No Pumpkins were harmed in the brewing of this beer

I brewed an Autumn Ale last Sunday.

No pumpkin or pumpkin spice was harmed in the brewing of this beer.

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) told me earlier that she didn't want to brew a pumpkin ale this year.

I'm not sure if it was because she didn't like the last one I made or if she got sick of me bitching that the pumpkin spice ale lasted from September to March last time I brewed it.

Regardless, I don't have a problem not brewing a pumpkin spice beer. In fact, I prefer it.

I do really like the name, though. And, I actually have always thought the base beer of my pumpkin beer is really good.

Will-o-Wisp Autumn Ale (no pumpkin)

J is for Jade Mountain Brewery and Teahouse

Well ... if you read I is for {"Immersion Brewing","Immigrant Son Brewery","Independence Brewing","Independent Brewing Company","Insight Brewing Company","Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company"} ... you know we cheated a little on the "I" brewery of our A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts.

Shameless.

We need to get our "J" brewery posted so we can get the taste of that unfortunate post out of our figurative mouths.

I'm glad to say that we actually had a couple of good local brewery choices for our "J" brewery.

Last weekend the SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) and I played Pickle Ball, and then we headed out to lunch at a brewery ...

J is for Jade Mountain Brewery and Teahouse

I is for {"Immersion Brewing","Immigrant Son Brewery","Independence Brewing","Independent Brewing Company","Insight Brewing Company","Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company"}

If you're following along on this round of the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts, you know that we recently checked "H" off the list.

H is for Holidaily Brewing Company (DTC)

If you're familiar with the English alphabet, you realize that next up is "I".

In previous rounds ... "I" has an interesting history to the posts.

The first time through the list, we did I is for IronWorks Brewery and Pub. At the time, it was the only "I" brewery I could find in the Denver area.

By the time we got to round 2, Iron Works had closed, but another "I" brewery had popped up, and we did I is for [The] Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project.

When we got to round 3, Intrepid Sojourner had closed and we headed down to Castle Rock for I is for Iron Mule Brewery.

Thankfully, Iron Mule hasn't closed, but we don't have any more local "I" breweries.

#5000MilesIn2022

On Wednesday October 5th, I passed my Strava goal of cycling 5000 miles in 2022 on a bike ride home from work.

Since then, I've increased my Strava goal to 6000 miles for the year.

The weather is starting to get colder, so I probably won't ride quite as much over the last few months of they year, but an extra 1000 miles shouldn't be too difficult.

As I type this, I still need 753 miles, and I'm 496 ahead of plan to reach it.

I need 26,388 to reach my #10EverestsIn2022 goal. With 2 and a half months left in the year, that should be even more of a sure thing than the mileage goal.

2022 #GABF Pictures

As you saw if you follow SheppyBrew on Instagram or Facebook, the Beer Model and I attended the Great American Beer Festival last weekend.

If you have been following this blog for awhile, you know that we attend the GABF just about every year.

It is always in Denver and as a member of the American Homebrewers Association, I'm allowed to buy tickets before the general public. 

And it is fun, so the Beer Model and I make the effort to get there.

See Sheppy's Blog: GABF to see all the blog posts I've done.

Of course, we have not been since 2019, because it was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

We attended the Friday night session and the Saturday "brewers only" session again this year.

H is for Holidaily Brewing Company (DTC)

Fairly recently, I posted G is for Golden City Brewery, and if you're familiar with the A to Z Series of posts on this blog, you know I now have to find and type up something on an "H" brewery.

In the G post ... I wrote:

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, there are a bunch of "H' breweries in Colorado. However of the ones close to us, we've covered them already. I'm not sure where we'll end up ... but we'll come up with something.

Last time through the alphabet, I used H is for Holidaily Brewing Company.

Somehow I missed it, but my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) pointed out that Holidaily Brewing Company opened a second location. 

I didn't have a better idea for our H brewery ... so ...

H is for Holidaily Brewing Company (DTC)

Mr. Awesome Merican Lager (Batch 321)

Recently, I brewed Jethro Bud Nelson Merican Lite Lager for the second time (see Jethro Bud Nelson (Batch 319)).

For whatever reason ... I've been into Craft American Lagers recently. It seems to be a trend ... and I am following along.

Last time I brewed Jethro Bud Nelson, I didn't get to drink much of it. I took the beer to a family vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks and the family there finished off the keg in a couple of days.

So ... I knew I was going to brew it again sooner rather than later.

As I was Drinking my Merican Lite Lager, I noted that it would be great to have it on tap at the same time as my "Merican Premium Lager" ....

Mr. Awesome Merican Lager

Last Saturday, I kegged the Jethro Bud Nelson, and last Sunday I brewed Mr. Awesome, so I should get the chance to try these two beers side-by-side.

2022 Q3 (and 2) SheppyBrew Stats

Well ... crap ... here it is the end of Q3 ... and I just realized I never reported on SheppyBrew's 2nd Quarter.

Oh well.

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: Sheppy's Blog: Brew Stats.

You just will not see one for 2022 Q2. I think this is the first quarter I missed since I started doing these updates.

Must be getting old.

So ... just a quick update on the 2nd quarter ... I brewed 5 batches of beer for 26 gallons. There were 2 new recipes during that time, and I brewed 2 lagers.

Colorado Vienna Lager

 

Falling Leaves Autumn Saison (Batch 320)

As you know if you've been following along,  I've been pretty busy cycling over September.

But, of course live goes on. Here it already is ... Autumn.

And at the SheppyBrew Brewery ... Autumn means it is time to brew up one of my Seasonal Saisons ... Falling Leaves Autumn Saison.

2022 is the 9th year I've brewed this beer. 

That last sentence sort of blows my mind away ... where did the time go? I still sort of consider my idea of Seasonal Saisons a newish thing ... but 9 Autumn Saisons says otherwise.

Anyway, last Sunday (not yesterday, the one before that), I brewed up 

Falling Leaves Autumn Saison

As with most of my saisons, I got started the night before and did an overnight mash. I figure saisons are supposed to be dry, so the long mash with temperatures on the lower side of the beta amylase range make the overnight mash perfect.

#1000MileSeptember

If you follow me at all on this blog or facebook or instagram .. you know that I've been participating in the Great Cycle Challenge all last month.

I've pledged to ride September to raise money and awareness for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

 

G is for Golden City Brewery

Well ... you probably know that I've been doing a ton of riding for the Great Cycle Challenge this month.

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed that last Saturday, I passed up my 1000 mile September.

If you paid attention to Saturday's Instagram post, you also noticed which "G" brewery we picked.

I started off the morning with a 57 mile ride (see #GCCUSA2022 Ride #32), which actually got me over the 1000 mile September.

When I returned, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) wanted to go on a bike ride too.

So ... we headed out on a ride together (see #GCCUSA2022 Ride #33), and headed out to our "G" brewery.

G is for Golden City Brewery

Jethro Bud Nelson (Batch 319)

I took a little "break" Sunday from all my GCC Riding (sort of).

I had a blood donation in the morning, and so I decided that I would not be doing anything long.

Since I had not brewed in awhile ... last time was August 28th (see Brian Phelps Pale Ale (Batch 318)) ... I thought it would be a good idea to brew beer on a weekend day on which I was not riding a bunch.

So ... I brewed Sunday.

The beer I brewed was one that I brewed earlier in the year ...

I really enjoyed this light refreshing lager ... and my wife's family drank most of it 

Jethro Bud Nelson Merican Lite Lager

Halfway through #GCCUSA2022

It is the 15th of September. We're about halfway through The Great Cycle Challenge.

I've pledged to ride 1000 miles over the course of September to raise money and awareness for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

Halfway through the month, to be "on track", I need to have completed 500 miles.

I'm a little over that, so I'm doing well.

 

Wednesday Smoked Mac & Cheese

It is time for my oldest son to go back to college, and my wife asked him if he had any requests for meals before he left us.

As always, one of the meals he requested was Smoked Mac and Cheese.

Can't really blame him. My Smoked Mac and Cheese is delicious.

Usually I cook during the weekends and my wife cooks during the week. 

I work at home, so there isn't really a reason I shouldn't cook during the week. My wife just doesn't usually want to let me. 

But for various reasons I wasn't able to get it in the weekend between when it was requested and the weekend he has to return.

So ... I made this batch of Mac and Cheese this past Wednesday. 

N.T.S. Faux vs Actual Pilsner

At the end of July, I brewed a double batch of N.T.S. Faux Pilsner. See Double Batch of N.T.S.

N.T.S. Faux Pilsner was created a Faux Pilsner fermented with Kveik yeast at high temperatures as an experiment to see if I could brew a lager-like beer fermented with crazy-high Kveik fermentation temperatures.

The original NTS batch was a nice beer, but I didn't consider it "lager-like".

One of the reasons I brewed the Double Batch of N.T.S was that I could brew half with Kveik yeast and half with lager yeast and see if I could tell the difference.

Last week, I did a "blind" triangle test to see if I could tell the two beers apart.

F is for FlyteCo Tower

I don't know if you caught it, but in Back to Back Century Rides, I told you to "Stay tuned for F is for ... "

Well ... no need to wait any further ... today is the day you get to see that F is for post I promised.

In case you are wondering what the hell I'm talking about ...

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

It struck me that if I went down the list, the starting letters of the brewery names represented almost every letter of the alphabet. That was when I started my A to Z Denver Breweries Project on this blog.

I finished Round 1 in February of 2019.

I got through round 2 by November of 2020. I finished round 3 in May of 2022. Now I'm working through round 4.

On Saturday, during my break of the second of two Century Rides, my wife (aka The SheppyBrew Beer Model) wanted to go out to lunch at the "F Brewery" we had picked out.

F is for FlyteCo Tower

Back to Back Century Rides

If you follow me at all on this blog or facebook or instagram .. you know that the Great Cycle Challenge has begun.

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

I've pledged to ride 1000 miles over the course of September to raise money and awareness for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.

1000 miles is a lot of miles. To accomplish it, I have to average 33.3 miles a day, which isn't too bad physically, but takes quite a bit of time.

Brian Phelps Pale Ale (Batch 318)

I'm getting ready to start riding for my Great Cycle Challenge. My 1000 miles starts September 1st, and I'll ride over the course of September to reach that 1000 mile milestone. 

Over the 7 years I've ridden for the challenge, I've "met" several people on the facebook group and on Strava and who I consider friends.

On of my favorites is a dude named Brian Phelps.

Over the years, we've established a friendly competition. We keep an eye on each others' rides and yearly totals. 

I hope that I inspire him almost as much as he inspires me.

When it comes right down to it, it isn't much of a competition. I am always ahead of him early in the year, but it doesn't take long for him to catch me and pass me up.

#GCCUSA Tribute Day Pictures

We're getting close!! In September, I'll be cycling 1000 miles in September to help raise awareness and money to fight childhood cancer.

It is called the Great Cycle Challenge.

If you'd like to help out, head to my "Rider Page" at 

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

Buena Vista Photos

As I mentioned in E is for Eddyline Brewery, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I spent the weekend in Buena Vista, Colorado this past weekend.

Our wedding anniversary is coming up, and this was a weekend get-away as a sort of pre-celebration of our 27th.

Yes, for some reason, she's put up with me for almost 27 years.

In addition to visiting a brewery, we also spent time biking and hiking.

We also brought a kayak and her paddle 

The weather wasn't the best, but a weekend in the mountains is always great even when the weather isn't perfect.

Here are some pictures from the weekend ....