of beer totaling 20 gallons, putting my projected 2025 volume right at 100 gallons.
The Q2 batches were:
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| Melting Stream Spring Saison |
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.
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 84 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 6 new BJCP styles (7 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.
June is here, and I did my Big Brew Day ... Halfway to Helles (Batch 375) at the beginning of May, checking off my 84th style. I think it is time to pick another beer to brew.
I rolled my 20-sided online die, and rolled a 12 ...
I have a confession to make.
Quite often on this blog when I say that I ask ChatGPT something, I am lying. For the purposes of this blog, I lump all AI Chatbots together, and refer to them all as ChatGPT.
I actually use MS Copilot a lot more. But, still on this blog I refer to them as ChatGPT.
It is rare that SheppyBrew Home Brewery makes a "big", high alcohol beer.
By some standards, you might even say that SheppyBrew has never brewed a big beer.
Generally, my beers are in the 4 - 6% ABV range. Sometimes I go a little higher. But, not very often at all.
For me, two of the beers I have on tap right now Kemosabe Quad and King Fergus Wee Heavy are high abv beers at 8.5% and 8%.
Category: Strong Scotch Ale (Wee Heavy)
Brewer: SheppyBrew Home Brewery
ABV: 8%
IBU: 21.6
SRM: 15.3
Aroma:
Richly malty with a strong caramel component. Subtle smoky notes add complexity, while low to moderate esters suggest hints of dried fruit like plums or raisins.
After doing the updates mentioned in New SheppyBrew Website, I had copilot rewrite my SheppyBrew Home page.
To be honest, I can't decide if I like copilot's version better or not.
Just in case I think I want to go back, I'm storing what it was before here.
Let me know what you think.
........
I spent some time recently updating the SheppyBrew Website.
The tech stack used on the site was very out of date and making any code changes to the site was very difficult.
If you're a computer geek at all, you could probably tell with the use of .aspx pages, and the fact that it really was not great on smaller screens.
But, really the main reason I felt I had to get the thing updated was that my hosting company sent me an email letting me know that support for the version of .NET was being removed from their servers "sometime this quarter".
