"Dry January" Beers

I don't really believe in "Dry January" in the same way I don't really believe in New Year resolutions.

I don't understand why if you want to make a change on yourself you would wait until January. If you want to make a change, do it when you identify the change you want to make.

 

U is for LŪki Brewery

HA! Three A to Z Brewery Posts in a row!

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have a pretty good idea what this A to Z series is all about ... but just in case you're wondering ...

Back in February of 2015, I was embarrassed by the number of Denver Breweries that I had never visited.

I decided to make an effort to hit more of them.

As I started to look at the list, it struck me that I could go down the list alphabetically and find Denver-area breweries that started with just about every letter.

So, I did. And ... we've gone through 5 whole rounds. Now we're on our 6th time through the alphabet.

After T is for The Post Chicken & Beer (Rosedale), we are up to the letter "U".

U is for LŪki Brewery

T is for The Post Chicken & Beer (Rosedale)

We're still working through Round 6 of the A to Z Series of posts.

If you've been following the blog, you know we hit S is for Second Dawn Brewing Company just a couple of days ago.

And ... of course that means it was time to pick a "T" brewery.

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we did have a couple of "T" breweries to pick from.

Honestly, though one of the breweries on the list is one I really don't like. And a few others I was considering were a little farther than I wanted to travel.

I ended up picking a restaurant close to our house that isn't technically a brewery ....

T is for The Post Chicken & Beer (Rosedale)

S is for Second Dawn Brewing Company

So ... yes ... we are chugging away on Round 6 of the A to Z Series of posts.

We had a long 6 month delay between N is for North River Brewery (RiNo) and O is for Odell Brewing 5 Points, but our more recent posts have come fairly fast.

This is our 4th A to Z posts in December and January, and we're up to "S".

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we had a couple good choices for "S" breweries.

And ... a couple of Saturdays ago, based on the hours of operation, we packed a lunch and picked .... Big S. Little S. What begins with S?

S is for Second Dawn Brewing Company

2024 #Strava #YearInSport

If you've been following along on this blog for awhile, you may remember that I have been sharing my Strava YearInSport stats over the past couple of years.

I pay more attention to my cycling goals and totals on Strava, but the YearInSport stats cover all activities.

Sort of interesting to me. Not sure if any blog readers care, but I'll share regardless. To be honest, this just helps me compare year-to-year how I do.

It is also interesting to see what Strava reports in it's YearInSport stats from year to year.

Anyway ...

 

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

SheppyBrew 2025 Year End Brewing Stats

Here it is, 2026 already. It is crazy how fast the year flew by.

If you follow along on this blog at all, you probably know that after each quarter, I "report" my SheppyBrew Brewing Stats.

And, now it is time for me to report on the SheppyBrew 2025 Year End Brewing Stats.

So ... in the 4th quarter of 2025, I brewed 5 batches of beer:

• Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter
• Tafel Mystère Belgian Single
• X-Mas Ale 2025
• Yoker Belgian Tripel 
• Skadoosh Blond Ale

This puts me exactly where I was last year. I brewed 19 batches of beer for 95 gallons for the year. Another year at less than 100 gallons of beer.

Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter

December Update on 2025 Cycling Goals

I do quite a bit of cycling for a middle-aged couch potato.

With all the BBQ I make and eat, and all the beer I brew and drink, biking a ridiculous amount helps keep me somewhat in shape.

So ... I spend lots of time cycling around the foothills of Denver.

If you're interested, I always track on Strava. (even if you're not interested)

Anyway ... as you may remember from 2025 Cycling Goals, I had 5 cycling goals in 2025:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth / #8200MilesIn2025 / #16EverestsIn2025 / Triple Bypass Ride / #GCCUSA

2025 is now over ... and ...

Here is an update for these goals as of the end of December, 2025: 

Finished the 12 Days of 5k's

As I mentioned in 12 5k's of December, I signed up for the American Cancer Society's 12 Days of 5ks on Facebook virtual challenge advertised in my Facebook feed.

I'm not much of a runner, but I've been following some Runna running plans since April or so.

I was going to be doing 8 5k's on the Runna plan anyway, so I thought "how hard can it be" to run 4 more runs during the month.

Q is For Brad's Pit BBQ

If you follow along on this blog, you probably know about the A to Z Series of posts, and that we are quite a ways through "Round 6".

In case you don't know ... back in February of 2015, I was embarrassed by the number of Denver Breweries that I had never visited.

I decided to make an effort to hit more of them.

As I started to look at the list, it struck me that I could go down the list alphabetically and find Denver-area breweries that started with just about every letter.

So, I did. And ... we've gone through 5 whole rounds. Now we're on our 6th time through the alphabet.

"Q" is a tough letter. One that we've had to take "artistic license" on the "breweries" we picked.

This time, I didn't really pick a brewery at all ...

Q is For Brad's Pitt BBQ

R is for Resolute Brewing Company Centennial Brewery

As I mentioned in P is for Platt Park Brewing Co, we are re-engaging our A to Z Series of posts project.

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I are working our way through he alphabet to pick local area breweries to visit.

We were paused for quite awhile, but we're now back at round 6 of this little journey.

Of course after "P" comes "Q", and as I mentioned, I think I have a plan for "Q", but on Saturday after Christmas, we decided to skip ahead to "R". 

Don't worry, we'll come back.

But for now ...

R is for Resolute Brewing Company Centennial Brewery

2025 "Seasonals"

If you've followed this blog at all this year, you know that I wanted to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal and my Roll-a-Style list in 2025.

As a side-effect, I purposely ignored most of my "SheppyBrew Seasonals". 

After brewing Mardi Blonde (Batch 370) Birthday Brew and Oisin Owl Irish Stout (Batch 371), I thought to myself that those could be considered February and March "Seasonals".

The Mardi Blonde fit right into the "Mardi Gras / Lent" season in place of  Mardi Bock, and of course Oisin Owl being an "Irish Stout", it was perfect for St. Patrick's Day in March.

At that point, I started thinking that maybe with a little planning, I could come up with replacement "Seasonals" for most months even while brewing new beers based on the Roll-a-Style list.

So ... like I had done with 2024 Seasonals, 2023 Seasonals, and 2022 Seasonals, I started tracking how I could slot 2025 beers into the monthly "Seasonal" matrix.

2025 Mardi Blonde

X-Mas Ham

When I asked my kids what they wanted for Christmas dinner this year, my eldest said "ham".

While ham is not my favorite holiday food, I aim to please, so I went ahead and decided to do my "typical" Double Smoked Ham.

My wife got the standard spiral cut ham, around 10lbs.

On Christmas morning I made a glaze / sauce with a coke base and various spices. 

I also made a brown-sugar based "rub".

I placed the ham in a cooking pan, and then poured about half the glaze over the ham, and sprinkled the rub over it.

12 Beers Of Christmas

Way back in 2020, I did a little blog series ... The 25 Beers of December. For the first 25 days of December that year, I drank and took a picture of a different beer. It was sort of an Advent calendar of beers.

For some reason ... my little 12 5k's of December made me think about this little project. I didn't think of it soon enough to do exactly the same thing, but I thought a "12 Beers Of Christmas" might be sort of fun.

On Sunday, December 14, I pulled a pint of Wrexham Lager out of my beer fridge. This is apparently a 140 year old recipe, brewed in 1882 when two German immigrants set forth to brew in the UK. It is nicely session able at 4.0% ABV. Crisp, clean, and "iconic". Subtly hopped, light and refreshing.

Wrexham Lager

🍺Skadoosh Blond Ale

Style: American Blond Ale Brewer: SheppyBrew ABV: 4.6% IBU: 26 SRM: 5

👀 Appearance

A pale golden hue with a soft, bready glow. The beer pours with a modest white head that lingers just enough to leave a delicate lace on the glass. Its clarity is bright and inviting, a beacon of simplicity in the pint.

👃 Aroma

Gentle notes of fresh bread and light malt sweetness rise first, followed by a subtle floral touch from Cascade and Saaz hops. There’s a whisper of rye spice underneath, adding intrigue without overwhelming the nose.

Skadoosh Blond Ale (Batch 386)

I brewed some beer a couple Sundays ago. 12/12/2025.

If I'm counting correctly, this is my 19th batch of 2025, putting me at 95 gallons brewed this year.

It's the 386th batch of beer I've ever brewed. 

It is a new recipe, my 15th new one of the year and 346th unique recipe I've brewed.

I actually have quite a lot of beer inventory, but I have family coming to visit around Christmas and the beers I have are not really beer-flavored-yellow-beer-drinker-friendly styles.

And ... at least one of the people visiting is/are beer-flavored-yellow-beer-drinker(s).

So ... I came up with a simple blond ale recipe to (hopefully) be ready to go by Christmas.

Skadoosh Blond Ale

X‑Mas Ale 2025

Style: English Barleywine
Brewer: SheppyBrew
ABV: 8.0%
IBU: 36
SRM: 14 (deep amber)

Appearance 👀

Pours a glowing copper‑amber with ruby highlights at the edges. A modest off‑white head forms, then quickly settles into a thin lace that clings to the glass. The body is clear yet rich, catching the light like stained glass in a winter chapel.

Aroma 👃

Sweet malt dominates—caramel, toffee, and biscuit—with undertones of dried fruit (fig, raisin, plum). A gentle waft of English hops adds earthy spice and a touch of floral character. There’s a warming alcohol note, subtle but inviting, like brandy by the fire.

P is for Platt Park Brewing Co

So ... after several months of delay in the A to Z Series of posts, we are trying to get back on track.

I posted O is for Odell Brewing 5 Points just a week ago and now we're doing another one today.

If you follow along on this blog ... you likely know what this is all about ... but ... in case you are new here or just forgot ...

Back in February of 2015, I was embarrassed by the huge number of Denver Breweries that I had never visited.

I decided to make an effort to hit more of them.

As I started to look at the list, it struck me that I could go down the list alphabetically and find Denver-area breweries that started with just about every letter.

I went through the alphabet once, and then even decided to keep going ... I now on Round 6 up to the letter "P" ...

P is for Platt Park Brewing Co

2025 Update on the BJCP Goal

If you follow this blog, you know I've renewed my old BJCP Goal.

My original BJCP Goal was to make sure I've brewed beers in every category of the BJCP Style Guidelines. I've now covered all the categories, and have decided to work through all the styles (although there are some I will probably skip).

I even came up with a "Roll-a-Style" concept to give me help deciding which style to brew.

At the end of 2023, I posted 2023 Update on the 2021 BJCP Goal and last year, I posted 2024 Update on the 2021 BJCP Goal.

And, now I decided I'm not going to brew any more new styles in 2025, so I'm doing another similar post for 2025. (Can you believe 2025 is almost over? I can't)

At the beginning of 2025, I planned on hitting the Roll-a-Style list harder. My unofficial goal was to reduce the list enough that I'll be rolling a 12 sided die by the end of the year (as opposed to the 20 sided die I had been rolling).

My Roll-a-Style list has 13 beer styles on it, so I could probably switch to a 12-sided die. I suspect I'll end up picking my next one instead of rolling. Then, I'll switch the list to 12. 

I actually don't think I'll do as many of these Roll-a-Style beers in 2026.

Keep an eye on Sheppy's Blog: Roll-a-Style, and you'll be able to continue to follow along how I'm doing. 

O is for Odell Brewing 5 Points

Remember the A to Z Series of posts?

Back in June we were flying through Round 6.

We had just posted N is for North River Brewery (RiNo), which is more than half-way through the alphabet.

This after only 7 months from posting A is for Arms, Call To Brewing Company, the beginning of Round 6.

Then, for whatever reason we inexplicitly stopped for several months.

I'm not sure why this happened, but there's always a woman to blame, so it must be the Beer Model's fault.

Anyway ... last Saturday, the Beer Model allowed us to pack a lunch to hit the next brewery on our list ...

O is for Odell Brewing 5 Points