#GABF Friday Night

The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I attended the Great American Beer Festival last night.

We have attended every year for the past several. Since 2010 I think. It is always fun.

This year, they added another pretty big hall, making it almost a totally new experience. Of course, they added more people so it was just as crowded, but we of course survived.

They also added a second entrance this year. I am always amazed how fast they are able to get people into the festival despite just a huge line. This year the second entrance made it even faster. I was even more amazed.

The new entrance brought us into the "meet the brewer" hall. The idea behind this area was that every brewery needed to have brewers on staff pouring beers at all times. There were a bunch of breweries here.

#GABF Begins Today

Actually, the 2015 Great American Beer Festival began last night for the public and earlier in the week for Breweries.

But tonight is when the 2015  Great American Beer Festival begins for me.

Usually, I have a pretty detailed "game plan" going into every GABF session. This time, I'm not sure I will. I may just follow my wife (whom I think has something of a plan) around and see what happens.

Maybe I'll get more organized for the Saturday Session.

This year, the physical area of the the event has increased quite a bit. This is nice, but of course they fill it with more breweries and more people, so I expect it will be just as crowded.

I will probably want to attend at least one session in the Beer & Food Pavilion. All of them look interesting for tonight:

6:30 pm - 7:00 pm  Old Beer and Stinky Cheese
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm  Sam Adams and Red Robin Burger Pairing
8:30 pm - 9:30 pm  Beer and Cheese Pairings: Ingredients and the American Way

I am less interested in the Brewers Studio Pavilion Schedule, but we may stop by one of these:

6:30 pm - 7:00 pm  Rogue Ales: The Grow-Your-Own Revolution
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm  Employee-Owned Breweries
8:30 pm - 9:30 pm  The Evolution of In-Process versus Finished Versions of Barrel-Aged Brews

Anyway, I guess I'll treat tonight as a reconnaissance mission and see what is up for Saturday's session.

I'm Excited.

If you want to look at any of my GABF beer posts (including this one), check out Sheppy's Blog: GABF

CHEERS!

Brewing the 2015 Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale

As you know if you follow this blog or the SheppyBrew Facebook Page, Sunday was a brew day for me.

Specifically, I brewed Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale.

We actually grew pumpkins in our garden this year, but we didn't use those in the pumpkin beer. They are not pie pumpkins. They are jack-o-lantern pumpkins. Plus, my wife tells me that they are not ready to pick yet. Something about a finger nail test?

Who knows?

Anyway, instead of real live garden pumpkins, I used 58 ounces (a couple cans) of Libby Canned Pumpkins.

The mash is the same as a usual beer mash except I added mashed up pumpkin to the tun about 45 minutes into it. Before adding pumpkin, I heated it to 350 degrees. The idea of cooking the pumpkin was to get maybe a bit of caramelization, but that didn't really happen in the amount of time I cooked it. Not a huge deal.

Muggled!

A couple weekends ago, I discovered that a couple of our geocaches had gone missing.

If you are wondering what a geocache is ... feel free to dig through this blog at Sheppy's Blog: Geocache. If you are still having trouble with the concept, check out Geocaching 101.

Anyway, I was checking up on my geocaches (as I do from time to time) in the Pence Park area. The first one I checked on was Sheppy McShepardSons (take II). It was not where it is supposed to be. To be honest, of all the geocaches that I've hidden, this is the one that I thought would be the least likely to go missing. I guess I was wrong. This did not make me happy.

I'm brewing a pumpkin beer

I'm brewing a pumpkin ale this weekend.

Why?

Don't be stupid, you know why I'm brewing a pumpkin ale this weekend.


I'm brewing a pumpkin ale this weekend because of this chick --->

aka, The SheppyBrew Beer Model --->

aka, My wife. --->

This chick, aka The SheppyBrew Beer Model aka My wife really likes pumpkin spice beers.

Really. She really likes them.

Really.

I don't think she's actually ever met a pumpkin beer that she has not liked, and she has tried a lot of them.

Double Brew Day

I brewed two batches of beer yesterday.

Why two?

Well ... one of my brewing friends has recently decided to give up on the hobby (or at least take a break), and gave me a 5 gallon Better Bottle carboy. I wanted to justify to myself having two.

My bottle collection of homebrew is pretty sparse, and I wanted to brew something I could bottle.

I wanted to use up some apricot extract.

Upon initially tasting my recently brewed Apricot Lovin' American Wheat, I thought I had added too much Apricot flavor. I wanted a beer with which to blend that beer if I wanted less apricot flavor.

Bad Lands 2015

This post is yet another example of how far behind I am writing on this blog.

Do you remember that earlier this year, we visited South Dakota? Well, we did. As you may remember from our trip back in 2013, my favorite part of South Dakota is the Bad Lands (see Badlands National Park Pictures).

This year, it was my favorite as well, although, it felt like I was the only one of the group who felt this way.

But anyway ... here are some pictures of us (and my sister's family) at Bad Lands National Park...

F is for Factotum Brewhouse

You may remember that as I was composing the list of Denver breweries that I had not visited, it struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company

Next up was B ... B is for Baere Brewing Company

After B comes C ... C is for Comrade Brewing Company

Are you recognizing a pattern here? ... D is for Draw, Boggy (I took a little artistic licence to change Boggy Draw into Draw, Boggy)

And then, of course, E ... E is for Epic Brewing Company

Care to guess what is next? You don't have to; I'll tell you.

F is for Factotum Brewhouse

Some summer photos

Just some interesting photos I have sitting around. No particular theme. No real order to them.

Enjoy.

When the mighty Blackhawks played the evil Minnesota Wild, my nephew thought it would be a good idea to bet me an ice cream cone on the winner of the series. The wager went better for me than for him. I collected when we saw each other in South Dakota.

Happy Feet Best Bitter

So, I've become a little obsessed with fitbit.

My employer started a "pilot" program "Walking Challenge". As part of this program, employees of the company were given discounts on fitbit trackers. The company also paid $50 for each fitbit bought through the program.

Then, each person who wanted to join the program was divided into a team. There were something like 550 people divided into 22 teams across 3 locations (I work for a big company).

When I got my team assignment, I started talking trash with a couple of my co-workers and told them my team was awesome and theirs sucked. We made a wager between our two teams. I was putting up homebrew. I don't really remember what the other team wagered.

Unfortunately, after starting off fairly well, my team (Team 7 ... Take a Hike) has really sucked. The other team (Team 8 ... Happy Feet) isn't doing a whole lot better, but they are doing better enough that it does not look like we will catch them.

Beer Bike Ride

I like to bike.

I like to drink beer.

Fairly often, I combine the two activities. For example ... remember BOB .... Brew on Broadway and Biking the Beermuda Triangle?

Well, recently, some exciting things happened in the South West Denver Metro Area.

First, Locavore Beer Works opened, becoming my most local brewery ... right along my route home from work.

Not too much after that, Saint Patrick's Brewing Company opened in its new location a couple blocks East of Locavore. The new location was right on the South Platte River's bike path.

Then, Breckenridge Brewery opened its new "Farm House" brewery South of St. Patrick's, also right along the bike path.

Most recently, as I reported in D is for Draw, Boggy, opened basically on the corners of the Bear Creek Bike Path and the Platte River Bike Path.

Apricot Lovin' American Wheat

One of the important logistic considerations in the SheppyBrew Brewing Schedule is that there are two beer drinkers in the house.

It just so happens that one of the people, the SheppyBrew Beer Model, does not always like the beers that the Brew Master likes to drink. The Brew Master, of course, has his favorite styles, but will drink and enjoy just about any beer style.

The SheppyBrew Beer Model has a much narrower focus. Anything too bitter and anything with too much roasted or coffee flavor is out. She also has random aversions to certain beers which she cannot articulate.

And so, the brewing schedule has to factor in taking the time to make beers that the woman of the house wants on tap. 

Random South Dakota Pictures

You may remember that my family met my sister's family in South Dakota this year. I posted Mt Rushmore Pictures 2015, totally intending to post more pictures soon after that post. I never really got around to it, but here are some more random pictures from that trip...

One of the first things we did was visit Jewel Cave National Monument and took a cave tour.

E is for Epic Brewing Company

You may remember that as I was composing the list of Denver breweries that I had not visited, it struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company

Next up was B ... B is for Baere Brewing Company

After B comes C ... C is for Comrade Brewing Company

Are you recognizing a pattern here? ... D is for Draw, Boggy (I took a little artistic licence to change Boggy Draw into Draw, Boggy)

As you may or may not have figured out ... it is time for E

E is for Epic Brewing Company

I always think of Epic Brewing Company as a Utah brewery. The Denver location is relatively new.

Brewing Chelsea Dagger

You probably know that the Mighty Chicago Blackhawks won their 3rd Stanley Cup Championship since 2009. (coincidentally, it is also their 3rd Stanley Cup since the 1961 / 62 season)

As a Chicago Blackhawks fan, the 49 year drought (more years than I have been alive) made me sad.

As a Chicago Blackhawks fan, the 3 recent Stanley Cups make me happy. Very happy. Downright giddy, you might say.

I figured it is about time I made a tribute beer to the Stanley Cup Champions. I didn't do it in 2010 or 2013. It is about time I do it for their 2015 championship. 3rd time is a charm?

I knew immediately what I should name this tribute beer: "Chelsea Dagger".

D is for Draw, Boggy

You may remember that as I was composing the list of Denver breweries that I had not visited, it struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company

Next up was B ... B is for Baere Brewing Company

After B comes C ... C is for Comrade Brewing Company

Are you recognizing a pattern here? ... what comes after C?

D is for Draw, Boggy

2015 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 .

Q2 of 2015 was actually pretty busy at the SheppyBrew Brewery. I brewed five batches:

• Melting Stream Spring Saison
• Summer Lovin' American Wheat
• Bad Lands Kölsch
• Gzombie Gnome Gapocalypse
• Hail Storm Summer Saison

Hoppy Melting Stream

More McShepardSons

Well, do you remember that I hid a new geocache? If not, see McShepardSons on Independence Mountain.

It has not been getting very many visitors. In fact, after almost 3 weeks, it had only been logged as found once on its online log. There were a couple of entries in the paper log in the cache. It seems weird to me that someone would find the cache and not sign online, but maybe that is just me.

Anyway, while hiking up to the top of Independence Mountain, I thought maybe more people would visit the cache if there were more to find on the way up.

2015 Hail Storm Summer Saison

I brewed my Hail Storm Summer Saison on Sunday.

Hail Storm, is the summer version of my Seasonal Saisons series of beers. It is fairly hoppy, and its ABV is a bit on the low end of saisons stylistically. It is pretty light in color. Obviously, it is brewed in Summer. I will drink it in summer. Other than that, there is nothing really making this a summer saison versus a Spring, Autumn, or Winter saison.

It is pretty much the same recipe as last year's Summer Saision, except this year I used Tettnang hops instead of Styrian Goldings.

Mt Rushmore Pictures 2015

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may remember that in the summer of 2013, the Sheppy family visited South Dakota.

See Badlands National Park Pictures, South Dakota Six Pack, Mt Rushmore Pictures,

We did it again this year. This time, instead of meeting my wife's family, we met my sister and her family.

Of course when you go to South Dakota with a bunch of kids ... one of the things you have to do is visit Mount Rushmore. So we did.