Got my #GABF tickets again

Image from GABF Facebook Page

Well, Great American Beer Fest tickets sold out again in record time, and once again beer fans are frustrated to the point of anger.

Once again, I used my standing as an AHA member to take part in the members-only presale and was able to get all the tickets I wanted. Everyone that I know in the office who tried also got everything they wanted (including two co-workers who purchased an AHA membership JUST to get GABF tickets).

Lots of members got stuck with the Saturday evening session, though. Personally, if my choice is to go to the Saturday evening session or to not go, I would pick to stay away.

For me personally, things went much smoother than last year (see #GABF #TicketMasterFail), but the TicketMaster process was far from flawless. I got my Friday night tickets no problem, but when I went to try to get the Saturday afternoon tickets, TicketMaster was not recognizing my Membership Number.

NSFW Brewday

Remember my "Poll: which Belgium Strong Ale should I brew?" The post got 18 votes to tell me what to brew this past weekend.

• 18C. Belgian Tripel. got 0 votes
• 18E. Belgian Dark Strong Ale got 2 votes
• 18A. Belgian Blond Ale got 3 votes
• 18B. Belgian Dubbel for 6 votes

And the clear winner with 7 votes was 18D. Belgian Golden Strong Ale

I'm glad a winner came out, because for awhile it was looking like the Dubbel and the Golden Strong were going to tie.

South Dakota Six Pack ... Kinda Sorta Not Really

My family and I went on vacation last week to South Dakota. Before I left, knowing that when traveling I like to try different local beers, I tweeted my virtual friend @BryanDRoth asking if he had any South Dakota bloggers in mind for his "Six-Pack Project". I was hoping he had someone I could ask for suggestions on South Dakota local craft beer to try.

He answered that he didn't. He did suggest that I could provide research for South Dakota Beers. Not really what I was after, but I figured I would at least be able to share my beer experiences there.

While in South Dakota, we did all kinds of cool things.

Hennepin Farmhouse Saison

I was in the liquor store last week looking through the beer section when I found a four pack of Ommegang's Hennepin Farmhouse Saison. Knowing that it was tied for 46 on  Zymurgy's 2013 Best Beers in America list, I grabbed it. I tried the beer over the weekend.

Ommegang's Website says that Hennepin Farmhouse Saison is an "ale brewed with grains of paradise, coriander, ginger, sweet orange peel." It is 7.7% ABV and 24 IBU.

My sample was a hazy pale gold with a fluffy white head and lots of carbonation.

The aroma was lots of Belgium farmhouse funk blended with the various spices. I got significant orange (probably from the coriander and orange peel).

It tasted pretty much the same, although I think the orange was a little more lemony. It starts out sweet with spiciness in the middle and does finish off pretty dry (as a saison should).

Poll: which Belgium Strong Ale should I brew?

I have not done a "what should I brew" poll in awhile. The last one I did (see What should I #HomeBrew Next?) got lots of responses, although almost half of them came in after the decision was actually made.

The decision I am currently having trouble with is what Category 18 style should I brew?

If you are a regular reader, you probably know that I am home-brewing through the BJCP Categories. My goal is to have brewed at least one beer in all 23 beer categories of the BJCP Style Guidelines. As I type this post, I have 6 categories left.

One of the categories that is in my to-do list is 18. Belgian Strong Ale. There are 5 styles or subcategories in  Category 18, and I cannot really decide which one I want to brew, so I am letting my blog readers decide for me. Vote early. Vote often. Let me know what kind of beer I should make:

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In case you are wondering what all these sub-categories are ... you can look it up on bjcp.org:

• 18A. Belgian Blond Ale
• 18B. Belgian Dubbel
• 18C. Belgian Tripel
• 18D. Belgian Golden Strong Ale
• 18E. Belgian Dark Strong Ale

2013 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats

It is that time again! It is time to post quarterly updates on how much the SheppyBrew Brewery  has brewed. I've been doing this for quite some time because it is fun for me to go back and look at how the brewery has been doing. Plus, believe it or not, readers have mentioned they enjoy looking at the brewing stats. You can see all of these reports (including the one you are reading right now) by following this link: http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

Still More @Untappd Badges 10

Earning untappd badges has gotten pretty rare for me. The last time I had enough to report on was mid-May (see Still More @Untappd Badges 9) and before that was mid-February (see Still More @Untappd Badges 8). Back in "the day", I was getting enough pretty much every month to do a new post.

Oh well.

Since last time, I have earned the following badges:

Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

As you probably know, I've started trying to find beers that I have never had from the Zymurgy's 2013 Best Beers in America list.

At the same time I picked up Firestone Walker Wookey Jack, I also got a 4 pack of Boulevard Brewing Company's Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, tied at number 32 on the Zymurgy list. This past weekend, I gave it a try. With all the IPAs on this list, a saison was a welcome change.

Boulevard Brewing Company is located in Kansas City, MO. Its website says it is Missouri's 2nd largest brewery. According to the Brewer's Association, it is the country's 12th largest craft brewery.

Boulevard distributes to Colorado. It seems odd that I've never had any of their beers. I'm glad the Zymurgy list got me to try Tank 7.

Brewing Gnasty the Gnome ESB

Remember Gnasty the Gnome?

As I've shared with you, I am terrified of Gnomes, but Gnasty is helping me get over my fear. We enjoy the same sorts of beers and of course we both love watching the Chicago Blackhawks. We even brew together. I still don't quite trust him. I am sure that his ultimate plan is to attack me in my sleep, but we have become friends.

As I mentioned back in January, Gnasty and I were going to design a home-brew recipe together. You might have noticed that some time ago we did that and already posted the recipe "Gnasty the Gnome ESB" on the SheppyBrew website.

If you didn't notice, you probably need to start following SheppyBrew Brewery on Facebook. Go ahead and "like" us. It is completely worth it.

Gnasty the Gnome ESB is a Category 8 English Pale Ale, subscategory C Extra Special Bitter. It is, in fact, the Category 8 representative of my initiative to make sure I've brewed everyone BJCP style category (see SheppyBrew Styles).

June 2013 Blogging

June ended up with the 2nd most page-views all-time on this blog behind March. For the most part, the whole month was pretty consistent. I always thought it looked like it would come in 2nd.

Here are the top 10 viewed posts over the past 30 days:

Factotum Brewhouse

I got an email through my Contact Me form on this blog from a guy starting a new Denver area brewery. The brewery will be called Factotum Brewhouse.

His concept is a little different than your typical brewery, though. Unique. Brilliant, really. Genius.

Factotum will give home-brewers an opportunity to brew on its system. In fact, it sounds like most of the beer served in its taproom will be brewed by home-brewers.

Read the press release he sent me below. Make sure to check out his kickstarter page. I am thinking about making a donation and I will certainly visit the brewery when it is finished.

Chelsea Dagger 2013

The Blackhawks won last night thanks in part to me and my little Gnome buddy. Obviously, game 6 was on the road so they were not going to be playing Chelsea Dagger in the stadium, but I took it upon myself to play it loud whenever I thought the Blackhawks needed a lift.

It worked.

I was also sure to save some SheppyBrew Blackhawk Black for the final period. You may think that my choice of beverage has little to do with how the hockey team did, but you would be wrong. Tommy Hawk APA helped get them to the finals, and  Blackhawk Black helped push them to the championship.

I waited all my life to see the Blackhawks win a Stanley Cup. I just had to wait 3 years to see them win a 2nd. Hopefully I'll get to see several more.

Go Blackhawks!

Firestone Walker Wookey Jack

Well, after seeing Zymurgy's newest Best Beers in America list, (see Zymurgy's 2013 Best Beers in America), I didn't waste much time looking in my local liquor store to see what I could pick up. Of course, I can't get T9. Lagunitas Sucks until December or January. The next highest ranked beer that I have not tried was #16. The Alchemist Heady Topper is not available in Colorado.

I found a 22oz bomber of the 3rd highest ranked beer I had not tried, though.

#20. Firestone Walker Wookey Jack
Beers from Firestone Walker Brewing Company are very available here in Colorado. In fact, you may remember that I've blogged about both Firestone Walker Union Jack and Firestone Double Jack since both appeared on my 2012 list.

Still More Sexist Beer Labels

Remember my post "Sexist Beer Labels"?

At the time I told you, "I've never bought any of these beers, but if I saw one of these in my liquor store, I would at least consider buying it for the clever labels."

Recently, Clown Shoes started distributing to Colorado, and I had an opportunity to pick up a four pack of Tramp Stamp Belgium India Pale Ale in my local liquor store. I took that opportunity because I wanted to try the beer behind the artwork. I couldn't resist the blogging opportunity.

From the Clown Shoes website:

"Like a stamp on a tramp, this beer is about not so subtle seduction.  Soft but complex malts, Chambly yeast, sweet orange peel, Columbus, Amarillo, and Centennial hops have merged to create a bodacious Belgian IPA."

Zymurgy's 2013 Best Beers in America

Zymurgy's 2013 Best Beers in America just came out.

None of SheppyBrew Brewery's beers made it this year.

Of course, if you follow this blog, you may know that every year I target this list to make sure I've tried as many of the beers as possible. From last year, I ended up with only 2 that I have not had (or at least that I don't remember ever trying).

The ones I missed from 2012 were:

• Troegs Nugget Nectar (#34)
• Russian River Pliny the Younger (#48)

Not a bad. Not bad at all.

So, now it is time to move on to the 2013 list.

Brewing the Un-Wheat

I was at my brew shop last Wednesday trying to purchase ingredients to make SheppyBrew's world famous Summer Lovin' American Wheat. I was talking to one of the employees there about my win, and scooped out German Pilsner malt instead of the Wheat malt I meant to add to the recipe. By the time I realized my mistake, I had it crushed and blended in a bag with the rest of my malts.

Ooops.

At that moment, I decided to change what I was going to make last weekend. I decided to make Summer Lovin' Un-Wheat instead. Initially, I thought the only difference was going to be the pilsner malt replacing the wheat malt, but since I was changing the beer, I decided to try another thing I had been thinking about. Rather than the orange zest I put in the wheat beer, I am going to add orange juice concentrate after a couple days of fermentation. I also reduced the coriander a bit.

You can look at the whole recipe by following this link to the SheppyBrew website.

Pictures at the Great Sand Dunes

For the third year in a row, my family went camping at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Just like last year, we camped in a group site with the same people (mostly) that we camped with last year.

You can read all about our adventures in and around the Sand Dunes (including this post) by following this link.

Here are some pictures:

Another Father and Son Backpacking Trip Part 2

This is part 2 of "Another Father and Son Backpacking Trip". If you have not read Another Father and Son Backpacking Trip Part 1, go back and read it now. In fact, even if you have read it, go back and review it again. Who knows what important detail you may have forgotten. Go ahead, read it. We'll still be here when you are done.

So, it was Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, and my youngest boy and I had spent a bunch of time exploring rock formations by the "Shaft House". After spending a couple hours up that way, we returned to camp and hung out / collected firewood / explored some more.

Another Father and Son Backpacking Trip Part 1

You may remember that last year, my youngest son and I went on a backpacking trip together over Memorial Day Weekend. If not, see SheppyQuest Lite, Father and Son Backpacking trip Part 1, and Father and Son Backpacking trip Part 2. This year, my wife and older son were gone for the same reason as last year, and we decided to do the same trip.

Like last year, I picked up my little boy right after school. Unlike last year, we were able to just leave straight for the wilderness because I didn't forget my wallet.

May 2013 Blogging

May did not did not beat the page-view record on this blog, but it did beat April and was second all-time behind March. Some days in May the traffic was pretty strong, some days pathetically light. Colorado 6 pack gave the blog a much-needed boost at the end to make the month finish somewhat respectable.

And ... for your reading enjoyment ... here are the top 10 viewed posts over the past 30 days: