Ground Hog Premium Lager

Brewery: SheppyBrew
Style: Czech Premium Pale Lager
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 38
SRM: 3.7

Appearance

A brilliantly clear pale‑gold lager with a soft straw hue and a tight, persistent white head. The foam forms a fine, creamy cap that lingers as a thin lace down the glass. Bright carbonation streams upward in steady, lively columns, giving the beer a crisp, polished look that immediately signals refreshment.

Aroma

Clean, elegant malt leads the way — lightly bready, faintly sweet, and reminiscent of fresh‑cracked grain. A subtle floral‑herbal hop note rises behind it, offering a gentle Saaz‑like spice without dominating. Fermentation character is impeccably clean: no esters, no sulfur, just a classic lager profile with a soft, inviting malt presence.

2026 Fathers' Day Camping at Turquois Lake

This past Sunday was Father's Day, and my wife and kids took me camping.

For quite awhile, our family tradition has been to go camping on Father's Day weekend.

On this blog, you can go all the way back to 2011 Father's Day Weekend to see photos of us camping.

Back then, the kids were pretty small. They are not small anymore. In fact, this year all four of us were drinking alcohol beverages around the camp fire.

I'm not sure how much longer this tradition will continue, but I was lucky enough to have it go at least this year.

This year, like a couple of previous years, we camped just West of Leadville close to Turquois Lake.

Pork Belly Burnt Ends

So ... I've tried making "Burnt Ends" a couple times, but not really in what I would consider a "traditional" way.

And ... it has been quite awhile.

I tried Pork Butt Burnt Ends a couple years ago, and "Poor Man Burnt Ends" made from a Chuck Roast a little later.

It could be just me, but when I think "Burnt Ends", I think it should be made from a Brisket point or Pork Belly.

Part of the reason I've never done them is my Sam's Club didn't sell Pork Belly for quite awhile. But, recently I started seeing it there. Last time I was there, I picked a 5.88 lb. Pork Belly.

And ... about a week ago I used it to make Pork Belly Burnt Ends.

E is for dEnver bEEr Company - littlEton

As you know if you follow along on the A to Z Breweries series of articles, we've decided to continue on with Round 7. 

You also know that we will have to take quite a bit of "artistic license" as we go through the alphabet.

We were not able to find local breweries that begin with all the letters in Round 6, and of course this round has even less breweries to choose from.

I thought we'd have to relax our rules quite a bit, but honestly I'm not sure we even have rules.

So far, we've found breweries for A through D and as I mentioned in D is for Dry Dock Pub, "E" was the first (somewhat) challenging letter for us.

Last Saturday, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) told me she wanted to ride bikes to downtown Littleton to go to a shop or two, and thought we could do lunch at ...

E is for dEnver bEEr Company - littlEton

Bad Lands Kölsch (Batch 393)

If you read Ground Hog Premium Lager (Batch 392), you know I brewed last Saturday.

My wife was out of town on a "girls trip" for the weekend, so I had extra time on my hands.

With this extra time, I decided to brew Sunday also.

This should help get my beer inventory up. It actually also helps catch me up a little on tracking to a typical brewing year.

For this Sunday batch, after cleaning up the Ground Hog Premium Lager brew day, I prepared water etc... and a little later in the evening, I started an overnight mash.

For ...

Bad Lands Kölsch

Ground Hog Premium Lager (Batch 392)

I brewed this past weekend.

If you read and remember 2026 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats, you know that this year has been slow in regards to brewing.

Since Q1, before this past weekend I'd only brewed Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager (Batch 390) and Where'd My ManGo Wheat (Batch 391), so I really have not been catching up with my normal brewing cadence.

I was on track for the least amount of beer I've homebrewed since 2009. Back then I was doing 2.5 gallon batches.

But, I took advantage of the opportunity to brew Saturday ...

Ground Hog Premium Lager

Brisket!

I love brisket, but OMG beef is expensive now-a-days.

The cost and the time commitment make smoking a brisket less than ideal, and the last time I actually did one was Humdinger of a Brisket in November of 2023.

I've had a 10 pound full packer in the freezer for awhile, so it certainly isn't simply the cost.

I decided that I would smoke this brisket the Sunday before last and so a few days before I pulled it out of the freezer to thaw.

And on Sunday, I smoked it.

Saturday, I applied Montana Steak Seasoning to the meat to sit on there overnight. 

May Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

As you know if you follow this blog, I generally give a monthly update on my fitness / Strava goals. I'm sure no one besides myself really cares, but I figure sharing these publicly give me a little extra motivation because of the extra accountability.

Plus, from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was in the past.

In previous years, my goals have been mostly around cycling, but starting this year, I've started running as well.

If you're interested, You can always track these workouts on Strava. 

So far, I'm tracking pretty well to my 2026 Fitness goals.

My 2026 Fitness / Activity Goals are:

D is for Dry Dock Pub

We started Round 7 of our A to Z Breweries series of articles.

If you're not familiar ... back in February of 2015, I was embarrassed by how few Denver Breweries that I had visited.

I decided to make an effort to hit more of them, and worked my way from A to Z, hitting a brewery for every letter.

Now, more than 11 years later, I have made my way through the alphabet 6 TIMES, and the Beer Model and I have decided to start #7.

Just about a week ago, I posted C is for Cerberus Brewing Company. This means we are ready for a "D" Brewery.

D is for Dry Dock Pub

Chicken Wings on the Weber

If you follow this blog, you probably know from Paint Mines: Mini - Bad Lands, C is for Cerberus Brewing Company ... and other breweries, and Garden of the Gods Photos that we spent Memorial Day Weekend away.

After returning from the trip, I grilled some wings.

It's been awhile since I posted anything about cooking Chicken Wings, so I thought I'd do this quick post.

Grilling Chicken Wings is fairly straight-forward on the Weber Kettle.

Apply SheppyBrew Rub. Fill up the Vortex with hot coals targeting 400F or so cooking temperature. Cook for about an hour.

Sometimes I'll substitute lemon pepper or Crack for the rub. Sometimes I'll cook a little longer at a slightly lower temperature. But for the most part the process is pretty much the same every time I grill wings.

Garden of the Gods Photos

If you read Paint Mines: Mini - Bad Lands and/or C is for Cerberus Brewing Company ... and other breweries, you know that the Beer Model and I spent Memorial Day Weekend down in Colorado Springs.

It went really fast.

On Monday, after packing up from the hotel, the Beer Model wanted to visit Garden of the Gods.

We discovered that parking is difficult to come by on Memorial Day mid-morning in the main area of the park.

We ended up closer to the south end of the park and jumped on the hiking trails.

Here are the photos that we took while walking around ...

C is for Cerberus Brewing Company ... and other breweries

So ... remember I mentioned in Paint Mines: Mini - Bad Lands, the SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) and I spent Memorial Day Weekend away.

After our Paint Mines visit, but before check-in time for our hotel room, we had a few of hours to kill.

First off, we had to find lunch, and as luck would have it, there was a nice little brewery with a food truck between the Paint Mines and Colorado Springs, where we were staying.

We stopped at one of Black Forest Brewing Company and had a couple flights along with some Mexican food from a food truck.

Both the food and the beer was really good. If you find yourself in the Colorado Springs area, this is a good place to visit.

Paint Mines: Mini - Bad Lands

So, this past Memorial Day Weekend, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I had a weekend away.

On the way down to where we were staying for the weekend, she wanted to check out the Paint Mines Interpretive Park, which I had actually never heard of.

"The Paint Mines Interpretive Park is one of El Paso County’s most unique open spaces. The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Brightly colored bands, caused by oxidized iron compounds, are found in varying amounts throughout the many different layers of clay."

This park's rock formation remind me quite a lot of the South Dakota Bad Lands, which we visited with the kids back in 2013 and then again in 2015.

Where’d My ManGo Wheat

Brewery: SheppyBrew 
Style: Mango Wheat (Fruit Beer)
ABV: 4.7%
IBU: 27
SRM: 6.2

Appearance

A hazy, sun‑gold wheat beer with a soft, glowing body. The head is pale and fluffy, leaving light lacing as it settles. It looks like summer in a glass — bright, inviting, and just a touch opaque from the wheat and fruit.

Aroma

A gentle wave of fresh mango rises first — not candy‑sweet, but ripe and natural. Underneath it sits a clean wheat backbone: light grain, soft dough, a hint of citrus. The fruit and wheat blend seamlessly, giving it a tropical‑but‑balanced nose.

Flavor

Soft wheat malt leads with a smooth, slightly creamy base. The mango comes through as a bright accent, adding a touch of sweetness and tropical lift without overwhelming the beer. Low bitterness keeps the profile refreshing. The finish is clean, crisp, and lightly fruity — the kind of sip that makes you immediately want another.

The Cloud Beasts and Chelsea Dagger

I kegged my Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager on Monday and added gelatin fining to the keg on Tuesday.

After dinner on Tuesday, I decided to drink a few on my patio. The gelatin had not really had much of a chance to work, so the beer was still pretty hazy. But, the beer was still delicious enough to enjoy.

For what it is worth, it is a much clearer beer now.

Where’d My ManGo Wheat Checklist

If you read Big Brew Day ... Where'd My ManGo Wheat (Batch 391), you know that the SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) brewed with me last Saturday. 

She actually brews with me 3 or 4 times a year. I jokingly say that I make her brew with me so that I'll stay out of jail when the authorities find out I brew more than 100 gallons of beer in a year.

You see, according to federal law:

The production of beer per household, without payment of tax, for personal or family use may not exceed:
100 gallons per calendar year if there is only one adult residing in the household or
200 gallons per calendar year if there are two or more adults residing in the household

By the letter of the law, she doesn't actually have to brew to allow our household 200 gallons of beer, but it is fun for me to pretend that I need her to stay out of jail.

Big Brew Day ... Where'd My ManGo Wheat (Batch 391)

It was the American Homebrew Association's annual Big Brew Day this past Saturday.

If you follow along on this blog, you may remember that Big Brew Day is quite often a day that the Beer Model and I brew with one or more our homebrewing friends "Du" and "Doc".

But, this year the date sort of snuck up on us all and we didn't make plans for a get-together.

However ... the Beer Model and I had ordered and even picked up ingredients for a recipe that she was wanting us to brew ...

And ... so we decided to do it on Big Brew Day ... 

Where'd My ManGo Wheat

April Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

As you know if you follow this blog, I generally give a monthly update on fitness / Strava goals. I guess we can say that it is another level of accountability to share these publicly.

Plus, from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was way-back-when.

In previous years, my goals have been mostly around cycling, but starting this year, I've started running as well.

If you're interested, I always track these workouts on Strava. 

So far, I'm tracking pretty well to my 2026 Fitness goals.

My 2026 Fitness / Activity Goals are:

Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager (Batch 390)

I'm not brewing very much this year. As I've discussed, I'm on track to brew the least amount of homebrew for the year ever.

By a bunch.

But, I did brew a batch of beer this past Sunday.

Hopefully, I'll get another batch of beer in on Big Brew Day, which is coming up this Saturday.

So ... maybe I'll catch up some.

Even if I do, I don't anticipate catching up enough to get over that 100 gallon homebrewing limit.

Regardless, I got up early Sunday morning to start up the Anvil Foundry and brewed ....

Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager

B is for Bent Barley Brewing Company

As you know if you read A to Z Denver Breweries Round 6, we finished up our alphabet exploration of Denver-area breweries for the 6th time.

You also know we were not sure how to progress with this series of posts. Or ... should we even continue on at all.

The Colorado Brewery Map & List still has quite a few breweries left for us to visit, but there are enough challenging letters that we probably won't be able to fill them all in.

As it turns out, the first few letters fall in place pretty well, so we decided to go ahead and proceed with the beginning of the alphabet.

We don't know how to handle letters we cannot find a brewery for, but that is a problem to address another day.

In the meantime ... 

B is for Bent Barley Brewing Company