Biking and Hiking and Geocaching and Canoeing

Busy day Friday.

We had decided to visit our friends in Breckenridge this weekend, and I took a PTO day.

Early in the morning, sometime before dawn, I grabbed some stuff, put my mountain bike on the back of the minivan, and headed up to Mt. Falcon Open Space Park.

There were a couple geocaches that I thought I would like to pick up. One is a multi-stage cache that I had begun a week or so before.

A.L.S. #IceBucketChallenge

My wife was challenged by her niece (see link on youtube: #IceBucketChallenge Tracy).

Then, she challenged me. (see link on youtube: Eric's #IceBucketChallenge)

And I challenged my son (see link on youtube: Tyler #IceBucketChallenge)

and ... it goes on and on and on and on.

To learn more about the Ice Bucket Challenge, go to: http://www.alsa.org/news/archive/als-ice-bucket-challenge.html. To make a donation go to: http://www.ethnomedicine.org/

August Backpacking Trip Part 3

Hopefully you've seen August Backpacking Trip Part 1and August Backpacking Trip Part 2. This is the third and final post of this series. Feel free to go back and check out 1 & 2.

I got up earlier than the rest of the family and did some climbing. The views were absolutely spectacular. The light juxtaposed with the shadow of areas where the sun had not cleared the mountains was awesome.

August Backpacking Trip Part 2

A couple of days ago, I posted August Backpacking Trip Part 1. Now, it is time to continue the story.

We woke up pretty early (but not too early) the next day. The sky was very blue with no clouds. 

August Backpacking Trip Part 1

Not this past weekend, but the before it, we packed stuff on our backs and headed out into the Lost Creek Wilderness. Yes, this is the same place we always go backpacking. You might think it might get boring for us, but we discover new things every time we go, and it continues to be fun.

We do need to find another good spot for our family backpacking trips.

Hiking to Maxwell Falls

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to do a day-hike by Evergreen, CO up to a spot called Maxwell Falls. We did the "Lower Maxwell Falls Hike", the longest of the options on the webpage. Packed up a lunch and made a day of it.

It was really a great hike.

Here are some pictures:

#IPADay: My Last 6 IPAs

Here I am contributing to the HashTagging of this made-up twitter holiday again.

#IPADay.

When I first started homebrewing (way back in 2009), I was not really a fan of IPA's. I started understanding hop bitterness vs. hop flavor vs. hop aroma and how to extract each in the brewing process. It wasn't until I started getting a handle on how hop bitterness balances malt sweetness that I started getting an appreciation for bitterness. It wasn't until I got that appreciation of bitterness that I started to understand and like IPA's.

So, I really have my brewing experience to thank for my appreciation of IPA's.

#IPADay Announcement: Near-Sighted-Swine

I've mentioned this before, but shockingly SheppyBrew Brewery does not brew a lot of IPA's.

SheppyBrew's TommyHawk APA is actually technically an IPA, but I think it might be my only one. And, of course, its name still has "APA" in it as a tribute of where it came from.

I've brewed Black IPA's and West-Coast Reds, but those don't really count.

I think it is about time that I actually design and brew an IPA.

I've decided to call it "Near-Sighted Swine IPA" in honor of Russian River's Blind Pig IPA. It isn't a clone of the beer, just a tribute.

It isn't real high in alcohol or bitterness, but has quite a few late-addition hops and dry hops.

I am planning for this to be the next beer I brew. Stay tuned to read about brew day and how it ends up turning out.

#IPADay: What the hell is a Session IPA?

So, It seems that everyone is making a Session IPA now-a-days.

I'm all for session beers.

I'm all for IPA's.

I am against calling these "new" beers Session IPA's.

To me, that is just too oxymoronic.

Ironically enough, I am fine with the term "Black IPA" (in fact I much prefer Black IPA to Cascadian Dark) ... that is pretty oxymoronic as well. Go figure.

The main problem I have with the term "Session IPA" is that most of them I've seen fall right into a category we already have ... "American Pale Ale".

Yes, these "Session IPA's" are on the lower end of the ABV and OG. They may end up a bit drier than a typical APA, and they are the upper end of the bitterness and hop flavor.

But, in my opinion, they fall in the category none-the-less. "Session IPA's" are nothing more than hoppy American Pale Ales.

#IPADay 2014

Aha. Yes, once again the made-up twitter holiday is upon us.

#IPADay.

Merry #IPADay.

I love IPA's.

I won't try to explain #IPADay to you. Check out IPA Day Returns August 7th, and the Beer Wench will do a much better job explaining it than I will.

Whether you love IPA's or hate them, you can't deny that they have become pervasive in the craft beer landscape. Personally, I think it a bit unfortunate that so many people consider IPA's synonymous with Craft Beer. I don't think it is a good thing when so many people tell me things like, "Craft Beer is so bitter" because they think "Craft Beer" means IPA. There are so many wonderful craft beer styles out there that are so very un-IPA-like. I think craft beer education should advocate diversity rather than pushing one beer style upon us all.

5280 Summer 2014 Six Pack

A few times I have mentioned the 5280 Six Packs. 5280 is a Denver magazine and every so often they put out variety packs of local beers. They just pick 6 beers. I'm not sure what their criteria is. I believe they do it every season, but quite often I miss their release, so I don't know for sure how often they actually do it.

As far as I can tell, they are pretty bad at documenting these on their website, making it even more difficult to know when they come out. 

When I see these six packs, I pick them up.

Still More @Untappd Badges 16

Well, as you probably know if you follow this blog even semi-regularly, I share from time to time which untappd badges I've earned. I can't imagine why you would want to, but you can look at all the posts (including this one) by going to the "untappd" label on this blog.

As I mentioned last time, I have a few badges that could have been shared at that time, but I decided to share them for the next post (which is now this one).

Hail Storm Summer Saison

Saisons are an interesting style of beer. Sometimes I really like them. Sometimes I really don't. For the most part, the ones that I really like are a bit lower in alcohol. They are also ones that either don't use non-beer flavors (ie anything other than hops yeast water and malt), or use them sparingly enough that the makes yeast and hops can shine through.

For quite awhile, I've known I wanted to brew a summer Saison. Last summer, i thought the article Billy Brew's Summer Saison was going to be the thing that pushed me to do it. I never got around to a summer Saison last year. I did brew my Arctic Vortex Winter (black) Saison, but never got around to a more tradional Saison.

Pineappling the Wheat

So, you may remember that I brewed the base beer for a pineapple what a few weeks ago. If not, feel free to check out Pineapple Wheat Brew Day . When I make a fruit beer, I add the fruit flavoring after primary fermentation is done in a secondary fermentor.

For this Sunny Pineapple Wheat, I decided to add the fruit by using frozen concentrated pineapple juice.

Killing some more Glutens

I brewed SheppyBrew's Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale Sunday. My wife's friend "Gretchen" calls this beer "The Gluten Killer" because eveytime I make it, I add some White Labs Clarity-Ferm to reduce glutens.

Clarity-ferm's purpose is to help clarity in beer by eating away at proteins that can cause a haze. It just so happens that glutens are some of those proteins that get eaten away.

I have fed my beer to brave gluten-sensitive guinea-pigs (including my wife's good friend "Gretchen"). These guinea-pigs say they don't get nasty reactions to my beer, and it tastes much better than typical "real" gluten-free beers.

In my opinion, sorghum beers taste awful. This beer tastes fantastic.

All Day IPA

Well, if you follow this blog, you probably know about Zymurgy's 2014 Best Beers in America list. When I last blogged about this list, I mentioned:

"To be honest, I picked up another one of these in Florida. I'll "officially" check it off the list after I blog about it."

Here I am blogging about it. The beer I picked up in Florida was Founders All Day IPA.

It sort of sucks that Colorado doesn't get Founders beers, when Florida does. I am not going to complain about it, though. It is what it is, as they say. At least I was able to pick this up.

BOB .... Brew on Broadway

Last Sunday, after my brew day, I decided to go on an afternoon bike ride.

There is a brewery in Englewood that was celebrating its one year anniversary called "The Brew on Broadway" aka "The B.O.B.". Until a few days ago, I did not realize it existed. Actually, I was probably aware of it at some point, but it was not part of my current consciousness until I saw posts and tweets mentioning its anniversary weekend.

Lately, I've actually been surprised to discover a few new breweries in the South Denver metro area. I used to think I was pretty good at keeping up with new breweries. Lately, I am beginning to think my feeble little mind is having a hard time keeping up just due to the ridiculous (in a good way) number of tiny little local breweries opening up in and around Denver.

2014 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats

As you may know, the Brewery likes to post quarterly updates on how much we have brewed. You can see all these updates (including the one you are reading right now) by following this link: http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

2014 continues to be slow going at the brewery. You may remember that in Q1, I brewed only 4 times.  Well, in Q2, I brewed only 3 times, and didn't brew at all in June. Pathetic.

Pineapple Wheat Brew Day

I brewed Sunday. Earlier last week, I had been thinking about doing a Summer Saison, but I never made it to the Local Home Brew Shop (LHBS) with the Saison yeast that I like. Saturday, I dropped by the newer, closer LHBS that I mentioned in Brewing Buckwheat's BPA (again). to pick up grains for the Summer Lovin base beer that I use for most of my fruit beers.

This newer, closer LHBS didn't have honey malt, so I substituted a Crystal 15. Sometimes that is how recipes come to be.... just grab was it available and see what happens.

My plan with this version is to make a pineapple orange beer. Similarly to how I flavored the "Un-Wheat", my plan is to use frozen juice concentrate in a secondary step. This time, I plan to use pineapple orange juice, and I plan to use two cans instead of the one I used on the "Un-Wheat". I think that will give it enough pineapple that you can taste it. Hopefully it doesn't come across as too much.

Jai Alai IPA

Cigar City Brewing doesn't distribute to Colorado. It always has a huge line at GABF. I have a policy of trying to avoid huge lines, so I've never had Cigar City beers there. In fact, when Zymurgy's 2014 Best Beers in America list came out (see my blog post of the same name), I had never had one of their beers at all. Ever.

Cigar City Brewing does appear to be wildly popular. I always felt I should try it some time.

And this year, Cigar City's Jai Alai IPA made the list at #42.

My wife's family gets together every 2 years for a week or so for a family reunion. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may realize that this is the reunion that inspired the T.Ra.Sh. Mexican Lager. As luck would have it, this year's reunion was in Florida. I'm not a fan of visiting Florida in the summer, but this time it works out for my quest. I was able to pick up and try the Jai Alai.

Zymurgy's 2014 Best Beers in America

Well, I mentioned just a few days ago that Zymurgy’s 2014 Best Beers in America came out. At the time, I had only seen it in the e-Magazine and had not found the web page on the AHA website. Now I have seen the AHA web page.

Here is the link:

Zymurgy’s 2014 Best Beers in America

I also mentioned that I had not really done much with the 2013 list (see How I ended up on my list). I started out with 11 beers on the list that I had never tried. I still have 6 left. I guess that is ok, but a little disappointing compared to 2012 where I ended up only with 2 on my not-tried list.

Personally, I think the list should be called "Most Popular Beers in America", because it really is a popularity contest. Zymurgy readers get to vote on the list. In fact, if you want to see what I voted for, see My Best Beers in America. Most of mine did not make the final list, but that is ok.

2014 Great Sand Dune Pictures

A couple of weeks ago, we went camping in the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

This place is awesome. If you've never been there, you really need to check it out. Pictures do not do it justice ...


But ...

Our group campsite

Sand and water and mountains

How I ended up on my list

Well, Zymurgy's 2014 Best Beers in America list came out yesterday.

I didn't really do much with the 2013 list. When I posted Zymurgy's 2013 Best Beers in America, there were 11 beers on the list that I had never tried.

Now, I still have 6 beers left. Most of them are on the 2014 list as well, and I'm not sure I'll have any better luck getting to them this year than I did last year.

Here are the 2013 beers that I still have not tried:

T9. Lagunitas Sucks (on 2014 list as well)  16. The Alchemist Heady Topper (on 2014 list) T27. Troegs Nugget Nectar. (on 2014 list)  31. Russian River Consecration (on 2014 list)  T32. Russian River Supplication (on 2014 list)          45. Firestone Walker Parabola  

Saint Patrick's Brewing

I have mentioned Saint Patrick's Brewing Company a couple times on this blog.

If you follow this blog at all, you know that I love the tiny little local breweries. St. Patrick's is so tiny, it makes most of the other tiny little breweries I have mentioned look huge. Their setup is way more of a homebrew-sized system than that of even your smallest "typical" production brewery. Their fermentors are 26 gallon conicals. They use homebrew-sized brew pots. They hand bottle every beer.

Best of all, they make awesome beer.

Another Waterton Bike Ride

Saturday, we loaded our mountain bikes on the back of our mini-van and took them to Waterton Canyon. You may remember Waterton Canyon from such posts as Biking with the Sheep. In fact, I've just realized that I blog about it enough that I might as well have a Sheppy's Blog: Waterton Canyon "label". You can follow that link to see all our adventures in this canyon (including this blog post).

As a reminder, Waterton Canyon is the beginning of the 480 mile Colorado Trail. The canyon is a good place to take the kids riding.  It is off-road, but nice and wide. It is also very scenic, with access to the South Platte river and rocks to climb. It only has a slight elevation gain, so it is pretty easy without being too simple.

The river is certainly up compared to most (probably all) of the pictures you've seen on this blog. We've had a good snowy winter in the mountains plus a pretty wet spring so far.

Still More @Untappd Badges 15

It has been a long time since I've done a report on my untappd badges. Not sure why. I've had enough to do a post. Time just got away from me. I'll give you the next few now and save some for the next one.

I can't imagine why you would want to, but you can look at all the posts (including this one) by going to the "untappd" label on this blog.

Since Still More @Untappd Badges 14, I've earned the following:

When InBev tries to brew a blueberry beer

So, last weekend my wife bought some beer. Someone had finished up the keg of T.RA.SH. Mexican Lager, there was not really any other beer to take it's place yet, and she figured she would want beer with Sunday dinner.

Usually, I will handle beer purchases, but she was going to be out buying groceries anyway, and we figured she could handle the responsibility.

When she returned, the beer she had picked for herself was an 8% abv Blueberry Lager, "Wild Blue". It was a beer I didn't recognize and I was intrigued. I was little surprised that she had picked out a beer that said 8%, but whatever. In case you didn't know, my wife likes most every blueberry beer she has ever tried.

Beer Geeks Kickstarter Campaign

Are you familiar with the T.V. show Beer Geeks?

I came across it on my T.V. awhile ago and set my DVR up to record the series. I only got 2 episodes. I am not sure if this means that the Denver Market dropped it or if I just got the last couple of episodes of the season, but it sort of bums me out that I have not been able to watch any more episodes.

It is hosted by Michael Ferguson, who is pretty well-known among craft beer fans as the Master Brewer and Director of Brewery Operations of BJ's Restaurants. He also is known as "Mosaffa" on the Brewing Network for his deep voice. Michael is a wealth of brewing knowledge.

Today, I got an email from my Contact Me form on this blog. David Page, Executive Producer of Beer Geeks asked me to share a KickStarter Campaign url. As I've mentioned before, I'm pretty easy when it comes to sharing things that come through my Contact Me form, and this one certainly is one that fits perfectly with the brewing theme on this blog.

I shared it on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/esheppy). I shared it on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/sheppybrew).

And now ... please consider helping fund Beer Geeks. Check out the KickStarter page at:

Emmy-Nominated Beer Geeks Television Series Season 2 Episode

Memorial Day Backpacking Trip

We went backpacking this weekend.

If you are in the Denver metro area, you probably know that there has been really severe weather up and down the front range. We didn't go far enough to escape the weather, but we managed to have fun anyway.

We went to the same place we've always been backpacking as a family. Yes, you might think it would get old to keep going to the same place over and over, but the kids really like this area and the fact that we know it so well is useful when it comes to planning and adjusting to things like weather.

The first night, we drove to a campsite alone a forest service road on the way to the trail head. We pitched our tent and gathered firewood, started our fire, and had some brats for dinner.

Brewing Buckwheat's BPA (again)

Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale, the beer I brewed Sunday, is the recipe that SheppyBrew Brewery has brewed the most. Sunday's batch was #11, and the second most brewed beer has only been done 7 times. Buckwheat's BPA actually started out an extract recipe brewed in one of my Mr. Beer fermentors. Part of the reason that I've brewed so many batches is that early on I did some experimenting to figure out what yeast was best for this beer.

The first time I brewed it was because, the SheppyBrew Beer Model picked out a Belgium Pale Ale recipe from Jamil Zainasheff's and John Palmer's book Brewing Classic Styles. I took that recipe, modified it a little and when it was done, she told me that this was her favorite beer. She said it was not just her favorite of the beers that I made ... but her favorite of all beers.

Personally, I think it is weird to have a favorite beer, but that is just me.

Colorado 6 Pack for American Craft Beer Week

This year, May 12 - 18 was (is) American Craft Beer Week (#ACBW).

Personally, I support American Craft Beer every week, but sometimes I go periods of time where I all the "Craft" beer I drink is beer that I myself have made. This week, I made a special effort to drink a commercial craft beer every day.

It just so happens that I picked Colorado Beers because ... well ... I have this philosophy that you should drink the beer that is made closest to where you are.

If you follow SheppyBrew on Facebook (if you don't, please go like us).  You might have seen my pictures every day. I guess you could say that this is my American Craft Beer Week Colorado 6 Pack:

Devil's Head Hike

Saturday, we needed something to do. I decided to take the family on a hike in Pike National Forest. Before the kids were born, my wife and I had done the Devil's Head Fire Lookout Trail, but the kids had never been there and I thought it was something they might enjoy.

The drive to the trailhead took longer than I remember. This might be part of the reason we've never brought the boys. But, after about an hour and a half, we were in the National Forest Recreation Area.

Brewing 2014 Blackhawk Black

If you read this blog at all, you probably have at least an inkling that I am a Chicago Blackhawks fan.

If you read this blog at all, you probably suspect that I like to brew beer.

Ok ... actually, if you read this blog at all, you know I am obsessed with both.

Blackhawk Black Ale combines two of my obsessions, as it is a homebrew named after my favorite hockey team. I first brewed Blackhawk Black Ale  in late 2009 as an attempt to clone New Belgium Brewery's 1554 Enlightened Black Ale. Back then, it was a partial mash. Obviously, I have since converted it into an all-grain recipe.

Geo-Ride in May

My wife had a thing to go to Saturday.

This meant that the boys had to make a decision. Should we stay inside all day and play video games? Should we spend the day outside riding our bikes?

The boys voted for video games. I voted for the bike ride. 2 to 1. I won.

One of the few advantages of being the parent is that my vote (usually) counts for more.

We loaded our bikes on the back of the minivan and headed over to Chatfield  Reservoir State Park. A few days ago I had loaded some geo-caches into my GPS for us to search for at some point. Saturday was a perfect opportunity.

Brewing the Laser Salt (again)

Yes, it is that time of year again.

Time to brew the Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale. And I did. I brewed it last Sunday.

Brew day, of course, started before sun-up. The Gnome and I got the strike temperature perfect with no trouble at all. The mash temperature did drop into the mid 140's before the end, which is not really that big of a deal. I'm fine with that.

Sheppy McShepardSons (take II), Take 2

So, remember a couple of weekends ago, my wife, kids and I tried to hide our geocache? See McShepardSons take 2 as a reminder.

Later the same day I posted the entry, I got a message from a geo-reviewer telling me that the spot we picked was too close to a physical location of a multi-step cache. I would have to move our cache. Unfortunately, those multi-caches are the reason we've had such a difficult time finding a spot up till now.

Tuesday night, I went back to Pence Park and got the container and looked around for another spot.

I found one after about a 1.3 mile hike. I placed it and re-submitted my new hiding spot.

Snowshoeing

A couple of weeks ago, we went snowshoeing up by Echo Lake. My wife and I used to go showshoeing quite a bit before the kids, and we have gone a few times with the kids, but not very much. This year, my wife decided to buy "real" snowshoes for the kids, so this was their first time with their new shoes.

Here are some pictures:

The snow was pretty good, and the day was perfect. The kids loved "walking on snow". They also liked "falling" and lying in the snow.

Photos of Gnomes and Beer

I take lots of pictures of beers.

Quite often, SheppyBrew Beers are photographed with Gnomes.

Don't believe me, follow SheppyBrew Brewery on untappd. You'll see lots of beers and lots of gnomes. While you're at it, follow the Brewery, or send me a "friend" request.

Or ... even better, follow the SheppyBrew Brewery on facebook. I've been stuck on 91 "likes" for quite awhile. Please, like the brewery. It would be nice to get up past 100.

Heck, I have over 300 followers on Twitter, and I don't post nearly as many beer pictures (or Gnome pictures) on twitter.

2014 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats

As you may know, the Brewery likes to post quarterly updates on how much we have brewed. You can see all these updates (including the one you are reading right now) by following this link: http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

Q1 of 2014 was not very busy at the SheppyBrew Brewery.  I only brewed four times.

• She Who Must Be Obeyed
• Gnasty the Gnome ESB
• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• T.RA.SH. Mexican Lager

Those four batches were about 20 gallons of beer, putting me on pace for 80 for the whole year. Last year, in Q1, I had  brewed 6 batches of beer for for 31 gallons. Last year, I ended up with 107 gallons of beer brewed. Obviously, I am not on pace to get to 100 this year. I expect that I won't catch up. But, we'll see.

McShepardSons take 2

So, way back in September, I reported that we had hidden a geocache. See Placing Sheppy McShepardSons take 1.

Do you know what a geocache is? If you follow this blog on a regular basis, you have probably noticed our renewed interest in geocaching (see Sheppy's Blog: Geocache), and probably have either figured it out or don't really care. If not, it is basically a global hide-and-seek game using GPS coordinates.

As it turned out, we were too close to a "Multi-Cache", and that spot got rejected. We tried a few more spots, but we kept running into the same issue ... the cache was too close to some other one that we couldn't see. Eventually, we sort of gave up trying to find a spot for the winter.

Brewing T.R.A.S.H. Mexican Lager

I brewed last Sunday.

Remember that I am not allowed to use electronics on Sundays during Lent? If not, you feel free to refresh your memory by looking at Lent 2014. Other than not having any brew-day pictures that I would have posted to the SheppyBrew Facebook Page and that I could have put on this page, turns out I didn't really need  electronics to brew.

The beer that I brewed is T.R.A.S.H. Mexican Lager. There is a bit of a story behind the name, which is on the SheppyBrew Website, and I won't repeat here. If you want to know the story and/or see the recipe, go check it out:

T.R.A.S.H. Mexican Lager

Drinking the Arctic Vortex Saison

It is Spring now.

About a month ago, when I brewed my Arctic Vortex Winter Saison, the weather seemed much more winter-like. It was, in fact winter. I probably should have brewed it earlier in the winter months so that I could drink it during the winter season. Oh well, something to think about for next year.

If you want to read about the brew-day, see Brewing Arctic Vortex Black Saison.

I have been drinking this beer recently, and find it truly awesome. I mean, I really like this beer. The Beer Model says she likes it too. She said to me "it doesn't taste black", which from her is a compliment.

It does look very black. There are redish-brown highlights at the "corners" when held up to the sun light. The head is thick, cream colored, and long-lasting. Lots of tiny bubbles rise up throughout the drink.

Lent 2014

I am writing this blog post on a notepad. It is an actual notepad made of paper. Weird, right?!?

Why am I writing a blog on a notepad (to be typed into the computer later)? Well, because my family has decided to to ban the use of electronics on the Sundays during Lent.

The Sunday before Ash Wednesday, the wife and children were in our church's version of Sunday School learning about Lent. I was not there, so I'm not sure exactly how it went down, but apparently the kids thought it would be a good idea to sacrifice the use of electronics on Sundays. It became a family decision.

The Business of Craft Beer Infographic

I got another one of those emails from this blog's Contact Me form. The author of the email thought I might like to share with you an infographic on

The Business of Craft Beers and Microbreweries

As you may remember from other blog articles, I am generally pretty easy when it comes to sharing things people ask me to share. So, make sure you go and visit The Business of Craft Beers and Microbreweries.

This is only the top of the infographic. To see the whole thing, follow this link.

 

Wings over the Rockies

Here in the Denver area we have the awesome ... Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. It is located in a huge hanger which was part of the old Lowry Air Force base, and contains all kinds of military aircraft.

Best of all, on the 2nd Saturday of every month, they open up quite a few of the cockpits. The kids love this. Why wouldn't they? It is really really cool.

We headed over there last month and had a great time.

My Best Beers in America

If you follow this blog at all, you probably know that every year I seek out beers I have not had on Zymurgy's Best Beer in America list. Sometimes I even tell you about the beers and/or my progress (see http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Zymurgy%20BBIA). I voted for the list a couple years ago, but missed the voting last year.

I actually voted for this year's list a couple days ago. I even posted on the SheppyBrew Facebook Wall that I would share my vote ... so here we go.

February 2014 Blogging

This blog got 7 more "page views" in February than it did in January.

7. Seven.

So, February is the new "page view" record holder, by a real tiny amount, but when you consider 28 days as opposed to 31 days, it was actually a real strong month.

By far, the most-viewed post this month was The Problem with Mr. Beer from Mar 4, 2013. You may remember it was #2 last month and #3 the month before. It has gotten enough attention lately that it is now in the top 10 all-time most viewed posts on this blog. I figure lots of people got Mr. Beer kits for Christmas. They, or in the case of December, the people who purchased the gift, got to googling, and came across my site. It is interesting (at least to me) that I have not done a Mr. Beer batch in more than 2 years, but I still get from time to time questions about Mr. Beer brewing. At this point, I just send them on to the Mr. Beer Discussion Forums.

Brewing Arctic Vortex Black Saison

Last Friday, I brewed a Black Saison. Why? Mostly because I can. I've never brewed a saison before. You might argue that I still have not brewed one just based on the color. The BJCP Style Guidelines say that a saison is "pale orange but may be golden or amber in color" (5-14 SRM). Mine is really dark brown to black, around 24 SRM if Beer Smith calculated my color correctly. It certainly does not look like a typical saison.

But, I am hoping it will finish out dry with the spicy, farmhouse character you would expect in a saison with lots of Saaz hop character. I expect despite its color it will smell and taste like a saison. I guess we will see.

I am calling the beer Arctic Vortex Winter Saison, and you can view the recipe by following this link.

Still More @Untappd Badges 14

Wow. It has only been really long time since I've done a report on my untappd badges. Mostly, I was waiting to get to 500 unique beers, which is quite a milestone. Plus, I have not been earning them all that fast since Thanksgiving or so.

I can't imagine why you would want to, but you can look at all the posts (including this one) by going to the "untappd" label on this blog.

Since Still More @Untappd Badges 13, I've earned the following:

biking.answers.com

I got an email from a guy at Biking - Answers.com. He was nice enough to point out a couple of broken links I had on Bike to Work Week. Not only did he point out the broken links, but he told me how to fix them. As lazy as I am ... I probably would have just removed the link has he not shared where the new links should go.

Actually, not only did he email me once, but I forgot about it, and he nicely reminded me. I think I got everything fixed on my article.

Thanks, "Jake".

He also asked me to check out Biking - Answers.com, which I did briefly. I think it is an awesome site for those of us who like to bike. Made me wish for snow-free roads so I can start biking more.

Check it out ....

Biking - Answers.com

My bike is just hanging around. Need to get back on it.

Why Gender Matters?

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the blog on Women Enjoying Beer, in their article Why Gender In Marketing Beer Matters linked to one of my blog posts. The author linked to Still More Sexist Beer Labels as an example of highly sexualized images on beer bottles (yes, Virginia – there’s a massive problem).

Not  surprisedly, she (I assume the author is Ginger Johnson, but the article doesn't specifically say) is not a fan of highly sexualized images used to market beer. I don't blame her. 

Brewing Gnasty the Gnome ESB Again

Do you remember Gnasty the Gnome? Just as a very quick reminder, last year my loving wife and kids (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model and Brewing Assistants) bought me a Chicago Blackhawks Gnome to help me get over my irrational fear of gnomes. 

Of course, Gnasty the Gnome being a Blackhawks fan gives us something in common, and although I still have a lingering distrust of the creature (probably more my fault than his) we have become friends. Coincidentally, he also loves the same beers that I do and we collaborated last year to create a recipe for the BJCP Category 8 English Pale Ale (see SheppyBrew Styles). The recipe we created and brewed was Gnasty the Gnome ESB.

Caution Brewing West

Recently, Caution Brewing Company opened a second location, that just happens to be very close to my home brewery.

Shamefully, I've never been to their original location, and until last weekend, had not made it to the new one either. Last Saturday, though I needed to get my wife a growler so she'd have something to drink watching the SuperBowl. I used this as an excuse to stop by Caution Brewery West.

SWMBO and Schnockered

Here it is February already.

Merry Ground-Hogs Day Eve, by the way.

Have you noticed that I have not done a brew day post since  Schnockered to Comfortably Numb, which was my last brew day of 2013? Well, I have brewed in 2014. I am just late getting the brew day blogged about. I brewed my She Who Must Be Obeyed almost 3 weeks ago. I kegged it last weekend. It has been in the keggerator under pressure most of the week. It is in fact almost ready to drink. I tasted it last night, and it still needs carbonation, but other than needing some more bubbles, it is ready to go.

If you follow the SheppyBrew Facebook Page, you probably saw the brew day pictures. If you don't already, PLEASE go like us.

You may remember that I first brewed She Who Must Be Obeyed Wheat back in August when I needed to get something brewed for my wife to drink out of the keggerator, but didn't really know what to brew. I sort of put together pieces of different recipes to come up with a new beer.

Blogging Jan of 2014

This blog started off the year with another page-view record, just barely beating December, but beating it none-the-less. For awhile it didn't look like it was going to happen, but the blog had really strong traffic that last week of the month.

The posts most viewed this past 30 days were:

9 Beers I don't Drink

There is something I feel I must clear up.

I am not Eric Shepard, executive editor at Beer Marketer's Insights.

I'm not.

He and I are different Eric Shepards.

You may remember the other Eric Shepard from my post "Eric Shepard and the King of Beers", or more likely from one of these more recent (and more popular) posts:

No More Ads

I decided to remove the Google Adsense adds from this blog.'

They didn't make me much money and some of the ones that popped up didn't seem like things I would want to support. Plus, they were a bit annoying and on some browsers some of took awhile to load.

I think some of them threw javascript errors from time to time as well.

At some point I may bring them back, but for now, this blog is free of Google Adsense advertisements.

2013 SheppyBrew Stats

2013 has ended. SheppyBrew Brewery was pretty busy last year, and since the Brewery likes to post quarterly updates on how much we have brewed, it is time for another Brew Stats post.

If you are interested, can see all these past updates (including the one you are reading right now ... and if any I do in the future) by following this link: http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

Of course, as I've shared before, I entered my first home-brew competitions in 2013. I entered 3 competitions (4 if you include the National Round of the NHC as separate) , and two of my beers won blue ribbons. One also won 2nd in the Best of Show.

Against the Grain

I keep meaning to do more posts for "The Session" (aka Beer Blogging Friday), but I keep not getting around to it. Maybe I'll be better in 2014.

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about,  "The Session" is simply an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants.

If you want to know more ... feel free to visit Brookston Beer Bulletin and read about "The Sessions".

Anyway, the first topic of 2014 comes from Rebecca at The Bake and Brew. In her article, Announcement! The Session #83 – Against the Grain, she asks ....

"How much is our taste or opinion of a craft beer affected by what friends and the craft beer community at large thinks? What beer do you love that no one else seems to get? Or what beer do you say “no thanks” to that everyone can’t get enough of?"

Interest topic ... right? Personally, I think there is lots of "peer pressure" in the craft beer community.

Brew Day: Schnockered to Comfortably Numb

Back at the beginning of November (see Fall Back ... Brew a Morlock Porter), I brewed my Category 12 Porter. This meant that I only had one more BJCP Category left to brew in my quest to have brewed at least one batch in all 23 BJCP Categories (see SheppyBrew Styles).

Since then, I've brewed a couple of old favorites, leaving the last category for the very end of the year. Monday, I took the day off work to brew a Category 19 Strong Ale. (Actually, I took the day off because my employer has a use-it-or-lose-it policy on vacation days. The brew-day was just a bonus)

If you want to see the recipe, go to the SheppyBrew website and look at

Schnockered to Comfortably Numb Barleywine

December 2013 Blogging

December had more page-views than November, making December the new all-time page view record holder. For most of the month, it looked like it would easily blow away the record, but the week between Christmas and New Year's was really slow ... very similar to how things were at my workplace. The page views beat November's by a very narrow margin, needing that whole extra December day to do it.

Anyway, just in case you are wondering ... the 10 most viewed posts in December were:

2013 X-Mas Ale Vertical Tasting

Every year, (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) SheppyBrew brewery brews an X-Mas Ale. Every year (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) I get out a bottle of all the years' X-Mas ales and try them together. Last year, I finished my last 2009 bottle, so this year I could only taste 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.

The SheppyBrew Beer Model helped me out, but even so, 4 12 ounce beers of 7.9, 7.3, 8.3, and 7.8 abv is a bit much. I might have to rethink the way the vertical tasting works. With 2014 in the mix next year, I will have 5 beers to drink.

A Brunette, a Read Head, and a Blonde

SheppyBrew Brewery currently has more beers kegged and "on tap" than it usually has. I actually have four beers kegged, carbonated, and ready to drink.

Bummer that my keggerator only has room for two kegs, but I am able to compensate by putting picnic taps on the extra two kegs and simply icing them. Since it is winter, I can just put these iced kegs in the garage or the patio and not have to worry about the ice melting away too quickly.

At some point, I need to address the issue of only having a two-keg keggerator. But, for the most part, it has worked out ok. Usually, by the time I need to chill a new beer, one of the old kegs kicks and a spot opens up. This time, I wanted to have 3 beers available for holiday guests to drink, though, and the Boo Berry Wheat is not gone yet.

Anyway, in addition to the blueberry beer, I also have recently brewed a Blonde, an Irish Red, and a Porter. All three are ready to drink.You could say I have a Blonde, a Red Head, and a Brunette.

BrewTrail.com

I got another email from the Contact Me form on this blog. I've been a little more selective about what I share from those emails. It was getting a little ridiculous. People's definition of what matches the overall theme of this blog were much different than what I thought the overall theme of this blog is.

However, this one fits perfectly. Ironically, I let it sit in my inbox longer than I usually do before posting one of these that I get from Contact Me. 

Basically, it was a press release for a new (new at the time I got the email) website:

BrewTrail.com

I thought I was going to do a proper analysis of the site and I just never got around to it. I'll just say that I think this is awesome. Basically, it is a website to help beer geeks like me find breweries to visit. As a guy who likes to drink from local breweries ... no matter where I am ... I have quite often wished I had something like this.

I'm Awesome

I like this guy. His songs amuse me.

Note ... these videos contain Crude Language. If you are sensitive to such things, do not watch them.

Spose: I'm Awesome

Resurrecting the Wetta Blonde

My father-in-law is a full-blooded Mexican, and gave my mother-in-law the nickname "Huera", which is apparently Mexican slang for white girl or light-haired girl.

It usually sounds like "Wetta" to my gringo ears, especially when people saying it have been drinking (or maybe the relevant part is that I have been drinking).

Regardless ....

One night, not too long after I started home-brewing, I was sharing beers with my in-laws. Huera went on and on about how she really liked the Classic American Blonde Ale. Of course even at this early stage of my brewing experience, I knew that I would rather do recipes a bit more personalized than that one. I told her that I would make a blonde ale recipe and name the beer after her. I told her I was going to spell her name with a W, although neither my wife nor Huera remembered I had said it months later when I introduced the Wetta Blonde.

November 2013 Blogging

November had its page-view ups and downs but for the most part was pretty strong throughout. It did manage to beat October fairly easily.

The blog posts that got the most attention over the 30 days of November were:

Some Black Friday Beer Motivation

Did y'all have a fabulously wonderful Thanksgiving? I hope so.

Here are some "Motivational" posters that might put a little smile on your face during Black Friday. If you follow the SheppyBrew Brewery Facebook page, you might have already seen them, but I think they are even better together like this.

One thing is for sure ... you won't see me at the malls today.

Saison

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I stopped by a tiny little brewery called Saint Patrick's Brewing Company. I do not think I mentioned that I brought home a bomber of their Saison, but I did. I really liked this beer at the "tap" room and wanted to bring one home to enjoy.

Then,  I opened and poured the bomber a couple weekends ago.

The bottle says it is brewed with fresh orange zest, and lightly spiced with vanilla bean and ginger. The citrus and spices are balanced by 11 different malts and six hop varieties. It has 39 IBU. Its SRM is 7,and its ABV is 6.3%.

Still More @Untappd Badges 13

It has only been about a month since I've done a report on my untappd badges, and I already have enough new ones that it is time to do another. Most of these are simply new levels of badges I've previously earned.

I can't imagine why you would want to, but you can look at all the posts (including this one) by going to the "untappd" label on this blog.

Since Still More @Untappd Badges 12, I've earned the following:

Brewing Eric's Red

I brewed Eric's Irish Red on Sunday. With all the attention I've been paying to new styles (see BJCP goal), I have really not brewed a lot of my old favorites this year. Since all I have left is Category 12 Porter and Category 19 Strong Ale to finish up before the end of the year, I though now would be a good time to brew one of the SheppyBrew flagships.

Eric's Red is one of those recipes that has been around since my Mr. Beer days. It has obviously changed quite a bit over that time, but I really like the all-grain rendition that I have come up with, and the only difference between this time and last time is the yeast selection. This time I used London Ale Yeast harvested from Jolly Morlock Porter, just because the timing was right.

Some Beer Motivation for a Friday

Every once and awhile I'll come across on of those "(De) Motivational Posters" on the internet that amuse me. If you follow the SheppyBrew Brewery Facebook page, you'll see me post them from time-to-time. If you have not already, PLEASE go like the SheppyBrew Brewery Facebook page.

Anyway, it has been awhile since I've assembled these in a blog post, so I thought I would do that today. Let me know if you find these amusing as well by leaving a comment below or on the SheppyBrew Brewery Facebook page.

Have a great weekend everyone.

What Kind of Beer do You Like?

On my way home from work yesterday, I decided to stop by a tiny little brewery called Saint Patrick's Brewing Company. You may remember that the Beer Model and I came across them at this year's GABF Friday session. They are right on my way home from work. In fact they are right along one of the bike paths I take when I bike to work. I have never been to them because their tap room hours were pretty inconvenient for me. They just recently added Friday night, and last night I decided to stop in.

Anyway, I walked into their tiny little tasting room last night, and asked the guys behind the counter if I could try some of their beers.

"What kind of beer do you like to drink?"

If you know me at all, you probably can guess basically what my answer was.

 "Pretty much everything".

Turns out that "pretty much everything" is what they had, so that was good.

Fall Back ... Brew a Morlock Porter

Until about mid-week I was not planning on brewing today. Between it being the end of Daylight Savings time (giving me an extra brewing hour) and there being no Bears or Broncos football games, I thought it was just too opportune a day not to do it, though. Plus, yesterday was the AHA's Learn to Homebrew Day. I can't not brew on the weekend of Learn to Homebrew Day, can I?

Of course I can't.

So, I quickly put together a porter recipe. As many of you know, one of my 2013 goals was to round out my brewing experience, by making sure I had brewed at least one all-grain batch of all 23 BJCP beer categories (see SheppyBrew Styles). At the beginning of the year, I had brewed just over half, so brewing 11 was not that big of an undertaking. All I had left as of this morning was Category 12 Porter and Category 19 Strong Ale.

Now, I only have the Strong Ale left.

Scary Beer Feminists!

I have not done a post for "The Session" (aka Beer Blogging Friday) since May. Not sure why. Just have not been into it. I did just tell myself that I should get back into the habit. November's topic sneaked up on me, but it just seemed too good to pass up.

Is "sneaked" really the past tense form of "sneak"? I thought it was "snuck", but the FireFox spell-check likes "sneaked" and does not like "snuck". I suppose I could look it up in a real dictionary ....

But I digress ...

This month, November, the topic comes from Nicole (aka Nitch), who does a beer blog called "Tasting Nitch". Her topic is "Women and Beer: Scary Beer Feminists or a Healthy Growing Demographic?" You can read all about it at: The Session #81 Announcement- Scary Beer Feminists!

"Feel free to write about what you want as long as it is beer and woman related!"

 I like women. I like beer. This seems like the perfect topic to get back into the habit of participating in  "The Session".

October 2013 Blogging

October had a very strong mid-month. Thank you #GABF. For awhile it looked like it would blow away August, but it was a very lack-luster end of the month. October still has the new page-view record, but just barely. I hope November picks up from the end of October.

Anyway, in case you are wondering, here are the blog posts that have been the most looked-at over the past 30 days: