Eric's Pale Ale vs Dale's Pale Ale

On June 5th, I brewed the last of my Homebrew 6 Pack Project, Eric's Pale Ale. 

Check out Eric's Pale Ale (batch 311), if you're interested in reading about that brew day. 

Eric's Pale Ale was inspired by the Oskar Blues classic beer ... Dale's Pale Ale. Last Sunday, while smoking some ribs, I decided to compare Eric's Pale Ale with Dale's Pale Ale. 

Since I happened to have on in the fridge, I also pulled out a can of Double Dale's to drink as well.

2022 Hail Storm Summer Saison (batch 313)

The first day of summer was last Tuesday, which means it is an acceptable time to brew my Summer Saison.

This summer is the 9th time I've brewed this recipe. According to my records, it is the 313th batch of beer I've brewed since I started way back in 2009.

It is my 38th batch of beer that I've brewed on the Anvil Foundry.

I picked up ingredients from Tom's Brew Shop on Wednesday.

I started an "overnight mash" on Saturday.

I brewed early Sunday morning.

Hail Storm Summer Saison

B is for Bull and Bush Brewery

It was only a couple short weeks ago that I posted A is for A Bit Twisted Brewpub.

As you know if you've been following the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts, the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I decided to push on with the 4th round of the project.

It is somewhat mind blowing that we've visited over 78 breweries in the Denver area and still believe we can get through another round of 26 A to Z Breweries.

The Denver area has a ton of local breweries.

Obviously, since we just completed "A", we needed a "B" Brewery.

I mentioned last post that we had lots of choices of breweries that started with the letter B.

So what did we choose? The Beer Model had a brewery picked out.... Big B Little B. What begins with B?

B is for Bull and Bush Brewery

2022 Fathers' Day Camping at Turquois Lake Part 2

As I mentioned in 2022 Fathers' Day Camping at Turquois Lake Part 1, my family took me camping at Turquois Lake, which is just West of Leadville, Colorado for Fathers Day weekend.

I promised more pictures. Here there are.

Part 1 was pretty much all kayaking and SUP pictures. 

This post will have more camping and hiking pictures.

2022 Fathers' Day Camping at Turquois Lake Part 1

The past few Fathers' Days, I've posted photos of camping trips my wife and kids have taken me on.

I love camping, and my family knows this so Fathers' Days are pretty consistently times that I actually get to go camping.

Last year, in fact, the only camping trip I went on was Fathers' Day weekend. (see Fathers' Day 2021 in RMNP (Part 1) and Fathers' Day 2021 in RMNP (Part 2).

This past weekend was Fathers' Day 2022, and my family took me camping at Turquois Lake, which is just West of Leadville, Colorado.

It just happens to be the same place we went for Father's Day Weekend 2020Father's Day Weekend 2020.

It is a nice camping area and has the lake where we can Kayak and SUP, which is a lot of fun.

KFC Thighs

KFC. Kettle Fried Chicken. 

Chicken thighs are probably the meal I make most on my weber kettles.

For awhile, I was really experimenting a bunch with KFC. Lately, I have made more non-kettle-fried.

Last Sunday, I found a box of "Easy Bake Chicken Seasoned Coating Mix" in the pantry. I don't remember buying it, but I must have at some point. Since I had it, I thought I'd try it out.

So I did.

The box had two bags in it. I applied one bag to my chicken. As it turns out, this covered exactly half of the chicken thighs I had.

So, I made some of my own coating to cover the rest of them. Some flour. Some seasoning.

A is for A Bit Twisted Brewpub

It was just last week that I posted A to Z Denver Breweries Round 3.

As I mentioned, it looks like there are still enough breweries in the Colorado Brewery Map & List that I believe we can do a round 4.

This past weekend, we decided to go ahead and start round 4 with an "A" brewery.

There were a couple of good candidates on the List.

When it came right down to it, though, there was one that made more sense than the others ...

Big A. Little A. What begins with A?

A is for A Bit Twisted Brewpub

Jethro Bud Nelson Merican Lite Lager (Batch 312)

I've been married to the SheppyBrew Beer Model for a long time ... almost 27 years ... but I've known her even longer.

We met in college at Bradley University in Central Illinois when she was 20 years old.

Her parents were a tad over-protective of their daughter, and they didn't really like me much. Luckily, they lived about 3 hours from the University.

One weekend, they were down visiting, and the future Beer Model thought it best that we avoid each other.

So, even then, I knew that I must obey this woman. 

I disguised myself in sunglasses, a big floppy hat, and a flannel shirt. I instructed my friends not to call me Shep or Sheppy or Shepardieux while her parents were there.

Instead, they called me Jethro. Jethro Bud Nelson was my alias.

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.

Eric's Pale Ale (batch 311)

It is difficult for me to believe that I posted Updating the Homebrew Colorado 6 pack over a year ago.

Since that time, I brewed Sin Lima Mexican Lager (batch 293) to represent Ska's Mexican Logger and Caliente Fuerte Mexican Stout (Batch 300) to represent Copper Kettle Mexican Chocolate Stout in the 6 pack.

I actually decided that T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager (batch 292) was a better match for Ska's Mexican Logger. (see T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager vs Ska Mexican Logger)

Anyway ... that left one last beer for my Colorado Homebrew 6 Pack.

A beer inspired by a Colorado classic, Dale's Pale Ale ... 

Eric's Pale Ale

A to Z Denver Breweries Round 3

Ok ... well ... as of Z is for BruZ Beers, the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I are done with Round 3 of our A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts.

In November of 2020, I posted A is for Altitude Brewing & Supply.

And just a few days ago, I posted Z is for BruZ Beers. 

If my math is correct, that's 26 breweries in about 18 months.

That's faster than either Round 1 or 2. Mostly because the Beer Model has been more involved than in earlier rounds, and has been keeping us "on track".

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.

Z is for BruZ Beers

Big Z. Little Z. What begins with Z?

A Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz as you can plainly see. Well ... not in this case.

Hard to believe that after today's blog post, we're done with round 3 of the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts.

Round 3 began with A is for Altitude Brewing & Supply in late 2020.

Considering the CoVid craziness, this round has gone surprisingly quickly. The SheppyBrew Beer Model is keeping us on track.

So ... According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, the only "Z" brewery that we have not already covered is in Fort Collins, which is a bit farther than we would want to travel to go to a "Denver area" brewery.

So ... we had to take a little artistic license...

Z is for BruZ Beers

My 4th of #10Everestsin2022

As of today, I've climbed 118,625 feet on my bikes this year. Over 4 times the elevation of Mount Everest.

The peak of Mount Everest is 29,032 feet above sea level. 4 x 29,032 = 116,128. So, 118,625 feet is 4.02 Everests.

My goal in 2022 is to climb 10 Everests, 290,320 feet. Today, I'm ahead of  "schedule" ... just barely.

Y is for Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Company

We're almost done with round 3 of the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts.

Since mid - April, we've done V is for Vision Quest Brewing Company, W is for Wah Gwaan Brewing Company, and X is for Bruz Off FaX.

After "X" comes "Y", so obviously we needed to come up with a "Y" brewery.

In round 1, we went to Y is for Yak and Yeti Restaurant and Brewpub.

In round 2, we used Y is for Over Yonder Brewing Company.

As I mentioned in X is for Bruz Off FaX. we wouldn't be traveling to the Yampa Valley to check off the "Y" brewery. So, we'll have to take a little artistic license again.

The SheppyBrew Beer Model scanned the Colorado Brewery List, and came up with a few possibilities. When it came right down to it, there was only 1 real choice ...

Y is for Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Company

Chuck Roast in the Snow

Chuck Roast is something I end up smoking quite a bit.

Ever since Chuck Roast on Weber Kettle and Crock-pot ... way back in late 2019, my process in cooking Chuck Roast is to smoke it for 3 or 4 hours, and then put it in the crock pot for the rest of the day.

This allows me to get done with the smoking early in the day. When the chuck is in the crock pot, I don't have to pay attention to it.

So ... I can spend the part of the day when the rest of my family is up doing something else.

It works out great. At some point I may try the same process with a pork butt.

Anyway ... as I mentioned in a couple of posts recently, the Denver area got a bunch of snow Friday night into Saturday. I cleared out the snow to get a chuck roast on the kettle.

Catching up on #5000MilesIn2022

So ... 

Today is the 22nd of May. 

If you've been following my updates on my #5000MilesIn2022 goal, you know that my Strava mileage goal is 5,000 miles.

You also know that so far this year, I've been behind plan. As of the beginning of this month I was 30 miles behind plan.

To reach 5,000 miles, I need to average 12.7 miles per day. If I'm counting right, today is the 142nd day of the year.

To be "on plan" for my goal, I should be at 1945 miles today.

Manitou Incline

On May 19, 2022, Alexa told me that the temperature out side my home was 89 degrees.

Today is the 20th and I'm watching it snow. The high temperature was 39.

50 degree drop overnight. Awesome. 

We are going to get a significant amount of snow. One of the things I love about living in Colorado is these late spring snow storms ... but still ... this is crazy.

Anyway ... today I climbed the Manitou Incline.

The Manitou Incline is a popular but strenuous hike up 2744 steps over around .87 miles and climbing over 2000 vertical feet. The average grade is over 45% and the maximum is 68%.

It is a difficult hike.

Mothers' Day Kettles

This past Sunday was Mothers' Day.

My wife's parents were visiting so we had two mothers in the house.

My older son also came home from college.

The two mothers decided they wanted grilled ribeye steaks for their dinner, which at our house means I had to cook.

As I generally reverse-sear my steaks, the 6 ribeyes fit just perfectly around my vortex on the 26 inch kettle.

In order to get sides done, I needed to pull out both of my Weber Kettles, and do the sides on my 22 inch.

The main side I made was the dish I made for Easter, Pecan Smoked Potatoes Au Gratin. I also grilled some corn.

SheppyBrew Beer Names

So ... one of my favorite homebrew podcasts is the The Brülosophy Podcast.

One of their recent episodes ... Episode 232 | exBEERience: Naming Beers ... got me thinking about how I go about naming beers.

Apparently, not all homebrewers name all their beers, but I certainly do. Some of these names only make sense to me, but they all have at least some thought put them.

So ... what are some of the themes in my beer names?

Sports teams

Lots of my beers are named for my favorite sports teams ... lead, of course, by the Chicago Blackhawks.

Blackhawk Black Ale is pretty obvious. Tommy Hawk APA is named after the Blackhawks' mascot. Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager celebrates the Blackhawks with the song that plays after each of their goals. 

I've also celebrated the Cubs' world series with Cubs Win! Munich Dunkel. And the Colorado Rockies making it to the world series with Rocktoberfest Lager.

I even named a beer based on my hatred of a football team: Pats Disliker New England Pale Ale.