Sheppy's Blog

2012 Bigfoot Barleywine @SierraNevada

2012-02-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I saw on my facebook news feed that Sierra Nevada was announcing that it had released its 2012 Bigfoot Barleywine and that I should be on the lookout for it as shipments made their way East. You may recall that Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine was on Zymury's list of the best beers in America, and that I am drinking my way through as many of those beers as I can. You can look at this blog's "Zymurgy BBIA" label to see what I wrote about my experiences with this list.

I called my friends at Davidson's Liquor store and asked if they knew when they would have Bigfoot on their shelves. The guy who answered apologetically told me that Sierra Nevada was not brewing a 2012 Bigfoot, and that Davidson would therefore unfortunately not be carrying it. Poor guy sounded pretty disappointed, and genuinely bummed out for me.

I shared the good news from Sierra Nevada's facebook page, which cheered him up considerably. Apparently he and his roommate are big fans and his roommate had told him that Bigfoot had been replaced this year. He happily went off to ask the beer buying manager when we could expect the Bigfoot to come in. The buyer didn't know, so I said I would check back later.

This past week I checked back, and yes, 6 packs of Bigfoot were indeed in stock and ready for me to purchase. Wonderful.

The Bigfoot is obviously a big Barleywine ale. Its ABV is listed at 9.6% with 90 IBU. It is a very full-bodied amber colored beer finishing at 6 plato (around 1.024 SG). The Sierra Nevada website tells us the beer is bittered with Chinook hops, finished with Cascade & Centennial, and dry hopped with Cascade, Centennial & Chinook. Obviously all the citrusy American "C" hops make it an American Style Barleywine. Its malt bill is pretty simple with Pale 2-row malted barley and English Caramel malt.

I poured my first Bigfoot into a New Belgium Globe. A thick off-white head formed quickly on top of the beautiful amber ale. This head stuck around throughout the drink. The lacing was just awesome.

In the aroma, the combination of malts and hops came through very fruity... almost a red wine type aroma with a bit of citrus (mango?). The combination was just fantastic and I thought unique. Certainly with more depth than your typical IPA.

I think every Sierra Nevada beer has a similar malt flavor, which unfortunately I cannot describe. This signature flavor is wonderful, and on top of this is a rich barleywine maltiness. It starts smooth and with caramel notes. The hops help finish the beer with a nice firm bitterness that dries out the taste a bit and nicely balances out the sweet malt-wine goodness. Obviously there is a bunch of alcohol in this beer, but other than maybe a bit more sweetness, I didn't notice it at all. It also did not "hit" me like some of the recent high-ABV beers I've discussed on this blog.

Overall, I think this is a great beer. I am very happy that I have 5 more to drink, and I am sure I will try to get some next year too.

The beer geek in me loves the youtube video below "The making of Sierra Nevada's 2009 Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale". The same video is available on Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot page. I guess until I watched this, I didn't realize that they use open fermentation tanks. It is pretty cool to see the overflow.

Bigfoot was #12 on my list. I have now tried all 5 of the top 5. I have tried all of the top 10 and all of the top 15. I have now had 39 of the entire list (52 total).

Here are the ones still left on my "not tried list":

T16. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA ... year round beer. Should be able to find in CO.

19. Bell’s Expedition Stout ... doesn't distribute to CO. Should have had my sister look for this.

T20. Samuel Adams Noble Pils... spring seasonal that I should be able to find in CO.

T20. Surly Furious ... I should have made an effort to get this while in MN.

T20. Troegs Nugget Nectar ... PA brewery. Can't get in CO.

T29. Three Floyds Alpha King ... A Chicago-land beer. Can't get in CO

T29. Three Floyds Dark Lord ... available one day a year in April at the brewery

T34. Dogfish Head Indian Brown ... year round. Might be able to find in CO.

T34. Three Floyds Gumballhead ... don't even see this beer on their website.

T38. Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA ... limited availability

T43. Russian River Blind Pig ... not sure if I will be able to get this in CO.

T48. Dark Horse Crooked Tree ... Midwest distribution only.

T48. Summit EPA ... Another MN beer I should have had my sister look for.

You can look at the entire list here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/community/news/show?title=2011-best-beers

Beervertising and Snow Sculptures

2012-02-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

Remember that back in May I posted 5 youtube videos by Breckenridge Brewery? The "Truth in Beervertising" videos are funny commercials making fun of some of the advertising concepts of big beer companies.

If you don't remember, check them out.

Recently, Breckenridge Brewery posted 2 new to the series: http://www.breckbrew.com/videos:

"The Least Interesting Man in the World" pokes fun at a popular series of Dos Equis commercials. I do think the Most Interesting Man in the World is pretty amusing. Bob does a great job playing his role in this little parody. This is probably my least favorite of BB's commercials. It is still clever, though.

"Find your Couch" makes fun of another Mexican Light Lager and its "Find your Beach" series. Personally, I associate myself more with Bob than I do with the Corona actors. It isn't just that he switches to a football game. I also much prefer the beer that he is drinking. Corona is a beer that I really don't like much.

-----

Speaking of Breckenridge Brewery, this past weekend was my birthday, and my wonderful wife and children decided to treat me to a trip to Breckenridge for the weekend. One of the things we got to do was check out the International Snow Sculpture Championship sculpture. This is something we try to do every year, and it is always fun and interesting. (see also Snow Sculptures).

This was not part of the competition, but was really cool. It is a staircase made out of snow. Very popular with kids and adults alike.

We were able to walk across the Blue River. You can see Mommy in the back still taking the old-fashioned bridge across.

A little snow maze that the kids liked. Also not part of the competition.

Team Alaska's "The Deadliest Catch: Calamari’s Revenge" was the "Kids' Choice" winner. It was also the favorite of my kids. To be honest, it was my favorite as well. It is a sculpture of a giant squid attacking a boat. If you've seen the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean Movie, it is like the Kraken.

This was Team USA / Wisconsin's "AI" and is based on Japanese lore. According to Japanese legend, if a koi fi sh succeeds in climbing the falls at a point called Dragon Gate, it would be transformed into a dragon. It is one that we all liked. It did not win a prize in the competition, though.

Another one I liked was "First Catch" by Team Greece - USA / Idaho. During the first fishing lesson, a young Grizzly Bear shows his aptitude
while visiting Greek waters.

This was the blue ribbon winner. "Great Expectations" by Team Canada / Quebec is a sculpture of a guy ice fishing. Below there are all kinds of sea animals including a whale swimming around. Very artsy and very cool. In addition to first place, it also won both the artist's and people's choice awards

Another shot of one of the things the kids could play on.

Budweiser sponsored this event. This is a huge beer stein with a Clydesdale horse head on it. Pretty cool as well. Also not part of the competition.

It was a wonderful birthday weekend. I am lucky to have such a wonder wife and great kids who took me up for the weekend.

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and ... just because I saw this and think it is funny (I must admit ... it made me LOL), here is a link to a video called "Sh*t people from Denver say". If you know people from Denver, you might find it amusing as well. I got it from Denver Westword, but you might find it elsewhere as well.
Sh*t People From Denver Say from Village Voice Media on Vimeo.

Neil Zhang

2012-02-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

I got an email (see below) from Neil Zhang of the Asian Domain Registration Service in china.

He is trying to scam me. I doubt the emailer is actually named Neil Zhang and I am almost positive that he doesn't work for the Asian Domain Registration Service in china. He is simply a Tweedle Beetle screwing with me. It is fine. I'm used to it.

In his email, he claims that some Asian company is trying to register "sheppybrew" as its "Net Brand", and has applied for a number of domain names such as sheppybrew.asia, sheppybrew.cn, etc ... (look below for the whole list). He is concerned that as I currently own the domain name "sheppybrew.com", I may not want this Asian company to pick up all those similar domains. He is giving me the opportunity to let him know that I did not authorize this Asian company to register the domains.

If you go and google "Asian Domain Registration Service in china", you will see all kinds of articles out there describing and warning about the scam, so I won't go into details about it. With so many sources (most of which quote almost word-for-word my exact email), it must be pretty common to get this scam attempt.

This email, though, makes me wonder ... are there actually enough people out there stupid enough to make this scam worth the effort? First of all, I don't care if someone else registers the domain name sheppybrew.asia or any of the other Asian domain names on the list. If I were concerned about it, I would have bought up all the similar domain names when I registered sheppybrew.com. Even if I didn't take that step originally and were concerned about infringement on my "Net Brand", eventually Neil or one of his colleagues are going to have to ask me for money, and I sure would not send some random stranger money without doing some sort of verification. Wouldn't anyone who owns a domain name have a tiny little bit of common sense? I would think so. Maybe there are idiots who own domain names and would fall for this, but certainly not enough to make it a real money-making prospect.

I am half tempted to reply to Neil Zhang:

Thank you, Neil, for your concern and due diligence. It is refreshing to know there are good people like you looking out for my best interest. I have, in fact, been contacted by NILI Int'l Co.,Ltd, and have authorized them to register these names. They already paid me a boat-load of money for this and I am retiring a very wealthy man. Keep up the excellent work!

... or something like that.

I will probably just ignore the email for now. Perhaps Neil will follow up with me in the next few days. I may keep y'all up to date with any developments.

Here is the email I received:

(If you are not in charge of this please transfer this email to your President or appropriate person, thanks)
Dear President,

We are the department of Asian Domain Registration Service in china. I have something to confirm with you. We formally received an application on February 8, 2012 that a company which self-styled "NILI Int'l Co.,Ltd" were applying to register "sheppybrew" as their Net Brand and following domain names:

sheppybrew.asia
sheppybrew.cn
sheppybrew.co.in
sheppybrew.com.cn
sheppybrew.com.hk
sheppybrew.com.tw
sheppybrew.hk
sheppybrew.in
sheppybrew.net.cn
sheppybrew.org.cn
sheppybrew.tw

After our initial checking, we have found the name were similar to your company's, so we need to check with you whether your company has authorized that company to register these names. If you have authorized this, we will finish the registration at once. If you have not, please let us know within 7 workdays, so that we will handle this issue better. Out of the time limit we will unconditionally finish the registration for "NILI Int'l Co.,Ltd".

Best Regards, Neil Zhang
Registration Dept.
Tel:+86-5515223114 || Fax:+86-5515223113
Address:No.1688 Taihu Road,Baohe District,Hefei,Anhui,China

Avery Maharaja

2012-02-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was at a local liquor store when I was pleasantly surprised to see a bomber of Avery Maharaja. For some reason, I was under the mistaken impression that the Maharaja was a spring seasonal, but here it is January (or at least it was January when I bought it) and I have some to try.

Maharaja is an Imperial India Pale Ale made by Avery Brewing Company from Boulder, Colorado making it one of my local beers on the 2011 Zymurgy Best Beers in America poll. Obviously, seeing it meant I had to have it. Luckily, my local liquor store was completely willing to sell me this bottle.

The Maharaja is part of Avery's "Dictator Series" of beers, which are all big imperial beers designed to bring you on a " trek further into the depths flavor" and "stretch the boundaries of what beer can be". This is the kind of stuff beer geeks like me just eat up. As an Imperial India Pale Ale, the beer is hoppy and bitter. Avery lists the IBUs at 102 and tells us that they use Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial and Chinook hops. Its OG is 1090 and its ABV is 10.24%. They tell us their malt bill is Two-row barley, caramel 120L, victory. They don't claim to be a balanced beer. They do claim to be a monster hop bomb that pushes the boundries of hop utilization.

I tried my bottle of the Maharaja on Super Bowl Sunday after we got home from our trip to Breckenridge for my birthday weekend. I'll be posting pictures of Breckenridge in the next couple days. Stay tuned!

The Maharaja poured ... well ... it poured foamy. Knowing it was a big IPA, I probably should have adjusted, but my initial pour yielded about 4/5 of the glass of a thick white head. I should have poured more carefully.

The color is a nice copper - orange. It is nicely carbonated, but not overly so. As you can imagine, I got lots of citrusy hops in the aroma.

The flavor is bitter and hoppy with a pretty good malt backbone. I might pick up a little of the alcohol, but certainly not as much as you would expect with a 10% beer. It certainly was not as boozy as the Hopslam I had last weekend. The alcohol also did not hit me as hard as the Hopslam I had last weekend. I'm sure the fact that I was down a pint of blood had nothing to do with that.

I enjoyed this beer and suggest you go ahead and pick some up to try if you can find it.

The Maharaji was tied for #34 on my list. I have now tried all 5 of the top 5. I have tried all 10 of the top 10. I have now had 38 of the entire list (52 total).

Here are the ones still left on my "not tried list":

12. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine ... limited selection.

T16. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA ... year round beer. Should be able to find in CO.

19. Bell’s Expedition Stout ... doesn't distribute to CO. Should have had my sister look for this.

T20. Samuel Adams Noble Pils... spring seasonal that I should be able to find in CO.

T20. Surly Furious ... I should have made an effort to get this while in MN.

T20. Troegs Nugget Nectar ... PA brewery. Can't get in CO.

T29. Three Floyds Alpha King ... A Chicago-land beer. Can't get in CO

T29. Three Floyds Dark Lord ... available one day a year in April at the brewery

T34. Dogfish Head Indian Brown ... year round. Might be able to find in CO.

T34. Three Floyds Gumballhead ... don't even see this beer on their website.

T38. Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA ... limited availability

T43. Russian River Blind Pig ... not sure if I will be able to get this in CO.

T48. Dark Horse Crooked Tree ... Midwest distribution only.

T48. Summit EPA ... Another MN beer I should have had my sister look for.

You can look at the entire list here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/community/news/show?title=2011-best-beers

My 500th Blog Post

2012-02-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is my 500th Blog Post.

Impressed at the big number, aren't you?

I'm sure you're not.

Most viewed blog post

You wanna know what the number 1 viewed post on this blog is? The number 1 post all-time listed on my "stats" page is Cider Drinking and Breast Flashing which I posted May 19, 2011. I'm guessing that the popularity of that post has more to do with the Breast Flashing and less to do with interest on my home-made hard cider. Heck, I wouldn't even say I liked the cider. I mean it was ok I guess, but I much prefer my home-brew.

To be honest, the Breast Flashing was not all that spectacular either, but I found the circumstance amusing. Last year during the NHL playoffs, Ben Eager of the San Jose Sharks was sitting innocently in the penalty box when a [presumably drunk] female Canucks fan lifted up her replica hockey jersey to flash her breasts at him. Poor guy. I guess she showed him!

I'm guessing the Vancouver Breast-Flasher wishes she had abstained from that last drink (probably the last 2 or 3 drinks were bad ideas as well). I guess I could be wrong about that. Some people probably like that sort of notoriety. I hope this one stupid event didn't ruin her life in Vancouver.

2nd most viewed

Do you want to know the #2 all-time viewed post on this blog? Do you? Do you? The #2 all-time viewed post on this blog is Women and Beer posted Jul 23, 2011. I would love to say readers like this post because of my brilliant commentary about how big-beer executives are misguided in their marketing campaigns towards women. I did actually receive a comment by Angela from the Pittsburgh Beer Ladies blog. She said "I completely agree with you." (check out the comments on the post for the full comment)

Let's face it, though, it is much more likely that the reason Women and Beer is my 2nd most viewed blog post is because of the photos I put in the post. Lots of the hits I get on this page come through Google image searches.

I think I have mentioned before that the motivation poster I stole for Women and Beer does sort of epitomize the theme of my blog recently: "If beer and women aren't the answer, then you're asking the wrong questions".

Picture from Best Motivational Posters

3 - 10

Here are the rest of the top 10 "all time" most viewed posts:

#3 ... Tweedle beetles Mar 2, 2006 ... I think maybe people are just trying to figure out my obsession with the Beetles.

#4 ... Pre-event #GABF Post Sep 29, 2011 ... of all the GABF posts on the blog, this seems the least likely to be popular, but for some reason people still come check it out.

#5 ... Visual Explanation of Women Sep 9, 2011 ... This was the first of the Friday humor series I was doing for awhile. Readers really hit it hard when I first posted it, and it still gets attention from time to time.

#6 ... Female vs. Male Brain Oct 28, 2011 ... This is more visual humor. It was pretty popular when I first posted it, but over the last couple weeks it really has brought in a bunch of page views.

#7 ... Sexist Beer Labels Oct 14, 2011 ... Woman and Beer. Need I say more?

#8 ... Poison Rationality Oct 9, 2008 ... Really? Why?

#9 ... Sheppy Brew Web Stats Dec 8, 2010 ... I mentioned a few posts ago how weird it is that this one is getting attention lately.

#10 ... A couple more beers from my list Dec 3, 2011 ... Part of my Zymurgy BBIA series of posts.

January continues the streak

January 2012 broke the "page view" record again for this blog. I think that is now 9 months in a row of increased page views. I guess I lied in December Blogging when I wrote "there is no way January will be able to continue the streak". Of course this is the not first time I lied about that. I expect if you are paying attention, you expect the lie now. With 2 less days in February (I just now realized that it is leap year), I REALLY doubt that this month will break the record. You never know, but since I've lied some many months in a row, I might as well just guarantee: There is NO WAY February will break the page view record. If I'm lying, all my readers get all their money back for the month.

Anyway, please keep reading. I would ask you to leave comments, but I know it doesn't do any good. No matter how much I beg, very few of my readers leave comments here.

I'll let you know when I get to the 1000th post. Maybe I'll throw a Sheppy Blog Party at 1000. I'll bring the beer.

Sheppy Birthday

2012-02-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

I looked it up. "Venus" by Shocking Blue was the #1 song on the day I was born.

Today, I'm 42 years old. That means that my life is more than 26% over.

Going to have to brew some more Quarter Life Crisis just for the hell of it.

42 is an interesting number.

In the bible alone:

Rain fell 42 days and 42 nights wiping out all life on Earth minus those on Noah's little boat.
Moses lead his people around the desert for 42 years.
Moses ended up on Mt. Sinai a few times for 42 day / night periods.
Jesus was presented at the temple 42 days after his birth.
Jesus fasted 42 days and 42 nights before the devil tempted him.
It was 42 days after the resurrection of Jesus until the ascension of Jesus.
Lent is a period of 42 days before Easter (not sure this is Biblical ... this is my blog and I'm putting it in a biblical category)
The are many many other references to 42 not only in the Judaic / Christian faiths and other major religions. I am not (cannot) list them all.

Oops, I guess all those bullet points are actually for 40. None of those actually work for 42.

The only significance I can think of for the number 42 is that it is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. I suppose that is significant enough. Now if only I could remember the question.

Happy Sheppy Birthday Everyone!

View from the condo we were in for my birthday

35 Best Bars in Denver

2012-02-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

I got an email from my Contact Me form.

The email was from an employee at 5280 Magazine letting me know that their February issue contained an article about "The 35 Best Bars in Denver". I forget where exactly I read about it, but I do think I knew about the article. Well, I know I must have read it from one of the Denver area beer bloggers. I just don't remember which blogger.

You'll have to read the article to get most of the content. I'm embarrassed to say that I've only been to three of the 35 bars. I'm going to get this issue of the magazine, so maybe I'll use the article as a check-list and attempt to get to some more of the bars.

The bars that I have been to are:

Falling Rock Tap House 1919 Blake St., 303-293-8338 http://fallingrocktaphouse.com/ has lots of great craft beer. I would certainly agree that it has to be one of Denver's top area bars. The article says it has 85 (or so) rotating handles. If you can't find something you like here, you don't like beer.
Wazee Supper Club 1600 15th St., 303-623-9518 http://www.wazeesupperclub.com/ . I was here for a company Christmas party a LONG time ago and I don't really remember much about it. I do remember that it is one of the only times (maybe THE only time) I've had a martini. I much prefer beer!
Blue Moon Brewing Company at the Sandlot Coors Field, 2161 Blake St., 303-298-1587. This is a brewery right along right field of Coors field. I have liked everything I've had there. Last time I was there, they had a fantastic ESB. Nice and hoppy. This is a wonderful little place.

I am really interested in checking out a couple:

Freshcraft 1530 Blake St., 303-758-9608 http://freshcraft.com/ is another great Craft Beer Bar in Lodo. I really need to check this place out.
Denver Bicycle Cafe 1308 E. 17th Ave., 720-446-8029 http://www.denverbicyclecafe.com/ . I just recently heard this advertised on the Colorado Craft Beer Show, so I assume they have some pretty good beers on tap. I love the idea of a bicycle bar. When it gets warmer, I am pretty sure my family will be coincidentally biking along 1308 E. 17th Ave on some weekend.

Of course the sections of the article that most interested me was the Craft Beer section and the Sports Bar section. I probably won't ever attempt to hit any of the other types of bars.

Go ahead and read the article online: http://www.5280.com/magazine/2012/02/bestbars. (NOTE ... that link is to page 1 of 8). Better yet, go out and buy yourself a hard-copy.

None of these bars serve Hopslam, but I though this post needed a picture.

Seriously, read the article. Let me know if there are any bars you would include on the list.

HAPPY GROUNDHOG's Day everyone!

show/hide email

Seriously? Why? (poison rationality)

2012-01-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

I really have not been myself this past week. I think maybe the Tweedle Beetles are screwing with me again, but I can't quite figure out why or even exactly how.

Last Sunday morning (AKA Eric's Red brew day), started off with me feeling like I had come down with a minor cold. A few sniffles. Slightly sore throat. Nothing to be concerned about. Didn't keep me home from church. Didn't prevent me from brewing. No big deal.

The brew day went great (see Eric's Red brew day if you have not already). After clean-up and the AFC Championship game, I felt a little worse, but I was totally able to chalk that up to finding out that New England was going to another Superbowl (makes us all feel a bit sick, I'm sure).

Eric's Red is fermenting nicely, BTW

By about half time of the NFC Championship game, I had to leave the dinner table and lie down in bed. I "watched" most of the 2nd half of that game in sort of a fever-induced-stupor-sleep-zombie state. I never really recovered into anything close to feeling human until Monday morning. At some point, I measured my temperature at 103 degrees.

I am the kind of person who just does not call in sick to work. I've done it maybe twice in all my working life. I was seriously considering doing it Monday morning, though. Eventually, I decided that based on things going on, not coming in would end up being more painful catching up Tuesday than getting up and dragging myself out the door Monday.

By the end of the day Monday, it was hard to believe that I had ever felt bad enough that I was even considering wasting a PTO day. I felt that much better. Not 100%, but not bad. I even made my regular work-out-night at the health club. It was a short one (an hour on the elliptical machine and then back home), and I only got through one of my Colorado Craft Beer Radio podcasts.

Tuesday, I felt 100% better, and pretty much since then have felt completely over the Beetle Flu.

But ... a few weird, possibly-Beetle-related things have popped up during the week. There is nothing overtly bad about any of this stuff. It is just weird and when a bunch of weird things happen to me like this, I always suspect the Tweedle Beetles are up to no good.

I got a piece of paper that announced a pay raise with a new salary. My official documented annual salary is a dollar amount followed by 36 cents. Seriously? Really? This new big corporation that I am part of cannot round off that 36 cents? I guess I don't really care. It is just very odd to me. Maybe this is just how big corporations do things. Poison Rationality? Now how the Tweedle Beetles could influence my salary ... I don't know. Why? I am even more clueless. But, it makes more sense that this would be Tweedle Beetle related than a large corporation wouldn't just round off that 36 cents.

Sometime during the week, I took a look at this blogs Page View stats. A couple of old posts have just been "blowing up" on the weekly and monthly page views. Both have been so popular recently that they both broke into the top 10 all-time list. One of them is "Female vs. Male Brain" posted Oct 28, 2011. The fact that this post is getting attention is sort of weird, but at least this post is somewhat amusing and was fairly popular when posted.

The other one makes no sense at all. It is "Sheppy Brew Web Stats" posted Dec 8, 2010. "Sheppy Brew Web Stats" has no redeeming entertainment value whatsoever. There is only one person in the world who might want to refer to this post and that person (me) would never look at it enough to launch it into the top 10 viewed blog posts of all time. My page views don't count towards the total anyway. Again, Why? There is no logical reason that actual people would be hitting this page so much, so it must be Tweedle Beetles in some complicated passive-aggressive plot to attack me. If there is one thing Tweedle Beetles excel at, it is doing illogical things.

Another weird thing that happened this week (Wednesday) is that I became Foursquare "mayor" of my church. Foursquare posted to my facebook wall that I "ousted [name deleted] as the mayor of Abiding Hope Lutheran Church!" My sister was nice enough to point out that it "Doesn't seem very Christian-like to oust someone". She is, of course, right. I feel horrible about my hostile takeover of the mayor-ship. I actually had no idea that I was even close to being the church mayor, and the announcement took me as much by surprise as anyone. But, truth be told, bumping out [name deleted] and obtaining new minions does make me feel powerful.

Bow before me minions! I'm sure it is the Tweedle Beetles making me say that.

Speaking of facebook ... my Untappd account is not posting my check-ins to facebook. Not sure how or why, but I'm sure the Tweedle Beetles are behind this one too.

So the last weird thing that I'm going to share started Wednesday night while I was working out. For those of you who don't know, my wife and I have an agreement that I get to work out at the health club on Monday and Wednesday nights while she takes care of dishes and puts the kids to bed etc ... she gets Tuesday and Thursday while I do the dishes and put the kids etc ... I already shared that Monday was a short workout because of the Beetle flu. Wednesday was to be a short one too because of the church meeting (where I displaced [name deleted] as mayor ... bow before me minions).

While working out, I usually listen to various beer-related pod-casts. There is a local Saturday noon-time show called Colorado Craft Beer Radio . I never listen to it on Saturday. Instead I download the podcast Monday morning and try to listen to it the following Monday. Sometimes it ends up being Wednesday because they are late posting the pod-cast or because I just don't get to it. It is the only one of my pod-casts that I try to actually keep up with on a week to week basic. The rest pod-casts I listen to a month or more after the actual "brew-cast" date.

This week was unusual in that I had 2 Colorado Craft Beer Radio (CCBR) pod-casts to listen to at the beginning of the week (they had technical issues and did not get it out the week before). As I mentioned, I listened to the first one on Monday. Wednesday night all of a sudden at the end of the podcast it was announced that Gary V (one of the two hosts) was leaving the show. There was no explanation other than that he had a new business opportunity and the more information was forth-coming. And then the show ended.

Thursday morning, I discovered through CCBR's facebook page that Gary was starting a new craft beer radio show on another local radio station. Turk (the other host) was promoting Gary, so it certainly appears that there are no hard feelings. It may be hard to determine from reading this blog, and I know I do a great job of keeping it secret, but the subject of Craft Beer interests me quite a bit. Knowing that there were going to be 2 craft-beer-related radio shows in my local market was great news. More beer talk radio is a good thing.

However, I discovered by following the facebook trail that Gary's new show is going on at the same time as Turk's "old" show. Really? Seriously? There are exactly two craft beer shows on in all of the Denver Metro Area and the new station picked to put it on at the exact same time as the only other one? Again, I am not sure how or why, but I am quite certain the Tweedle Beetles are to blame for this.

Of course, as I have always listened to CCBR on podcast and will do the same for Gary's new show, this is not something that affects my listening habits in any way. However, there are only so many craft beer-geeks out there. Even in a fantastic craft beer area as Denver, I am not sure there are enough of us to support two shows on at the same time. I'm afraid that dividing the craft-beer enthusiasts between two shows will eventually kill both shows. I'm sure this is what the Tweedle Beetles are counting on.

AND ... the old show has a new show name, logo, facebook page, twitter feed, and web site in the works. This also seemed weird to me. It has been explained to me since then. The explanation seems almost plausible, so at this point I'm not 100% sure this is a Tweedle Beetle attack as well. It is just illogical enough for me to wonder, though.

There are other little weird things that happened during the week that I am sure are symptoms of Tweedle Beetle activity. I have probably already completely lost your attention, so I won't share more of the minutia.

Hope everyone has a great week. Happy Ground Hogs day on the 2nd everyone!

Just a weird picture of a strange kid.

By the way ... in case you are wondering ... the "new" Colorado Craft Beer Show has a facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Colorado-Craft-Beer-Show/344704912216107 . The new American Craft Beer Show facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/AmericanCraftBeerRadio

Hopslam Ale

2012-01-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I've had any of the beers on my Best Beers in America List (see A couple more beers from my list for the last report on this blog.) I am lucky that my buddy Scott (whom I usually refer to as CrazyBrody) has been looking out for me. Do me a favor and check out his Homebrew Blog.

Bell's Brewery has recently released its annual Hopslam ale and Scott (who lives in the mid-West where it is possible to purchase beers from Bell's Brewery) knew that this was a beer on my list and offered to pick up a some Hopslams and UPS a couple of them to me. I accepted his offer, he was able to pick some up and get a couple of bottles out to me in a UPS package that also contained a couple of his own home-brewed "Nanci's Brown Ale" (which is a fantastic beer, by the way).

He got them to me last weekend, but it was not until today that I took the time to open one of the Hopslam bottles.

As you might imagine from the name, Hopslam is an IPA (what a surprise, right?) Actually, it is a double IPA. The back of the bottles says it is "a biting, bitter, tongue bruiser of an ale. With a name like Hopslam, what did you expect?" It is also a 10% ABV beer, which is something I didn't take the time to check until I started typing in this blog post. If I say something wildly inappropriate during this post, I blame the alcohol. To be honest, it doesn't taste like a 10% ABV beer to me (this is a good thing). I am feeling the affects now, but never during the glass did I feel like this tasted like a huge beer like this.

And, I gave blood today. Maybe today wasn't the best day to try this ....

Anyway, Hopslam uses a lot of hops and it uses a bunch of different kinds of hops. Bell's websites says it adds 6 different hop varietals in the kettle and a "massive" dry-hop addition of Simcoe. This is a hoppy beer, but it doesn't come across as completely bitter as lots of double IPAs. I think it does a pretty good job of blending those hops into the whole malt bill.

The malt base of the beer is substantial with a slight honey taste (the bottle actually says "brewed with honey"). I do think the beer is pretty well balanced considering how extreme it is in its ingredient list.

Overall, I've had better double IPAs, but I have had much worse ones as well. I'm glad my buddy CrazyBrody is so on top of things to have gotten me this beer so efficiently. Now, if I can only get my act together and return the favor to him.

Hopslam was #5 on my list. I have now tried all 5 of the top 5. I have tried all 10 of the top 10. I have now had 37 of the entire list (52 total). I have far surpassed my expectations of how I would do this year. Scott even says he'll send me a couple of Three Floyds beers (motivation for me to get off my butt and get him some beers). I also have the Avery Maharaja sitting in my fridge right now. I might get well into the 40's on this list. Last year I only got to 25, and was happy to get to 50% (well, a little less than 50% since the list actually had more then 50 on it).

In case you are wondering, here are the ones still left on my "not tried list":

12. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine ... limited selection. not sure if I will find this in CO.

T16. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA ... year round beer. Should be able to find in CO.

19. Bell’s Expedition Stout ... doesn't distribute to CO. Should have had my sister look for this.

T20. Samuel Adams Noble Pils... spring seasonal that I should be able to find in CO.

T20. Surly Furious ... I should have made an effort to get this while in MN.

T20. Troegs Nugget Nectar ... PA brewery. Can't get in CO.

T29. Three Floyds Alpha King ... A Chicago-land beer. Can't get in CO

T29. Three Floyds Dark Lord ... available one day a year in April at the brewery

T34. Dogfish Head Indian Brown ... year round. Might be able to find in CO.

T34. Avery Maharaja ... have a bottle of this in one of my beer fridges

T34. Three Floyds Gumballhead ... don't even see this beer on their website.

T38. Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA ... limited availability

T43. Russian River Blind Pig ... not sure if I will be able to get this in CO.

T48. Dark Horse Crooked Tree ... Midwest distribution only.

T48. Summit EPA ... Another MN beer I should have had my sister look for.

You can look at the entire list here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/community/news/show?title=2011-best-beers

47 Pints @bonfilsdotorg

2012-01-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

I gave my 47th pint of blood to Bonfils Blood Center today. This means that next time I give blood, I will get my 6 gallon pin. Since 2003, I have averaged giving blood more than 5 times a year, which is a pretty good since the absolute maximum that Bonfils will let me give blood is 6 times a year.

I happen to "like" the Bonfils Blood Center facebook page, and from time to time I'll see them post a picture of someone reaching some incredible milestone. I'm sure I'll get there eventually, but I am always impressed at the dedication of these people. According to Bonfils' website, Bonfils’ highest gallon donor has donated 75 gallons of blood or 600 pints, saving and enhancing nearly 1800 patients lives. Now, that is impressive! Actually, I'm not sure the math works out on that.

Apparently, January is National Blood Donor Month. I would have given today regardless, and I know the month is almost over, but if you don't give blood regularly you might as well use January as an excuse to start. It generally takes less than an hour from the time you walk in the door to the time you finish your cookies and juice. It is painless and easy. There are donation centers and mobile buses all over the place and you should be able to find something close. If you live in the Denver Metro area, consider stopping by Bonfils donation page to see when and where you can do it. If you live else where, just Google it.

Personally, I am always impressed with how painless and smooth the whole process goes.

Here are some interesting "Blood Facts" listed on the Bonfils website:

One whole blood donation can save and enhance the lives of up to three patients.
Every two seconds someone in the U.S. requires a transfusion of donated blood.
Bonfils’ highest gallon donor has donated 75 gallons of blood or 600 pints, saving and enhancing nearly 1800 patients lives.
The need for blood is constant. Red blood cells are useable for only 42 days and platelets are useable for only five days.
Blood products are used in a variety of medical treatments including helping kids with cancer feel better and saving the lives of car accident victims.
O- blood type is the universal donor. O- blood can be transfused to any patient regardless of their blood type.
The most common blood types are O+ and A+.

Go to "Blood Facts" to read more.

Anyway, there you go. I feel I've done my part for National Blood Donor Month. Just in case you were wondering, they need blood in February too.

Eric's Red brew day

2012-01-23T20:30:00.001-07:00

So, you may remember that last weekend, I tried to brew Eric's Red Ale, but failed miserably. See Eric's Red Failure if you want to review. I do have almost 5 gallons of Red Failure fermenting right now. We'll have to see how it goes.

This past Thursday, I purchased ingredients for another batch. Saturday, I made another yeast starter. Sunday, I started brewing up my 2nd attempt in as many weeks. Things went better this time, although on Saturday I discovered that my hops were missing. Usually when I bring home my hops I put them either in the beer fridge or in the beer fridge's freezer as soon as I bring them home. I guess this time I set them on the kitchen counter for some reason. It took me awhile to track them down, but eventually I did. You would think that I'm too young to have senior moments like this, but you would be wrong.

My Columbus hops were much higher in alpha acids than the package I had been using for last week's brew day, so I had to switch up the recipe a bit, but not too much. If you memorized the recipe last week and this week noticed that the amount of hops was less, that is why.

My sparge did not get stuck, but I am still getting some grains beneath the false bottom in the mash tun. I forgot to ask at the LHBS for tips to prevent this. I'll have to try to remember next time I go. My pre-boil volume and gravity was just about perfect. Sweet.

The boil was pretty uneventful. I did not use hop bags this time, and the gunk in the bottom of the brew-pot at the end seemed to reflect this. I really should start always using the hop sacks I guess. I got a little more than 5 gallons of wort into the fermenter at about 1.056 gravity. I probably could have diluted a bit to get down to the 1.053 gravity planned for this recipe, but decided that I was close enough to the target.

I pitched the yeast right around 60 degrees. This morning there was nice activity and the temp was right at about 60 or 62 or so. The yeasties are going even better now. I am looking forward to drinking this batch of beer.

That last picture doesn't have anything to do with beer. My boys and I have just been playing around with different effects on my phone's camera. I like this picture of the boys in Cherry Creek Reservoir State Park on Saturday. They are getting so big.

Eric's Red failure

2012-01-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

As planned (see Eric's Irish Red #HomeBrew), I had a brew day yesterday. It didn't go very well. It made my Worst brew day ever seem perfect. The experience of adjusting worst brew day ever was sort of fun. Yesterday was not fun at all.

I drove home after the worship service at church while the rest of the family was at AHA (what our church calls Sunday School) to get the mash started. This part actually went smoothly. I overshot my strike temperature, but brought it back down just fine using ice. Pretty typical stuff. Thermodynamics to the rescue. I got back to church in plenty of time to pick up the wife and kids and got back to the brew house in plenty of time to sparge the mash.

I connected the tubing from the mash tun to the brew pot, opened the value to get the first wort and NOTHING CAME OUT. Oh course, this bugs me as I thought this would not be a problem with the false bottom in the mash tun. But, this is something I've had experience with. In fact because of my experience from the Worst brew day ever, I actually was experienced and pretty well prepared for handling this type of thing.

I got out my grain bag, put it in my brew pot with the sparge water, and dumped the grain in. I was a little high on the boil volume, but my specific gravity reading was almost right on, so this method was not going to affect my final beer at all. At this point, I was feeling pretty good about myself.

During the boil, I got out my wort chiller and my hoses. While washing off the wort chiller, I discovered that someone must not have completely drained the wort chiller last time. This same person stores his wort chiller in the shed. The water in the chiller had frozen and broken through the copper tubing. Obviously, I was mad at myself for this. This was stupid, and would mean I would have to buy a new wort chiller, but I had a back-up homemade wort chiller. I had actually made it to be a pre-chiller, and I knew it probably would not get the wort down as far as I would want, but I figured that I could get the wort down cold enough for the carboy and then let the snow in my back-yard do the rest of the cooling. Not ideal, but workable.

Well, as my home-made chiller was designed as a pre-chiller, it had never been in hot liquid. About 10 minutes into the cooling, I noticed that not much was coming out of the hose. The tubing on my home-made chiller had come undone in the pot and the cooling water was flowing right into the pot.

I didn't even bother swearing at myself. At this point, I just had to laugh. I caught this problem pretty quick, but had very watered down wort. I considered just boiling off a couple of gallons of water, but decided instead to check my OG and see if I could salvage the beer as a low-alcohol session beer. My OG was right at 1.040, which is actually not bad for a session beer. I would expect it to ferment out to about a 4% ABV. Not too bad.

I filled up 2 of my Mr. Beer fermenters, let them cool in the backyard snow and awhile later, pitched part of my starter and a few old Mr. Beer yeast packs.

My RDWHAHB beer.

Considering all the things that went wrong, I probably should have just dumped the batch. Who knows, maybe my low-alcohol session beer will be fine. The worst that can happen is that I don't like it. I can always dump it later (or give it all away). I'll let you know in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, apparently I need a new wort-chiller. I also need to talk to Jeff at my home brew shop about how to prevent grains from getting under the false bottom.

I guess I'll have to brew Eric's Red again. Maybe this coming weekend. It is impossible to have 2 bad brew days in a row, but next time will go perfect, I'm sure.

Eric Shepard and the King of Beers

2012-01-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

This morning, a co-worker sent out a link to this Denver Post article: Disagreement between Denver, Boston mayors comes to a head. Apparently, the Boston mayor called Colorado beers "weak".

He told a Boston Globe reporter, "We have the best. . . . Colorado Rocky beer? Uck."

I was asked if what the Boston mayor said offended me. The answer is No, not really. I can't be angry at someone who is as obviously completely beer-ignorant as the Boston mayor. If the mayor had talked to Jim Koch of Boston Beer company (who actually knows a little about good beer), he would know that Denver, Colorado is one of the (if not THE) craft beer centers of the world. People who know good beer consider the Denver area "the Napa Valley of Beer".

All the Boston mayor did was communicate his lack of knowledge about beer. If I lived in Boston, what the mayor said would offend me more because it portrays Boston as an unsophisticated, uninformed beer town. Lots of the beer-related pages I "like" on face-book picked up on the mayor's comments and lots of the comments did seem angry at the mayor. I can't even bring myself to be offended. I just feel sorry for the poor guy's uninformed pitiful ignorance.

The original Denver Thibault (image from denverpost online)

Actually, it offends me more that part of the Denver's mayor response was, "the moment Sam Adams sells more beer than Coors, then he can come talk to me."

Anyway ... speaking of weak beers ...

Image from The Beer Sessions

Have you heard the news? Apparently, Coors Light overtook Budweiser as the #2 selling beer in the United States.

I've seen the news on several internet news sources, but I first saw it when Google Alerts emailed me a link to an article in STLToday.com called "The King of Beers slips another notch". And why did Google Alerts email me this link? It is not because I am interested in Budweiser or in Coors Light. It is because my name appears in the article. Yes, I have a Google Alert configured to email me when my name appears on the internet. Perhaps this is a bit vain, but seeing where my name showed up was one of the things that interested me when I decided to start setting up Google Alerts.

Apparently, Eric Shepard (not related to me in any way that I know) is some big-shot beer industry expert that writes for "Beer Marketer's Insights". As you can tell from this blog, I am far from a big-shot expert in anything, let alone the beer industry.

By the way ... how many of you readers realized I actually had a name other than ESheppy or Sheppy or Shep or the SheppyBrew Beer Master?

Of course, Eric may be this big-shot beer expert, but if you google "eric shepard" beer, the first page of results has a lot more hits that have to do with me than ones that have to do with him.

Image from The Beer Sessions

So, anyway, not as many people are drinking the King of Beers or maybe the same number of people are just drinking less. This doesn't surprise me. It certainly doesn't bother me. Personally, even before I was a craft beer snob, I never was a fan of Bud. I did like their Super Bowl commercials (still do for the most part); I mean who doesn't like the Bud-Wise-ER frogs (ok, bad example. Man those frogs got annoying ... didn't they)? But, drinking even one Budweiser gave me a headache. I don't like headaches so I stayed away from Bud even while drinking some pretty nasty fizzy yellow stuff. I am not sure why I had that reaction to Bud when other similar beers didn't do that to me.

Obviously, Bud is still a popular beer. Anheuser-Busch InBev sold 17.7 million barrels of it in the U.S. That is a lot of beer. Even the largest craft brewer in the country (Boston Beer Company) only sells a little over 2 million barrels of beer a year. That is over all the types of beer they make. In fact, according to the Brewers Association, all U.S. craft brewers sold less than 10 million barrels of beer in 2010. Across all its brands, Anheuser-Busch InBev sells over 100 million barrels of beer a year in the U.S. (I got this information from the AB - InBev website, but had to do some math to convert hectoliters to barrels). 17.7 million is a lot of beer; 100 million barrels of beer is a ridiculous amount. It sure makes my pitiful 3 barrels in 2011 seem pathetically small.

I suppose Miller-Coors is happy that their Coors Light overtook Bud in the #2 spot. Of course Bud Light is still #1, so maybe not. And there is that little issue that the big breweries keep losing market share in the united states to smaller craft breweries.

Well, I guess that's enough talk about the (former?) King of Beers. I'm going to go drink a finely crafted home-brew.

Wetta Blonde Coffee Mug by SheppyBrew
Browse other Sheppybrew Mugs

Oh ... another piece of beer news that my buddy Eric Shepard commented upon: Yuengling becomes largest US-owned brewery. Good for them. I don't drink much Yuengling ... they don't distribute to Colorado, and I only had it a couple times while visiting family "back east". It is good to know, though, that there are some still some big American breweries. Maybe we should start calling the Yuengling Lager "The King of Beers".

Go Broncos!

Wanna have some fun?

2012-01-13T06:19:00.000-07:00

Ok ... do you want to have some fun?

Here is what to do:

Open this link in several browser windows: http://blog.ericshepard.com/2011/08/little-lion-man.html

5 to 8 windows works out great.

This actually doesn't seem to work for me anymore in the newest version of firefox. At the time I'm typing this, it works in IE8, so you probably want to take this into account when choosing a browser.

There is a video of Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons on that page.

Once you have 5 to 8 (or more if you want) browser windows open, start the video on the first window. Wait a couple seconds and start the video on browser window #2. Repeat this process until all the videos are running.

Listen and enjoy. Fun fun fun.

Personally, I think it sounds best on earphones. For the best results, have a few SheppyBrews before you do it. If you don't have SheppyBrew, another type of home-brew probably works almost as well. If you don't have home-brews, I suppose some other beer would work. If you don't have beer, just do it sober. I don't think it is something you can enjoy with wine or hard-liquor.

Happy New Year everyone!

Eric's Irish Red #HomeBrew

2012-01-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

When I shared my latest brew day for Stone Soup (see Another batch of Stone Soup), I mentioned that my next batch was going to be Eric's Irish Red.

I've made 6 batches of beer called Eric's Red, making it one of the most brewed beers at SheppyBrew brewery. In fact, only Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (brewed 9 times) and my world famous Phat & Tyred Amber Ale (brewed 7 times) have been brewed more. For a long time, I considered Eric's Red to be SheppyBrew's "flagship" beer. But, I have not brewed it in over a year. And, strangely, until recently I didn't even convert the recipe to all-grain. In fact, all the Eric's Red iterations so far have been based on Mr. Beer Bewitched Red HME with Mr. Beer Mellow Amber UME. Very old-school. I always intended it to be one of my first all-grain conversions. I just never got around to it .... until now.

Eric's Red has always been a beautiful deep red color with substantial body and great head formation and retention. It has been on the malty sweet side of the BU:GU ratio. It has always been around 5% ABV, which makes it a session beer in my mind.

My all-grain recipe has a bit more bitterness on the BU:GU scale, but I would still consider it balanced. I am shooting for the same color and using the same finishing hops I used before. I'm using a clean-fermenting neutral yeast. I think it will make a nice Irish-style Red Ale.

I'm thinking that I'll brew it up this coming weekend. Should be fun. Be sure to ask for it next time you find yourself at the SheppyBrew Brewery.

Prohibition was Bad

2012-01-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

I came across the graphic below because I subscribe to Drink with the Wench (see Prohibition Did What?: A Beer-Goggled Look at the Volstead Act of 1920).

I found the graphic informative, educational and entertaining enough to share with my readers as well. Thank goodness prohibition was long over by the time I was of drinking age.

Enjoy.

Via: Rehab International

Some more Badges @Untappd

2012-01-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

So, I've been sharing the badges that I've earned on Untappd (see First Month of Untappd and Running for Mayor @BallyFitness). I'm sure you're not all that interested in my badges, but it gives me a topic to add to my blog, so I'll tell you what I've earned since last time.

If nothing else, untappd has some really nice looking badges that you might not ever see if you are not using untappd yourself. I get a strange sense of satisfaction and excitement to "earning" the untappd badges. Yes, I realize it makes me a childish geek. I've come to terms with my immature nerdishness (in all kinds of areas) long ago.

Social Drinker ... I got this badge by commenting on 10 check-ins by my virtual friends in a month. The beer I was drinking that unlocked this badge was a Mañana by Del Norte at Hacienda Colorado.

Just as an aside, I thought Mañana was a completely fantastic Mexican Amber lager. I've heard of Del Norte before, but never had their beer (as far as I remember anyway). It is a local brewery to me. I'll have to make an attempt to visit their tasting room sometime ... assuming they have a tasting room.

Merry Brew-mas (2011) ... I got this by drinking a beer on Christmas Eve. The beer I drank to unlock this badge was Psychotically Dark and Bitter IDA by SheppyBrew at SheppyBrew Brewery.

Untappd Groupie ... I got Untappd Groupie by drinking at least 5 beers that the founders of Untappd have had. I don't know which 5 they were except the 5th beer was an Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Co. that I had at SheppyBrew Brewery.

Speaking of Arrogant Bastard Ale, SheppyBrew Brewery has developed a beer recipe in honor of and in celebration of my fascination with AB and Stone's refusal to give out their recipe. The SheppyBrew beer is called Pompously Illegitimate Red Ale and I will probably let you know when I brew it.

Find the Source ... Apparently I got this by drinking at least 10 beers at Microbreweries. The 10th beer was the same Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Co. that I had at SheppyBrew Brewery to get the Untappd Groupie badge.

NOTE: the next four I got on new-years-eve-day. I had no idea I was going to get any one of these four.

Beer Party ... Not 100% sure, but think I got this because I checked-in at a place that at least 4 other people checked into around the same time. The check-in that got me this was 2220 Red Ale by Breckenridge Brewery at Breckenridge Brewery Ballpark Pub

Bar Explorer ... I got this one for checking in my beers at 10 different venues. The beer that got me this one was the same that got me the Beer Party: 2220 Red Ale by Breckenridge Brewery at Breckenridge Brewery Ballpark Pub

Journeyman ... 50 unique beers tried on untappd. I got this with Lucky U IPA by Breckenridge Brewery at Breckenridge Brewery Ballpark Pub

Winter Wonderland ... Got this by trying 5 different "winter beers". I would be interested in knowing which 5 they were. The 5th one was XMas Ale 2009 by SheppyBrew at SheppyBrew Brewery

The fact that I added SheppyBrew Brewery as a venue for checking in beers on untappd is just more evidence of my immature nerdishness. Don't judge me.

Happy Brew Year (2012) ... All I had to do to get this one was drink a beer on New Year's eve (after 9pm). I could have had one anytime on New Year's day too, but I had mine on New Year's eve. Unlike the last 4, I knew that I would be getting this one when I drank the beer. The beer I drank was Snow Day by New Belgium Brewing Company.

New Brew Thursday (Level 2) ... New Brew Thursday is apparently another one of those badges that have "levels". Every time you try a new beer on 3 Thursdays in a 30 day period, you achieve another level. I drank Palo Santo Marron by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery at SheppyBrew Brewery to get this new level. (note ... I have had this beer before, but this is the first time I've logged it into Untappd.

One of my favorite beer blogging celebrities recently posted an article "My Untappd Code of Ethics". Billy is one of my untappd friends. I have so few friends and he has so many that he probably doesn't even notice my check-ins. I am hoping he doesn't consider this series of blog posts "bragging", though (see #1 on his list). Billy actually commented on my comment on his post:

"I remember your post a few weeks ago about getting into Untappd. That was a good read. It made me excited to get my smartphone shortly after."

It makes me feel good that Billy reads my blog and that I might have influenced him some with this blog. Billy, though, if you are reading this, please leave a comment. PLEASE. (everyone else leave one too).

Again, if you use untappd, come make a friend request to me. I promise I'll confirm you as my untappd friend: http://untappd.com/user/esheppy.

I'll leave you with this cool video about the Denver Beer Culture:

And another one on the GABF:

2011 SheppyBrew Stats

2012-01-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

So, here at the SheppyBrew home-brewery we are at the end of another quarter (and the end of another year). You know what that means, don't you? It is time for me to share some more of my brewing stats (see SheppyBrew 2009 Stats, 1st Quarter Stats, 2nd Quarter Stats, 3rd Quarter Stats, SheppyBrew 2010 Stats, 1st Quarter Brewing Stats, 2nd Quarter Brew Stats, SheppyBrew Stats Q3 2011).

So here we go ... for the 4th quarter of 2011:

I brewed 5 batches. This puts me at 23 for 2011 compared to 33 batches in 2010.
3 of the 5 batches were brand new recipes. This means I brewed 10 new recipes in 2011 compared to 18 in 2010.
I brewed almost 25 gallons of beer this quarter putting me at almost 98 gallons for the year. In 2010 I brewed about 76 gallons of beer.
I brewed another lager, bringing me to 3 in 2011. That tops the 2 lagers I did last year.
I didn't brew any batches with Mr. Beer ingredients this quarter. The total for 2011 is still 2. Last year, I did 9.
One of my batches was an extract recipe making my total for the year 3. Last year, I did 14 extract batches.
I brewed a partial mash this quarter, which is my 2nd for the entire year. Last year I did 9 partial mashes.
3 of my 4th quarter batches were all-grain bringing me to 18 all-grain batches for 2011. In 2010, I did 10 all-grain batches.
I kegged 2 of the batches this quarter. This makes 8 batches kegged this year. Last year, obviously, I didn't keg anything.

So, as you can see, I am continuing to trend away from extracts and towards all-grain brewing. So far, I am really liking the 10 gallon gott cooler with a false bottom for my mash / lauter tun (see Back to the mash tun).

Obviously, I did not get to 100 gallons for the year (see 100 Gallons of Beer). I easily could have brewed up a quick Mr. Beer batch, but decided 98 gallons was close enough. I suspect that in 2012 I won't brew anywhere close to 100 gallons. 100 gallons is actually quite a bit of beer to have to deal with.

Along with my latest batch of Stouticus (see Thankyou Stouticus), I distributed quite a bit of my Hoptoberfest Vienna Lager (see Bottling Hoptoberfest) to people who donated to the 2nd Wind Fund. Hoptoberfest turned out fantastic. It might be a little darker than you would probably consider a Vienna Lager to be, but I like the flavor so much I'm not changing the recipe to lighten up the color.

I brewed my first Gluten Free beer this quarter "Free the Glutens! APA". It got some good comments from the few people who tried it, but there is something about the flavor I don't like. You can read more about this following my Gluten Free blog-label. One of the things I mentioned was that my guy at my LHBS told me about White Labs' "Clarity-Ferm" as a way to get rid of gluten protein in beer. I think my next attempt at a gluten-free beer will use Clarity Ferm instead of trying to stick with gluten-free ingredients.

Last year, I mentioned that I would probably brew less in 2011 than 2010. Obviously, I did brew less batches but more total volume.

I said I would probably concentrate more on my favorites and have less of a variety of beers than I did in 2010. I think it is safe to say that was the case. Next year, I think maybe I'll try more new things.

I also mentioned that I would try to give away more beer. I did by a lot. I hope to keep that trend going in 2012 as well.

I said most of my beers would be all-grain, but I would continue to make all the different types (HME, extract with steeping grains, partial mash, and all-grain). This prediction was true and will continue in 2012 I think.

I also thought I might get a "real" 5 gallon fermenter to do bigger batches. Obviously, I did (actually a 6 gallon one).

I mentioned, "I would love to get into kegging my beers, but I do not know if that will happen." It did happen, and if anything, I am kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I will keg more beer in 2012. Having my Beer Gun is really great because I can keg up the batch quickly and then bottle as I want from the keg.

Sometime in 2012 (probably early on), I'm going to try to brew a sour beer of some sort. At the moment, I think I'm going to try to do a recipe close to Jamil's Flander's Red in Brewing Classic Styles. Instead of using bugs in fermentation, I think I'm going to first try a sour mash. I'm also thinking of doing a secondary fermentation on tart cherries to add a bit more of that flavor. If this approach doesn't work how I want, I guess I'll move to some sort of yeast / bacteria blend in fermentation to do the souring. But I'm a bit leery of just jumping in all the way into fermenting with bacteria, so I'll try the sour mash first. I guess I'm just a wimp that way.

So, that is all I can think of as a brewing 2011 review and look ahead to 2012. As always, I'll continue to let you know how it is going through the year. Happy Brew Year everyone!

EDIT (1-4-2011): I just noticed that my virtual brewing buddy, Scott (sometimes referred to as "CrazyBrody") started publishing his brew stats. Check it out on his blog post "2011 Brewing Stats". I think this might be the first time anyone has ever accused me of being "organized".

December Bogging

2012-01-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

December, 2011 is now the 8th month in a row of increased "page views" for this blog. I know I say this every month, but there is no way January will be able to continue the streak.

Over the past 30 days, the most viewed posts on this blog have been:

A couple more beers from my list Dec 3, 2011 ... Checking off some beers from "my list".
Pre-event #GABF Post Sep 29, 2011 ... I am still not sure why this GABF post gets more attention than any of my other GABF posts. It is now #4 all-time.
Another batch of Stone Soup Dec 12, 2011 ... If I were a reader of this blog, I would certainly be happy to read this post.
Women and Beer Jul 23, 2011 ... #2 all-time and still gets decent viewership. Makes sense.
Tweedle beetles Mar 2, 2006 ... #3 all-time. Why? I honestly have no idea.
Stouticus Chili - icus Dec 13, 2011 ... Beer and chili. Good stuff.
Happy #RepealDay Dec 5, 2011 ... Celebrating the 21st amendment.
First Month of Untappd Dec 6, 2011 ... Drinking beers "socially".
Running for Mayor @BallyFitness Dec 17, 2011 ... My quest to become "mayor" of my health club.
Mayor of SheppyBrew Brewery Dec 23, 2011 ... Success in becoming "mayor" of my "brewery".

For what it is worth, I beat my sister for the month.

Happy New Year, everyone!

X-Mas Ale Verticle Tasting

2011-12-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

Every year, (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) SheppyBrew brewery brews an X-Mas Ale. Every year (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) I get out a bottle of all the years' X-Mas ales and try them together. This year was no exception, although it did take me longer this year to get around to it. New Year's Eve (yes the very last day of the year).

X-Mas Ale left to right 2009, 2010, 2011.

So today, I poured an X-Mas Ale 2009, an X-Mas Ale 2010, and an X-Mas Ale 2011 from the SheppyBrew brewery.

The 2009 is the oldest beer ever tasted from the SheppyBrew brewery, and has stood up very well.

Visually all three are very close. This year's has a bit better head, but not really very much so. They are all a dark brown. 2010 might be a bit darker. Not much, though. 2009 had some floaties in the beer (cherries?). Nothing so extreme to distract from the drinking experience, though. The head colors were the same.

All three had a very malt driven aroma. I could smell the clove quite a bit in 2009 and the apple pie spice in 2010. Of course the hazelnut came through in the 2011.

All three had a very nice rich caramelly flavor. No hop flavors came through. 2009 and 2010 (especially 2009) obviously had some cherry flavor in the malt. 2011 replaced that cherry flavor with hazelnut. 2009 has a bit of tart sourness from the cherries. 2010 had a bit less, but some none-the-less. 2011 was sweeter despite the fact that its bitterness contribution from the hops was much higher.

I would be proud to serve any of these three beers to anyone. I don't think I have a favorite. All three are distinctly different, and very nice to drink.

I still have a 2009 for next year's tasting. I have 5(?) 2010 beers. I have lots of the 2011 batch.

I am looking forward to next year's vertical tasting.

----

I noticed today that the SheppyBrew.com page for the X-Mas Ale 2011 has 12 facebook "likes" (one of which is mine). This is an unusual number of likes for a page on SheppyBrew.com without me knowing of a logical explanation. The only recipe on SheppyBrew.com that has more likes is Stouticus American Stout , and I know Stouticus is mostly my co-workers whom with I shared both the beer and the link to the beer's page. For some reason, X-mas Ale 2011 is famous. I wish I knew why.

Anyway ... I hope everyone who reads this had a great 2011 and an even better 2012.

Happy Brew Year everyone!

Bowen Beer Bottle Band

2011-12-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a little Christmas music for your entertainment.

The Bowen Beer Bottle Band performs using only beer bottles, where each band member is in charge of two notes. They are really good:

Thanks to Logan from Blog About Beer for posting these videos earlier in the month.

Some Christmas Videos

2011-12-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

I shamelessly stole these from Blog About Beer.specifically from the article "Christmas Beer Commercials – 12 Days Of Christmas Fun – Day 6".

Please visit the blog and let Logan know I sent you. This will ease my guilt for being a shameless thief.

Mayor of SheppyBrew Brewery

2011-12-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

So, remember I told you I had joined foursquare and decided I was making it my mission to become the mayor of something? I mentioned that the health club I go to is probably the best bet (see Running for Mayor @BallyFitness). Just so you know, I am totally on track to become mayor of my Bally Total Fitness club. I've checked into Bally 6 times in 8 days, so I'm on pace to overtake the current mayor easily in the next 60 days as he is averaging one check-in every two days (30 check-ins in a 60 day period). If my calculations are correct, and if I maintain this pace, I will get to 30 check-ins in about 32 days from today.

Turns out that I was forgetting someplace I go even more ... SheppyBrew Brewery.

Interesting story ... I noticed that my virtual buddy Scott (remember Scott from SNB Brewing Blog?) was checking in on untappd to the SNB Brewery. SNB Brewery is to Scott as SheppyBrew Brewery is to Shep. SNB Brewery is what he calls his house in context of his home-brewing. Just like me, he is a "real" brewer in his own mind.

So, that observation made me realize that I could add my own venue to untappd (which I suspected was by doing it through foursquare). And, yes, I added SheppyBrew Brewery to foursquare and checked in.

Ok, so maybe "interesting" is a bit of an exaggeration.

But, now, I am the person in the last 60 days who has checked-in to the SheppyBrew Brewery the most, which by definition makes me the MAYOR OF SHEPPYBREW BREWERY!

Impressed, aren't you? Bow down before me, minions!

The Beer Song

2011-12-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Recently, a guy I know was telling me what a wine-snob he is.

For some reason, this reminded me of the Beer Song by ElbowSkin. I posted it before on this blog (see Interesting / Amusing "news"). The video made me LOL, and I really enjoy the tune as well. I think the video deserves to be posted again.

Beer Song by ElbowSkin from Alister Robbie on Vimeo.

I suppose, being a beer snob, I have no right judging someone for being a wine snob. But, I have to be honest, I lost a little respect for this guy. I already didn't consider him much of a "guys' guy", but now I consider him a step or two away from being a chick.

This probably doesn't say as much about him as it does about my close-minded attitude towards things I don't like. I suppose I should work on that.

Enjoy the song.

Here's another video in case you are upset that I am re-using content:

Not nearly as good as the Beer Song, but it might amuse you none-the-less.

Pale Ale

2011-12-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

According to the BJCP, an American Pale Ale can have an SRM anywhere from 5-14.

This beer is a 5 SRM:

and these are almost 13:

My APA is somewhere in between at 10:

SRM stands for standard reference method, and is a measure of the darkness of beer. One would measure an SRM using a spectrophotometer. If you are interested on reading up on SRM, go to the wikipedia entry on it. I actually do not own a spectrophotometer, so when I tell you the beers above are a certain SRM, I am trusting my brewing software which has calculated my SRM and the lovibond values that are listed on the grains and extracts that I buy from my local home brew shops. Chances are decent that when I post my SRM's, I am posting them with incorrect values, but the actual numeric color value is not something I care too much about.

But, trust me. There is a wide range between an SRM of 5 and one of 14. If you want, take a look at the 5 on this chart and then compare that to the 14:

I stole this chart from The Screwy Brewer (who probably stole it from somewhere)

One thing I hear from time to time is "I don't like dark beers". It bugs me when I hear someone say that. You see, "dark" is not a flavor, and there is quite a difference between the taste of different dark-colored styles. A Russian Imperial Stout is much different than a Black IPA, for example. Both taste much different from a dark dopple-bock. My wife used to say "I don't like dark beers" sometimes, although she is starting to learn that "dark" is not a flavor and has started substituting "coffee flavored" for the word "dark". "Coffee flavored" is a much better flavor description than "dark".

It is interesting to me how many people who have tasted Stouticus American Stout (which is a dark beer) told me that they don't usually like "dark beers", but really did like Stouticus.

It seems to me that lots of the people who say they don't like "dark" beers also don't like hoppy beers. I sort of expect that if these people were to come out of their little American-light-lager mind-sets and try a few dark and/or hoppy beers they would start to come to realize that they like some dark and/or hoppy beers. But, generally, people are set in their ways.

Anyway, those of you who discriminate against beers of a certain color, please stop. Every beer deserves a chance, and color really doesn't mean as much as you think.