M is for Monolith Brewing

If I'm counting correctly, as of L is for Locavore Beer Works, I've visited 116 breweries as part of the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts.

Amazingly, most of those have been in the Denver area.

Even more amazingly, there are still tons of breweries in the area left to visit. 

I started with A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company way back in March of 2015, so I've been doing this for basically 9 years.

9 YEARS! Where has the time gone?!?

And here we are moving on to my newest brewery visit .... as I mentioned in L is for Locavore Beer Works, we had already visited it when L was posted.

M is for Monolith Brewing

L is for Locavore Beer Works

If you've been following along on the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts, you know we are well into our 5th round of breweries.

We started round 5 with a bike ride to A is for AC Golden Tank Room, and just around a week ago we posted K is for Kodiak Brewery Bar and Grill.

If you have not been following along, check out the other A to Z Breweries Series of Posts, and I'm confident you'll pick up on the concept.

So ... since we finished up K, obviously up next we needed an "L" brewery.

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we actually had quite a few choices for "L" breweries, and last Friday, we picked one out ...

L is for Locavore Beer Works

Spare Rib Coil

So ... Spare Ribs are one of my favorite meals to smoke.

They are easy to find and comparatively inexpensive, and when done right, they are delicious.

Not too long ago, I was watching the BBQ Pit Boys YouTube Channel, and they were doing "St Louis Beer Can Split Ribs".

And then ... a few days after that video, I saw them doing "Crown Pork Ribs the King of Ribs".

When I make Spare Ribs, one issue I have is the amount of space they take up on the grill.

It isn't really a problem when the kids are away (like they are now), and even when they are here, 2 racks is more than enough to feed us all.

But two racks pretty much takes up my whole 26 inch Weber Kettle, and it is a little crowded. I don't have room for anything else.

K is for Kodiak Brewery Bar and Grill

If you follow this blog at all, you probably know that we are continuing along on our A to Z Breweries Series of Posts.

If you have not been following along, you probably don't care, but real quickly ...

The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I have been visiting (mostly) Denver Area breweries by going through the alphabet, and choosing a brewery that starts with the letter we're on.

We've been through the alphabet 4 times and are on round 5 right now.

Sometimes, we won't have a good option that starts with the letter we're on, so we have to take "artistic license".

We sort of had to cheat like this to get a letter "J" in J is For BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, and now we're on the letter "K".

K is for Kodiak Brewery Bar and Grill

2024 Mardi Bock (Batch 351)

I brewed in the garage this past (Super Bowl) Sunday.

We got a decent amount of snow again on Saturday, and so the back patio (where I usually like to brew) was covered, and I took advantage of the slightly warmer garage for brew day.

This is my 3rd batch of 2024. It's my 351st batch all-time. This is the 69th time I've brewed in my Anvil Foundry.

After Sunday, I've actually brewed this recipe (with minor tweaks, I'm sure) 4 times.

The day this posts will be Shrove Tuesday, aka Mardi Grad, aka Fat Tuesday, aka the day before Lent, and so it is an appropriate time to brew the  seasonal beer ....

Mardi Bock

Snowy Chuck

We got a ridiculous amount of snow last Saturday, and we spent a rare weekend day completely at home.

I smoked a Chuck Roast, kegged my Said Strumpet Czech Pale Lager,  watched the Bradley Braves defeat the lowly Illinois State basketball team (if you can't go to school, go to state), and sampled this year's Arctic Vortex Winter Saison.

And shoveled tons and tons and tons of snow.

I probably did other things too, but those are the highlights.

I kegged the 2024 Arctic Vortex Winter Saison the weekend before, and although I had already sampled it a few times already, Saturday was the day that I poured a fully carbonated pint to drink "for reals".

#7100MilesIn2024 Progress

As you know if you read #7100MilesIn2024, This year, I set my Strava mileage goal at 7,100 miles and the elevation goal at 319,500 feet.

I promised that I'd report on my progress.

 

J is For BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse

Here we are continuing along on our A to Z Breweries Series of Posts.

When I posted I is for Sanitas Brewing II a couple weeks ago, I mentioned that "J" is going to be another challenge.

The Colorado Brewery Map & List has a fair number of  "J" breweries, but I used all the local ones in previous rounds.

I considered using Jake's Brew Bar, which is close to us, but that isn't a brewery. 

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) thought we could do "J is for Justice, Lady" (Lady Justice), which she has been to but I didn't go to.

Last weekend (as I type this, not as of when it gets posted), we happened to be in Phoenix watching my son play in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament, and we had a decent break for Lunch on the first day.

We ended up at a Phoenix Brewery / Restaurant ...

J is For BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse

French Press

I got a French Press Coffee maker for Christmas.

I drink a lot of coffee. Before the French Press, I only made my coffee with a Keurig machine. Usually with the Biodegradable K-Cups I mentioned quite a few years ago.

I wanted a French Press for a few reasons:

• I thought it would be convenient to take on trips ... maybe even camping.
• I wouldn't use so many k-cups, which are more expensive than I think they should be.
• It seemed like it would be a cool way to make coffee.
• You can froth milk for lattes (more on this in a later post).

Said Strumpet Czech Pale Lager (Batch 350)

If you read Roll-a-Style 1 ... 3A. Czech Pale Lager, or follow SheppyBrew on Facebook or Instagram, you knew this was coming ...

I brewed Said Strumpet Czech Pale Lager a couple of weekends ago.

This was my second brew of the year and my 350th batch of beer ever brewed. If I'm counting correctly, it is the 225th unique recipe I've ever brewed.

It is the first Roll-a-Style beer I've brewed in 2024, and will help satisfy my current BJCP Goal.

For whatever reason, my other two Czech-style lagers have names inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (Ello Poppet Czech Pilsner and Scallywag Czech Dark Lager).

So ... continuing on with the naming trend, I named this beer:

Said Strumpet Czech Pale Lager

A.I. Generated SheppyBrew Logo

So ... I mentioned in Roll-a-Style 1 ... 3A. Czech Pale Lager that I was playing around with Chat GPT.

I use the free version, because I think the upgrade just wouldn't be worth paying for.

One of the things in the upgrade version of Chat GPT that really interested me was DALL·E ... which is the technology that allows you to enter a description and the A.I. will generate an image.

I have been thinking that I need a SheppyBrew Logo for awhile, and I thought it would be fun to use DALL·E (or something similar) to generate one for me.

So ... I did some searching, and came across Bing's Image Creator from Designer.

When I signed into it with my Microsoft credentials, it didn't appear to want to charge me, so I think it is free. It might be that I don't have to pay because I already have MS 365, but whatever ... it is something I could play with.

 

Roll-a-Style 1 ... 3A. Czech Pale Lager

Here it is 2024 already. Crazy!

As I mentioned in SheppyBrew 2023 Year End Brewing Stats (and probably other posts in late 2023), I want to continue the Roll-a-Style concept in 2024.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the concept is fairly simple ...

I made a list of BJCP Styles that I've never brewed, and assigned them to the numbers 1 - 20. When I want to brew, but am not sure what style to go after, I "roll" an online 20-sided die. Whatever number I roll is the style of beer I brew next.

Most recently, I rolled a 1:

Right now, according to the list on Random SheppyBrew Recipes, 1 corresponds to 3A. Czech Pale Lager. 

2024 Arctic Vortex (Batch 349)

I brewed last weekend for the first time in 2024. Actually, when this posts it will probably be the weekend before last, but regardless ...

We really had frigid cold for awhile. We didn't get much above 0 degrees F for several days.

I tried a bike ride on Saturday. It was too cold for a bike ride.

On Sunday, I brewed. It was actually too cold to brew. Or at least it was too cold to chill the wort using water from my outside faucet.

Oh well ... it turned out ok anyway.

It being winter, it was time to brew my 2024 Winter Seasonal Saison ...

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

I is for Sanitas Brewing II

Yes, we're continuing along with Round 5 of  the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts.

If you read H is for Left Hand RiNo Drinks & Eats, you know that "I" is up next.

You also know that according to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we'll have to be pretty creative to find a Denver-area brewery that starts with the letter "I".

Honestly, the letter "I" has been challeging for us from the beginning of this whole thing.

We've used I is for IronWorks Brewery and Pub (closed), I is for [The] Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project (closed), I is for Iron Mule Brewery (not really what I consider the Denver area), and I is for {"..."} (a collection of breweries I visited during GABF).

The wife (aka The SheppyBrew Beer Model) came up with the idea to visit a new local brewery ...

I is for Sanitas Brewing II

H is for Left Hand RiNo Drinks & Eats

As you know if you've been following along on the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts, we're a few breweries into round 5.

If you're not familiar, several years ago, I was a little ashamed at number of Denver breweries I had been to at the time.

Looking at a list of brewery names, it struck me that I could start at the letter A and hit just about every letter of the alphabet.

So, I started the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts with A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company way back in 2015.

Since then, I've been through the alphabet 4 times, and the Beer Model and I have started round 5 of the project. 

In fact, we are up to "H" now. And ... what did we decide as an "H" brewery?

H is for Left Hand RiNo Drinks & Eats

#7100MilesIn2024

Back in October, I reported that I had cycled over Over 6000 miles in 2023.

As I mentioned in that post, my 2023 Strava cycling goal was 6250 miles and 326,749 feet elevation gained.

As of October, the mileage goal was easily attainable. The elevation goal was certainly in reach, but much more of a challenge.

It turned out that I got both goals without too much effort over November and December. 

 

New Year's Ribs

Happy New Year!

I got a couple of BBQ gifts over the holidays that I thought were really cool, and that I really wanted to give a try.

I'm really a fan of the BBQ Pit Boys and especially their youtube channel.

I really thought it would be cool to have their "Customized 10" Chapter Knife" with "SheppyBrew" on it.

My in-laws were kind enough to buy me one for Christmas.

The knife also came with a container of one of their BBQ Rubs.

Pretty awesome! For dinner on New Year Day this year, I smoked some Spare Ribs, which gave me an opportunity to try out both the knife and the rub. 

2023 #Strava #YearInSport

If you've been following along on this blog for awhile, you may remember that I have been sharing my Strava YearInSport stats over the past couple of years.

I pay more attention to my cycling goals and totals on Strava, but the YearInSport stats cover all activities.

Sort of interesting to me. Not sure if any blog readers care, but I'll share regardless. To be honest, this just helps me compare year-to-year how I do.

G is for Great Divide Brewing Company

It blows my mind that it is 2024 already. 2023 just flew by for me.

Crazy!

Since we made the decision to continue the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts into the 5th round, it has been basically 5 months.

We posted A is for AC Golden Tank Room in August, and F is for Fiction Beer Company Chapter Two a couple weeks ago.

That's 6 breweries in 5 months. Not a bad pace.

Now, it is time to post our 7th brewery of the round. We needed a "G" brewery.

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we actually had lots of "G" choices. One jumped out at me as the next one I wanted to visit:

G is for Great Divide Brewing Company

 

2023 Seasonals

So ... a couple of years ago, I spent some time identifying "SheppyBrew Seasonals".

I didn't really pay much attention to "Seasonals" in 2023, but a couple weeks ago, looking through my blog, I came across 2022 SheppyBrew Seasonals. That made me want to check out which of these seasonals I did brew in the past year.

I figured that I had not done nearly as many as I had in 2022, but as it turned out ... I was actually pretty close.

The fact that I always brew the Seasonal Saisons every year gives me a little of a head-start.

Arctic Vortex