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.