Turkey Hill

No, this isn’t a run to the store to get your favorite ice tea or ice cream, this is a pretty cool trail that overlooks the Susquehanna River. I’ve hiked and walked this trail several times in the past, doing the full trails, and all the encompassing views and parts of the different paths (the Enola Grade, the flat area, etc.), mostly with Ming or with my trusty canine companion Leela, or just by myself even.

This time however, Leela and I and a friend, took the hike up and did just the Overlook Trail, which is just a portion of the Turkey Hill Trail found on AllTrails. There isn’t a specific or technical “Turkey Hill Overlook Trail” on maps or on AllTrails; there is however the Turkey Hill trail, and several conjoining trails that use the name and there is the lower portion that runs along the river. I am calling this the Turkey Hill Overlook Trail because it turns left and takes you to the overlook, and then you can turn right back around and head back down. So basically its a simplified and shorter version of the Turkey Hill Trail, and primarily would be just to climb / hike to the top, get to the overlook and look out over the river, and then back down.

The above screenshot of the AllTrails app shows what one of several possible Turkey Hill trails look like. The red is the followed trail for that particular one. The dotted lines are several other trails that could be also followed. The path we took was from the starting point to where that little tip of a dotted line stick out near the beginning, as that is where it the trail turns up to stand underneath the windmills and be at the overlook to look out over the Susquehanna River.

Ok, enough preamble, lets get down to the hike itself.

The Turkey Hill Overlook Trail

We got to the Turkey Hill Trail parking lot around 3PM or so, parked, let the dog out and got her to do her ‘dirty sinful business’ (as Reverend Lovejoy would say) right away so we could dispose of it before doing the hike. We then started on the path which was pretty despite the fall foliage already being done. As it was also late in the season, there was nobody around either (we passed three people total on the entire trip).

The path is nice and decently wide at the start before you head into the hillside proper and begin your ascent upwards. At this time of year, there was a lot of leaves down which made it a bit slippery (especially on the way back down). The hill up isn’t too excessively difficult or hard to climb, and its not extremely rocky, but there is some moderate difficult spots and some rocks to navigate. At certain points of the year you can see what could be modestly called a waterfall but I would be more inclined to call it a stream running downhill. When we hiked there wasn’t any water flowing down as it had been pretty dry for a bit.

It was a crisp cold day on the hike, with a slight breeze, but it was still nice for the hike, and was beautiful. My hike beer for the trip was Golden Sky by South County Brewing Co.

Beer: Golden Sky
Brewery: South County Brewing Co
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 4.2%
IBU: 12
Untappd Description: A session-able but flavorful Blonde Ale, dry-hopped with Citra & Hallertau Blanc. Nice honey malt tones with pear and apple notes. A real crusher!
My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.78 (as of 12.9.21)

The hike up to the top went uneventful with no falls, slips, or spills. Leela was a good hiking buddy up and knew the way perfectly (this wasn’t her first trip). Getting to the top, instead of following the path of the Turkey Hill trail which would lead out over a plain area and down into the Enola Grade, we turned left and went to the overlook underneath the wind turbines.

The view from the overlook area of the Susquehanna River and surrounding area is very pretty, especially on a lovely clear, crisp day like it was. And behind the actual overlook spot are the wind turbines on the top of the hill, which give the whole area an interesting buzzing / helicopter like background noise. The top of the trail, where the overlook itself is; is a nice structure to stand on, with a railing (as you can see in the one beer pic), there is some kind of smaller structure nearby that looks like it at one time housed one of those binocular / telescopic view things (the ones where you put a quarter in them to look through the eye – hole lenses).

Some pics from the overlook and the trail:

The Hike Back Down

The hike back down with Leela was relatively uneventful. Due to the abundance of fall leaves that were down, we did slip a bit every so often, but overall it was a relatively easy descent. Only passed one hiker on the way back down, as it was starting to get closer to sunset on the way down.

All in all, the trip took us a total of one hour and a half. Its a shortened version of the main trail which can take a much longer time, depending on if you take all the different routes and side-trails and other parts of the Enola Grade and Turkey Hill area. It also depends on how long you spend at the top of the hill at the overlook enjoying the wonderful view. I would suggest going in early fall to capture all the fall foliage.

Post Hike

After the hike, we of course had to re-hydrate. So what better way to re-hydrate than to do so at breweries? In the area near the Turkey Hill trail, you have several options. We chose to stop at Columbia Kettle Works in Columbia, and then check out the new River Trail Brewing (formerly Pig Iron Brewing – same building – new owners / brewers) in Marietta. Been to Columbia Kettle Works before and enjoyed every visit there. Food was delicious and the beers on point. River Trail Brewing was leap years ahead and better than the old Pig Iron Brewery that was in the same building. Didn’t get any food there, but the beers were good, especially for a new and starting out brewery. I would recommend both, especially Columbia Kettle Works; I’d say at least stop in and give River Trail Brewing a try.

Thanks For Reading

As always everyone, thanks for reading. We will definitely be doing more hike posts in the future, especially in 2022, I want to go on a lot more hikes (and varied and out of state places too) and want to keep up on writing up a post after each hike. So be on the lookout for that in the future.

For more hike posts from us here at The Beer Thrillers, check out these hikes:

• Hike: Hawk Rock (Duncannon, Pennsylvania)
• Hike: Governor Dick (Manheim, Pennsylvania)
• Hike: Rattling Run – Water Tower (Dauphin, Pennsylvania)
• The Trip to Ricket’s Glen

For more reading and sources on Turkey Hill Trail and the Overlook:

• Turkey Hill Nature Preserve
• Turkey Hill Overlook Trail
• Explore Outdoors: Turkey Hill
• AllTrails: Turkey Hill Trail

Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

A Need for Meditation, Solemn Reflection, and Tranquility

There are thousands of reasons to hike. And perhaps one of the biggest reasons is for a sense of alone-ness. A sense of being by one’s self, alone, in the woods, to reflect, to meditate, to be lost in one’s own head. This was my aim today. In the morning we said farewell to Bartley Francis Kaminski, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Palmyra. You can read his obituary here: Bartley Francis Kaminski (1977 – 2021). And you can read my farewell to Bart here on the blog: Farewell to Bartley Kaminski.

I’m not a big fan of funerals (who is?); but they are a necessary ‘part of the process’. Unfortunately in my life, I’ve been to far too many of them. I’ve been pall bearer more than I’ve been a groomsmen. I’ve been to more funerals than I have weddings. I think back to various family members and friends, Mike Drobenak’s, my Great Grandma’s, my Aunt Janet’s, my Grammy’s; last year in February I had two uncles (a Great Uncle on my dad’s side and my mom’s brother in law) both pass away a week apart – and this was before COVID / coronavirus hit.

I grew up with the Hummelstown Cemetery being my backyard (my parent’s backyard connects to it). I walked through it to get to my elementary school every day for school. To say death has been a portion, or thought, or part of my life, might be an understatement. But I also feel like this could be said for so many. Its one of the main leading thoughts for most people. Its one of the driving forces behind all of our decisions. Todd May’s work ‘Death’ is such an extremely good piece of work about death, that is should be read by everyone. Its both philosophical and laymen. Its technical yet beautiful. You can read my book review here on the blog about it: Book Review: Death (Todd May).

So after the conclusion of the ceremony and listening to the bagpipes playing ‘Amazing Grace’ coming to an end, I made my way to my car, and sat for a bit. Needing tranquility, needing to lose myself, I called up my AllTrails app and looked for something close by. I had brought clothes to change into knowing I would need to hike, my hike boots were already in the car, and my current stack of reading books were in the car (my current stack of reading books always travel wherever I go, no matter what).

Governor Dick

I have been to the Tower at Governor Dick easily a dozen or more times in my life. I’ve gone when I was a small child with my parents, I’ve taken my daughters and my ex-wife, I’ve taken my dog Leela, and I’ve gone with Ming. There’s a ton of different routes and paths and trails all leading up to The Tower.

The Tower has gone through some changes over the years, they’ve fully enclosed the top to stop people from rappelling and climbing the walls of the Tower itself as if they were Batman or someone trying to break in or out of a prison. But the climb inside is and has always been the same (to my memory anyway). Claustrophobic, metallic, dusty, dirty, and most likely urine soaked on a platform or too. (Pretty sure that was the case today.)

The view at the top isn’t the most exceptional, but in the Manheim, Mt. Gretna area, its a nice and beautiful view. But its just what I needed for self reflection, meditation, and tranquility. A nice little breeze in the air, a beautiful view, direct sun, and I sat there with my back against the wall, reading, meditating, enjoying the breeze, enjoying the freedom, the sun, the peace, the tranquility, and the aloofness, the alone spirit of it all, letting my thoughts of life, Bart, death, and everything else just wash the stress out of me.

Hiking to The Tower

There is many paths and routes to get to the Tower, and you can start at various spots. Most people now usually start at the Conservancy Building (not 100% of the name of it), but its a lovely little spot where you can go inside (I believe it has re-opened ‘after’ COVID) where kids can go inside and do all manners of activities, as well as get to touch different animal pelts, see pictures, videos, brochures, animal bones, etc, etc, etc.

I took a different route this time. The map from AllTrails shows you the route I was hiking: Governor Dick Tower Trail (map). (Sorry, the screen shot isn’t working due to the way they have the map setup as a changeable feature, it turns it full grey in the screenshot. You can see the route I take when I post my route picture in just a bit.) Usually I can screenshot the AllTrails map, but for some reason, they have it on their website as a changeable piece, and so when you screenshot it, it just turns into a grey block. So, unfortunately, that won’t work for me to screenshot and post here. But from MapMyRun, I do have a copy of my hike, and thats practically the same as the AllTrails one.

Governor Dick Tower Trail

Hike: Governor Dick Tower Trail (Manheim, Pennsylvania)
Location: Governor Dick Park (Route 117 Start Point)
Near: Manheim, Pennsylvania
Length: 2.1 Miles (as per AllTrails)
Elevation Gain: 364 Feet (as per AllTrails) (not counting climbing the Tower)
Route Type: Out and Back
AllTrails Map: Governor Dick Tower Trail (Clarence Schock Park at Governor Dick)
AllTrails Description: Governor Dick Tower Trail is a 2.1 mile out and back trail located near Manheim, Pennsylvania that features a great forest setting. The trail is rated as moderate and is primarily used for hiking, walking, running, and nature trips.

Hiking Governor Dick Tower Trail

For this trail to the Tower, you start at a little pull – off along Route 117. Only one other car in the lot which is always nice, lets you know its going to be at least seemingly a relatively empty trail. (My preference anyway.) I arrived around 12:35 – 12:40PM after Bart’s services. Changed and put on my hiking boots and got my backpack loaded up with my books and some waters and Mountain Dews and started on the trail.

And, immediately regretted not having any bugs pray with. The gnats were absolutely… H – O – R – R – I – B – L – E ! Just the absolute worst. Like thick clouds of them the whole way to the Tower. I could swing my hand in front of me, open palm, and I was guaranteed to catch at least three or four of them, and smack another ten to fifteen out of the way. The trail started off as a stone slope upwards towards The Tower. The slope isn’t at too bad of an incline, so its a nice, moderate, relatively easy trail and path up.

Despite the gnats, it didn’t take me very long, maybe 35 minutes at most to reach The Observation Tower. Once there, I climbed up the old metal rungs of the ladder on the upward bound side and made my way to the top. At the top was a couple, sitting, enjoying the view, just holding hands, and I made my way around to the opposite side and sat with my back to the wall of the Tower ladder entrance / exit. I doffed my backpack and pulled out my books. For the next hour or so, I sat here, reading, meditating, thinking of Bart, of life, and of so much more that has been going on with myself, and my family, and just life really in general. In what might possibly have been the craziest years of my entire life – and this is saying something – I just stopped, sat there, read, meditated, and enjoyed the cool breeze at the top of the Tower. The gnats were gone, having left me alone, the sun was hot and shining directly on me, and I felt a very deep, inner sense, full resonating sense, of peace. For once.

Just before leaving and climbing back down, I saw a hummingbird buzz the cage that domes and surrounds the top of the tower. I tried to get a picture, but he flew away too quickly for me. But I did get to see him, buzzing up against the metal, and saw the beauty in his flapping wings. His energy and speed and quickness so evident. His energy reminded me of Bart. I don’t tend to look for portents and omens and all that, or to see signs and stuff, but getting to see the hummingbird did remind me of Bart, interestingly, after yesterday’s viewing and visit, Cliff Plank (current head brewer for Appalachian Brewing Company in Harrisburg) posted on Facebook how he saw an albino squirrel and it reminded him of Bart.

Another couple came up to the top and took pictures and went back down while I was reading. I think it was a daughter in her 20s or early 30s and her father in his 40s or 50s. They both said ‘hi’ and talked about the beauty of the area around them. They have been doing a different hike in a different Pennsylvania county every week, and this was their hike for the week.

While at the top of the tower, the books I was reading were: ‘Death’ by Todd May (I had finished it weeks ago, and you can read the book review here: Book Review: Death [Todd May], but felt like re-reading some passages in the wake of Bart’s passing), ‘State and Revolution’ by Vladimir Lenin, ‘Six Walks in the Fictional Woods’ by Umberto Eco, and ‘The Bomber Mafia’ by Malcolm Gladwell. (I’ll be posting book reviews for each of these in the future.)

Return Trip to the Car

After climbing back down, I hiked back down the slope, taking a slightly different route (the one actually listed on the AllTrails map, which has you take a slightly more scenic route, rather than fully up the rock slope) on my way back to the car. The gnats were present as soon as I got to the bottom of the Tower, and perhaps in even larger numbers. Made it to my car without incident and took off my hiking boots and then drove home, stopping at my parents, getting to see my little nephew and hanging out with him for a bit before he was picked up by my sister and brother in law.

Reflections, Thoughts, and the End

This was a needed hike. My 2021 has gone horribly awry from where I wanted it to go starting in March. And has not been the year I wanted it to be – at all; to say the least. I haven’t gotten to go to breweries like I wanted, and I haven’t really hiked as much as I wanted, or as I had planned. I’ve felt more isolated this year than in past years – including COVID central 2020. This hike was much needed. It was short, it was one I’ve been to many times, and it was on a day where I needed to reflect, to meditate, and to think. It was a recharging of batteries so to speak. A realignment with all things; instead of the Buddha under the Bodhi tree, I was Ben under the Tower’s cage. Maybe not similar, or an apt analogy, but it is how I spent some of my afternoon; reflecting and thinking, about life, about Bart, about death, about the meaning to things (and the lack thereof). Thought about cancer, about my mom’s cancer battles and the fear of it coming back, of losing my Aunt Janet to cancer, of my Great Grandma’s fight against Alzheimer’s and her loss to it, and so many others that I’ve known throughout my life who passed away to some form of cancer or another.

I think of Albert Camus and his absurdism, of Sartre and his existentialism, Kierkegaard and his thoughts about life and everything. These are the moments people need to make time for more. For reflection, meditation, self thought, to examine one’s own inner thoughts and life, to be a bit more Socratic. And thinking of Bart’s service, and of his life, it made me think about how we all need and should be more like him. Outgoing, cherishing the moments with friends, loved ones, living for the moment, helping others, extolling the virtues of those we are proud of, having fun, doing things out of our comfort zones, living life to its utmost potential. Bart did this, and more.

Links

Here’s some links, both on the blog and outside of the blog to various things related to the hike.

Bart:

• Farewell to Barley Kaminski
• Bartley Francis Kaminski Obituary
• Brews and Bands for Bart

Governor Dick:

• Explore Governor Dick Trail (AllTrails)
• Governor Dick Tower Trail via Route 117 (AllTrails)

The Beer Thriller Hikes and Travelogues:

• Hike: Hawk Rock
• Hike: Rattling Run
• Rickett’s Glenn
• 1000 Steps Trail

Measure of a Well Lived Life

• Measure of a Well Lived Life by Arthur Miller (Pocket)

Be safe out there everyone, get vaccinated, love each other, live life to its fullest. Grow each day. Peace, hugs, and chugs.

-B. Kline

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

What better way to spend Earth Day than out hiking in nature itself? Is there a better way to spend Earth Day then… actually spending time with the Earth? Its like visiting your mother on mother’s day, or watching a baseball game with your dad on father’s day. Its what you do.

Thats called “being a good kid” or “being a good offspring”.

This is the second “hike review” here on the blog. I’ve covered Hawk Rock before (Hiking Hawk Rock and Visiting Liquid Noise) as a bit of a travelogue. Liquid Noise, the brewery, in Marysville is right on the way to and from Hawk Rock (if traveling to / from Harrisburg) and makes for a great re-hydration spot and refreshment location.

My previous “hike review” was the Rattling Run and Walking Tank Trail which you can read there by clicking that link.

Earth Day

Earth Day 2021 was a bit windy, “blustery” as one might say, but not horrible, a slight chill with the wind, but not too bad. Still a great day for hiking with my favorite trusty puppy friend. By now, I like to think most people know what Earth Day is, or at least that its “a day”. Not that its an incredibly special day, there’s no fireworks, most people still have to go to school on it, etc, but its still a ‘notable day’. But for those interested, here’s some more information, as per Wikipedia:

“Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network)^[1] including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.^[1][2]” (Source: Earth Day – Wikipedia) (I’ll include a longer passage from the site later on in the article.)

Years ago, on Earth Day, Troegs Independent Brewing in Hershey gave away free hop rhizomes. Two consecutive years, at their Hershey brewery on Earth Day, if you bought a draft of Cultivator you could get a can that was filled with topsoil and had a hop rhizome in it. The one year it was Chinook and the other year it was Saaz. They might have done it more than those two years, but those are the ones I’m aware of / and went and participated in.

Hawk Rock

Hawk Rock is a beautiful vista view that’s in Duncannon / Marysville Pennsylvania. It’s a vista just off of the Appalachian Trail, as well as its own trail from a trailhead at the base of the hill. If you go up past the lookout view of Hawk Rock, there is the Appalachian Trail (the AT) and that stretches in both directions and provides some nice views and hiking as well. Most travelers to Hawk Rock go for just the climb to the vista and back down, and its a relatively easy to moderate climb, and not too far either (1.9 Miles according to AllTrails). It has a few steep (and really, thats stretching the term a bit) areas on the climb up, but for the most part, its moderately difficult at best. There’s a lot of rock cut steps and it does switch – back on itself a fair bit, but its a pretty steady, easy climb.

Most vista views aren’t this easy, or as short of a distance either, so this is perfect for someone just wanting a nice quick, somewhat taxing view. A good hike and climb that will make you ‘feel like you did something’ or ‘accomplished’ a goal despite not having to do that hard of a workout. Plus, the view is incredible from the top, at all times of the year, and especially at sunset.

Speaking of sunsets:

Lead Up

I had wanted to take pup dog (Leela) out for our hike earlier in the day, but due to a slow morning start, and then getting a call that my daughter was needed to be taken to a doctor’s appointment, it didn’t happen until a bit later. So after running some errands and taking my daughter to her appointment, and dropping her back off with the ex-wife I took Leela to Hawk Rock. From Hummelstown, its roughly a 30 minute drive (Google Maps will say anywhere from 30 – 35 minutes depending on time of day). I arrived at the parking area at the base of the trail at 5:20PM.

Hawk Trail via Appalachian Trail

Hike: Hawk Trail via Appalachian Trail
Location: State Game Lands Number 290
Near: Duncannon, Perry County, Pennsylvania
Length: 1.9 Miles (as per AllTrails)
Elevation Gain: 761 Feet Gain (as per AllTrails)
Route Type: Out and Back
AllTrails Map: Hawk Rock via Appalachian Trail
AllTrails Description: Hawk Rock via Appalachian Trail is a 1.9 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Duncannon, Pennsylvania that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and bird watching and is best used from March until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.

The Hike

As you can see, I didn’t just do the 1.9 miles of the Hawk Rock trail that AllTrails shows. I decided I would hike and walk some of the Appalachian Trail as well. Why not right? Beautiful day and night and a beautiful scenic area. Why not hike it! Plus its Earth Day afterall!

At the start of the hike, at the foot of the trailhead, I could immediately hear the sound of a woodpecker. and sure enough, about two minutes onto the trail, there he was.

I tried taking a video of him as he ‘worked’ on the tree, but of course he just stared at me instead, so I left him be and continued my hike up to the Hawk Rock vista with Leela. The walk up was pretty uneventful, only passing one older (I would say late 60s) couple.

Got to the top – (well, the vista outlook, there’s a small incline to go yet to get to the Appalachian Trail) – and as always, the view was amazing and wonderful, and Leela was a good sport posing for me – to the best of her ability – while I took some pictures.

I sat and enjoyed the view and my time with Leela for a bit, until another couple came up, and I then took my leave and went up the small incline to the Appalachian Trail. I first took it out towards the river, where I know there’s another outlook and view over the river. From here, there is the trail down to get back to the road and to continue on with the Appalachian Trail, but I instead turned back and went the way I came, then passing the spur to get back to Hawk Rock, I kept going as if I was on my way to Cove Shelter. The way out was uneventful… but the way back… was at least… new to me.

I was going to keep going for a while, but it was starting to get late, and doing the mental math of my walking and time, I figured it’d be a bit after 8PM til I came down from the mountain (and with no tablets and commandments to show for it!), so instead of going as far as I’ve gone before in this direction, I turned back towards the spur for Hawk Rock.

On the way back, around 7:15-7:30PM, I encountered… for the first time in the wild… Mr…..

Mr. Porcupine. This was my first time encountering one in the wild. Was very interesting to see one, and relatively up close (at about a distance of 15 feet or so). I quickly grabbed Leela’s leash (because up on the trail I had left her go, but hadn’t unhooked her leash just in case), and she also immediately saw the animal. Leela isn’t an extremely excitable dog, nor is she very aggressive, but I was still taking no chances, especially with the limited knowledge I have of porcupines. But, luckily, she too was in the ‘cautious’ frame of mind, and kind of stayed behind me and kept a close distance to me behind my legs, as we skirted the path and area around the porcupine. It turned its back on us, which I was pretty sure wasn’t going to be a good sign, but he stayed still, and then as we kept moving, he went back to his foraging, and we kept on our way.

We then made it back to Hawk Rock just in time for a gorgeous sunset. This is about the fourth or fifth time I’ve visited Hawk Rock now, and each time I just can’t get enough of the view, especially at sunset, always gorgeous, no matter what time of year.

I then made my way down the mountain and back to my car. Sadly, like I said, there was no commandments or tablets given to me up on the mountain, and I didn’t look like a man who had led people in a desert for forty years, but all the same, it was a wonderful trip and hike, and a great view and was a much needed refresher for the lungs, brain, feet, body, and soul.

If you are ever in the Duncannon, Marysville, or Perry County area, I highly recommend this small hike. It has a gorgeous view, it is moderately tough to get your blood pumping a bit at least and to make you think like your working hard, and just offers a wonderful getaway from the hustle and bustle of life. Also, nearby is Perry County’s first brewery – Liquid Noise, so give them a visit as well for some tasty re-hydration brewskies.

As always, thanks for reading everyone, hope you enjoy these hike reviews, there will be more to come. As well as more travelogues, brewery visits, beer reviews, brewery news, book reviews, and more, so be sure to check us out regularly, and to make sure to stop by and see what all we got going on. You can read on for more information from Wikipedia about Earth Day and Porcupines. Hope you all had a wonderful Earth Day as well, let us know what you did on Earth Day in the comments section!

Cheers!

More Information

Earth Day:

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network)^[1] including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.^[1][2]

In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations. A month later United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the National Coordinator. Nelson and Hayes renamed the event “Earth Day”. Denis and his staff grew the event beyond the original idea for a teach-in to include the entire United States. More than 20 million people poured out on the streets, and the first Earth Day remains the largest single day protest in human history. Key non-environmentally focused partners played major roles. Under the leadership of labor leader Walter Reuther, for example, the United Auto Workers (UAW) was the most instrumental outside financial and operational supporter of the first Earth Day.^[3][4][5] According to Hayes, “Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely flopped!”^[6] Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work.^[7]

The first Earth Day was focused on the United States. In 1990, Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international and organized events in 141 nations.^[8][9][10]

On Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and 120 other countries. This signing satisfied a key requirement for the entry into force of the historic draft climate protection treaty adopted by consensus of the 195 nations present at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

Numerous communities engaged in Earth Day Week actions, an entire week of activities focused on the environmental issues that the world faces.^[11] On Earth Day 2020, over 100 million people around the world observed the 50th anniversary in what is being referred to as the largest online mass mobilization in history.^[2] (Source: Earth Day – Wikipedia)

Porcupines:

Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family Erethizontidae. Both families belong to the infraorder Hystricognathi within the profoundly diverse order Rodentia and display superficially similar coats of quills. Despite this, the two groups are distinct from one another and are not closely related to each other within the Hystricognathi. The largest species of porcupine is the third-largest living rodent in the world after the capybara and beaver.

The Old World porcupines live in Southern Europe, Asia (western^[1] and southern), and most of Africa. They are large, terrestrial, and strictly nocturnal. In taxonomic terms, they form the family Hystricidae.

The New World porcupines are indigenous to North America and northern South America. They live in wooded areas and can climb trees, where some species spend their entire lives. They are less strictly nocturnal than their Old World relatives, and generally smaller. In taxonomic terms, they form the family Erethizontidae.

Most porcupines are about 60–90 cm (25–36 in) long, with a 20–25 cm (8–10 in) long tail. Weighing 5–16 kg (12–35 lb), they are rounded, large, and slow, and use an aposematic strategy of defence. Porcupines’ colouration consists of various shades of brown, grey and white. Porcupines’ spiny protection resembles that of the unrelated erinaceomorph hedgehogs and Australian monotreme echidnas as well as tenrecid tenrecs. (Source: Porcupine – Wikipedia)

Hawk Rock
Hawk Rock via Appalachian Trail is a 1.9 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Duncannon, Pennsylvania that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and bird watching and is best used from March until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash. (AllTrails)

Thanks for reading everyone!

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Hiking Posts

Just like we recently launched our “book review” section of the blog (for non – beer related books anyway, I had previously done a beer book review, and planning on doing more in the future), this launches our “hiking” blog posts section. There are a few hiking and brewery travelogue posts that you can find here on the site (Rickett’s Glen) as well as some where we visited a battlefield or location and then nearby breweries (Gettysburg and Monocacy).

But this is the beginning of a series of just “hiking” posts, where I discuss a trail (or more, depending on the hike) and how it was, where it is, etc. I take my dog (Leela) hiking, as well as go hiking by myself a lot, usually once per week, sometimes once every two weeks, depending on work, activities, kids, etc.

The hiking blog posts will be pretty similar to the book reviews and beer reviews done on the site. I’ll detail the hike I did, the hike’s path, and upload a picture of the route I take, as well as link to AllTrails (an app and website for hiking – that is similar to Untappd and GoodReads for hiking). AllTrails is a really great app that I recommend very highly, especially for new and novice hikers (points to himself), there is a paid and free version. I currently only use the free version, but I can see the benefits of the paid version.

COVID really helped sparked the ‘hiking’ bug in me last year, leading to many fun and exciting trips. By myself, with my dog Leela, with my daughters, with my friend Ming and his partner Don or just Ming, with Deuane, Gabe, and several others. What started as me taking my dog on various walks and hitting new parks using Google Maps, turned into me joining various Pennsylvania and nearby state Facebook groups dedicated to hiking, state parks, etc, which led me to getting AllTrails. What started as walking smaller parks and rivers and creeks, turned into hiking hills, (mountains technically), deep valleys (like the PA Grand Canyon), glens with waterfalls (Rickett’s Glen) and fantastic vistas like Pinnacle and Pulpit Rock, Hawk Rock, etc, and has taken me hiking in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana.

Hopefully 2021 and the future has much more hiking adventures in store, and I’d like to start sharing them here on the blog. Just like the book reviews, most won’t gel and team up with beer and brewing, but some might. If your uninterested, you can always ignore or move on. But in some cases, the hiking will lead to breweries (as often is the case with Ming and Deuane and Gabe, be it nearby breweries or brand new ones), you can read much of those stories in the Travelogues section. For just hiking blog posts, check out the hiking section.

The Lead – Up

So what brought me to Rattling Run? Just like my beer reviews, brewery reviews, and book reviews, this section of the hiking posts (probably won’t go with such a bad headline as ‘The Lead – Up’ everytime from here on out) will pretty much just be my (typical) lead – in to the hike post. I will discuss the day leading up to the hike, what lead me to that particular hike and place, and who all was with me (be it Ming or Leela or whoever).

So this particular case, I had to drive out to Front Street of Harrisburg to drop off something, and took Leela with me, knowing I wanted to go hiking somewhere. After my errand, I then called up my AllTrails app, and looked for a nice hike in the area. I wanted something that would involve a climb, hopefully for something with a nice vista or overlook, and something that would have at least some level of challenge, since it was just me and my dog with, I didn’t have to worry about anyone else and it being too hard.

There were a couple of options, and several of them were similar or connected to Rattling Run and such, but I decided to try this one out based on length (AllTrails listed it as 10.8 Miles), some of the pictures people have uploaded of the trail, and the tower at the top of the trail looked interesting.

The trail is located on State Game Lands Number 211 and was about a 15-18 minute drive from Front Street of Harrisburg (Fort Hunter).

Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run

In the future, this segment will be where I give some of the details of the actual hike. What AllTrails gives as its description, as well as my MapMyRun map of the area I hiked and walked, this will give you a good idea of the hike and if you want to do it in the future, will give you some information on how to get there and what the paths and trails look like. The last section I’ll probably call “The Hike” and will be my discussion of the actual hike, my thoughts on it, my pictures, what I did, what I saw, what I liked, didn’t like, etc, etc, etc.

So firstly, right out of the gate, my very first hike post, and it will already slightly deviate from the norm….. figures right? I took the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run trail to get to the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower, but then on the way back down I took the Water Tank Trail, so I actually did two trails instead of just one. So for this, I will cover the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run trail, and then I will discuss / cover the Water Tank Trail that I took back down.

The above picture is a little bit of a ‘side – walk’ at the top of Rattling Run when you finish the climb up and get on the plateau area. Me and Leela checked out a few of these cut and burn areas to see if they led anywhere, and as far as I could tell none did. They did look interesting, and sort of creepy in a Hollywood movie kind of way, and they did have a path to them, but none really led anywhere, so after a while I would loop back to the main trail.

Hike: Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run
Location: State Game Lands Number 211
Near: Dauphin, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Length: 10.8 Miles (as per AllTrails)
Elevation: 1,335 Feet Gain (as per AllTrails)
Route Type: Out and Back
AllTrails Map: Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run
AllTrails Description: Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run Trail is a 10.8 mile out and back trail located near Dauphin, Pennsylvania that features a great forest setting. The trail is rated as moderate and is primarily used for hiking, trail running, and mountain biking.

Water Tank Trail via Stony Creek Rail Trail

After getting to the tower on the way back down, I decided to switch things up, instead of just doing a straight out and back (like the original trail would be), I decided to veer off and take a divergence, going down the Water Tank Trail to get down to the Rail Trail which connects to the road that leads to where I parked my car at the bottom of Rattling Run.

Hike: Water Tank Trail via Stony Creek Rail Trail
Location: State Game Lands Number 211
Near: Dauphin, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Length: 6.5 Miles (as per AllTrails)
Elevation: 1,125 Feet Gain (as per AllTrails)
Route Type: Loop
AllTrails Map: Water Tank Trail via Stony Creek Rail Trail
AllTrails Description: Water Tank Trail via Stony Creek Rail Trail is a 6.5 mile lightly trafficked loop trail located near Dauphin, Pennsylvania that features a waterfall and is rated as difficult. The trail is primarily used for hiking.

The Hike

I got to the base of the Rattling Run at just shy of 10:30AM. Got the dog unloaded and started up the app, at apparently exactly 10:30AM (thats a nifty coincidence, and not one I tried, and just now noticed I achieved). Sadly, I was woefully unprepared for the hike. I had my leash for Leela in case anyone came by (only passed one man the entire hike, and that was going down the Water Tank Trail portion), but I didn’t bring my backpack (an orange Bengals backpack in case of hunters), so I also had no waters, or food, or anything else; and I also didn’t bring a sweatshirt or hoodie or anything, which I usually start off with, and if too hot can take off and stuff in the backpack. And of course…. that meant nature would make it bitter cold and windy.

Once I had gotten on the road leading to the parking area, I realized this was a trail I took my daughters to last summer (probably early May) during COVID. We got to the top of the hill / mountain and ate lunch, explored the plateau area a bit, enjoyed the view, and then went back down. And the girls ….absolutely complained…. at every single… step… of… the ….. way. Every. Single. Step. It was this: Step. “Ugh.” Step. “This. Sucks.” Step. “Why is it so steep?” Step. “Are we there yet?” Step. “This is tall. Step. “Why is it so steep?” Step. “Can we take a break?” Step. “I hate you dad.”

Luckily, Leela didn’t do nearly as much complaining. Actually, she was the complete opposite. She loved it, and loved being able to be off the leash because there was nobody around. (Shhh, don’t tell anyone how rebellious I’m being by not keeping her on the leash 24/7 on park land.) The hike was certainly steep going up, but not quite as steep as the Fort Hunter Conservancy hill I did the day before, nor as bad as I had remembered it with the girls. Granted, this time I was in hiking boots instead of running sneakers, but I doubt that made much more of a difference. Maybe the year of hiking and trips and walking more helped? Or maybe being just me and the dog it felt differently? No clue.

But, I can say, it was certainly bitter and at times quite windy and when the wind really got going it was a fair bit cold. I was in just jeans and a Pizza Boy t-shirt (with the hiking boots), and I certainly felt the cold at times, especially at the point where I got to the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower.

The main walk / hike is up the hill via Rattling Run. Basically a car size stone road leading up to the top. It does get pretty steep in some places but never to the point of being outrageous or too extremely difficult. The weather was a bit bitter and cold and windy, and plant life wasn’t quite fully emerged yet, so it was still a lot of ‘dead winter’ looking trees, a lot of browns instead of greens, and not a whole lot of animal life. Some squirrels, a few birds circling overhead or heard in the distance. Not a soul to be found, so I allowed Leela to be off the leash (kept the leash in my back pocket). She stayed mostly with me, sometimes going ahead, sometimes hanging back for a sniff here or there, but she did really well for an 11 year old Border Collie. It took about an hour and 20 to 30 minutes to get to the top and the plateau.

The plateau area (or top of the hill / mountain) is mostly flat, with a few little dips and such. Its mostly open spaced with some trees along the sides of the paths. You can see off the hill / mountain on the one side and it has some nice views. It was about another two miles to get to the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower.

The tower itself sits on an area of the trail that is technically the end of the Rattling Run trail I took, and is also a part of the H. Knauber Trail, and I believe one or two others (would have to check AllTrails other trails to find out and correlate). At this point, it would be the end of the trail on the out and back portion, so here you would turn around, and go right back the way you came. The tower sits in a small square barbed wire fenced area and is off limits, though there obviously has been recent attempts to get in (successfully too it looks). The one side of the fencing paneling was removed. I walked a little of the surrounding area which was part of the H. Knauber Trail, before returning to the tower and then back the way I came towards Rattling Run.

At about the six mile mark of my journey I made it back to the intersection of the Water Tank Trail and the Rattling Run Trail I had been taking. When I first passed it, I decided I would think about taking this way on the way back down, and once I reached it, I made the decision to take it. Figured it’d be more interesting to make a loop and to see new areas rather than just re-walk the area I had already previously been to.

The Water Tank Trail was extremely difficult going down. Firstly, for some of it, its just the water spillage from the top of the hill / mountain, and that’s also the same as the trail, so you have wet sloggy, muddy, rocky, terrain…. then you get to the real fun. At this point, the water is on both sides of your “path” (and I use the term loosely) and it does offer a beautiful waterfall view on each side. But, your movement down, is completely loose rock, shale and other stone, and each step down causes small avalanches of rocks tumbling down. The path is somewhat marked, but it is hard to see, and at times I found myself looking for a good minute before seeing the blue markings on the trees.

As you can see in the pictures above, both Leela and I had a hard time going down the hill / mountain this way, but we did make it. I would rate this portion of the trail difficult to extremely difficult depending on your skill level. I wouldn’t recommend it without hiking boots.

The view going down was beautiful though. The water cascading on each side of the path was tremendously beautiful, and the lovely gurgling sounds of the water was really pleasant the whole way down. The trees were still bare and wintry though, so not much in the way of vegetation or animal life to observe, but the water cascading on each side made it all worthwhile.

It does taper out at the bottom of the hill and becomes easier to walk, at this point it just becomes a slightly rocky walk through the woods. It then connects to the Stony Creek Rail Trail, which is a biking, hiking, walkway / trail for people to take. I walked this for a few miles til it connects to the road that led me to the access point for Rattling Run trailhead. The flat area of the Rail Trail was nice, and offered a nice view looking down over an embankment, which looked like it had several little trails one could access if one wanted (I didn’t try any).

Conclusion

This was a fun hike. Granted I went when it was still somewhat wintry (thanks Pennsylvania “Spring”) and I didn’t bring a sweatshirt or hoodie, but the actual hike itself was nice. Going up Rattling Run and down Winter Tank Trail was moderate to difficult I would say. I think most can go up the Rattling Run if they are in good health and have no ankle or knee issues that would be too much for most other hikes. Going down the Water Tank Trail was a bit more difficult due to the loose and moving stone under foot. Perhaps different seasons it might be better, and there might also be less water to see cascading down on each side.

There isn’t anything exceptional about seeing the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower, and since its closed, you can’t access it and go up it, so it’s not quite the impressive landmark that it could be (like the tower at Governor Dick for example), but it was still nice to get to go and see it, especially since I didn’t get to do that last year with my daughters.

Dogs should be fine on the hike as well, Leela is an 11 year old border collie (will be 12 in November / December) and had no issues. (She is a great hiking dog and loves going on long walks and hikes.) I would recommend a leash for your pet just in case, as I expect the trail sees more activity in better weather. I know when we went last summer there was a lot more foot traffic on the Rattling Run trail (some runners, some walkers, some hikers, various ages, a few dogs on leashes).

All in all, I would recommend the hike. Maybe not as a first time hiker or a novice, but as someone experienced enough and energetic enough. It also doesn’t have the most amazing vistas or anything, but the find of waterfalls on the Water Tank Trail on the way down was nice and a welcome surprise. It was just over a 10 mile hike, and took me nearly 4 hours to complete (counting time to take pictures, hiking, going a bit past the areas of the map, etc.).

I hope everyone enjoyed the first ‘hike’ blog post here on The Beer Thrillers. If people tend to like these, I will certainly post more in the future. I know I have done some in the past that correlated with breweries I / we / us visited afterwards; but this was the first hiking blog article that was more in the vein of the beer reviews (and now also book reviews) that I’ve done on the blog. I hope people will like the divergence from the beer related articles and themes of the site and enjoy and indulge me on my “side projects” or “vanity projects” if you will. There will certainly be plenty more book and hike reviews and stories in the near (and far) future here on the blog if people don’t mind indulging me.

As always, be sure to leave a comment or question if you have anything to say, as I would love to hear from all of you. Be sure to like, subscribe, and follow us, here on the blog as well as our social media pages. I hope everyone is doing well and safe and getting vaccinated so we can get back to the old normal instead of the new normal. As always, thanks for reading, and cheers!

-B. Kline

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

The subtitle I used for the recap article about Day Three was “I woke up in Washington and ended up in Dayton, how did I get here?” And its pretty accurate. Counting West Virginia (which I was only supposed to be in for all of about six to eight minutes) I traveled in three states and a fair bit of distance. So lets discuss how I got from Washington (Pennsylvania) to Dayton (Ohio) all in one day, and what all I did therein.

Also, before we go on, I believe my picture above of the lake at Salt Fork State Park is an optical allusion (that or maybe I’ve finally fully lost it and I’m going nuts); but to me it feels like if you stare at the picture long enough it looks like the waves are moving. Let me know if you see it… or if I have just lost my marbles. (Maybe its both?)

Day three saw me leaving my hotel outside of The Meadows Casino around 9:30AM, and heading to Ohio. Unfortunately, I have to go through West Virginia to get to Ohio in this part of the region… and that involves me getting pulled over by a West Virginia State Trooper. Sigh. So it goes I guess, but it does suck, and is a needless 190$ expense to add to the total cost of my trip, it also made me a bit later getting to my first stop which was the Salt Fork State Park.

There is a large beautiful lake at Salt Fork State Park, as well as several hiking trails over by the golf course. The lake was gorgeous and so serene, and at 10:30-11AM the park and lake area was completely empty. Just me, some blobby dead jellyfish looking things on the beach, lots of deer footprints, and the sad, quiet, solemn sound of the waves of the lake lapping onto the beach. I sat by the beach for a fair bit of time, just taking in the quiet and solitude, the solemnity of the here and now and the sereneness of it all.

The wooded trails there were nice though easy and not much to see, but they were quiet, serene, and peaceful. The whole place had a very serene atmosphere, a malaise or laze-faire peace and serenity to it all. Seeing nobody in sight pretty much the entire time I was in the state park certainly helped add the elusive nature of the place, like I had stumbled back in time and found a beach and lake and small wooded grove that only I knew about and nobody else ever would.

From here I traveled further into Ohio on my way to Columbus. Stopping briefly at a brewery / winery / restaurant / pizzeria on a hill. The restaurant was called Georgetown Tavern on the Hill; the brewery located there was called Southside Brewing Company. Had a gorgeous view of a vineyard and down an impressive hill.

The pizza was very good, and the beer was refreshing and nice on a beautiful, gorgeous, sunny day.

Beer: Blueberry Wheat
Brewery: Southside Brewing Co.
Style: Wheat Beer – American Pale Wheat
ABV: 6%
IBU: 30 IBU
Untappd Description: Traditional wheat beer with a hint of blueberry.

It was refreshing, and nice and there was a hint of blueberry. Perfectly acceptable on a sunny day in early November as a quick-stop pint to grab while breaking up the drive through Ohio.

My Untappd Rating: ***.5
Global Untappd Rating: (Only 9 ratings, not enough for a global rating yet.)

Next up, I stopped at Blackhand Gorge. Which was a series of trails on two sides of a main road. On one side, you had a trail along the creek / river which also included being able to walk down into what was the remains of the Erie Canal; and on the other side you had a walk that took you through a rock tunnel and you could also climb to the top of this giant rock plateau. The one side of the river was more of a bike trail that stretched for miles and miles, the other was a hiking trail. Both were very cool, and had numerous spots to stop and take pictures.

The drive to Blackhand Gorge was interesting. At one point on the highway a firetruck was coming up behind me, so I got over for it, and soon after it passed me, its hose came unattached from the top, and followed behind the firetruck like a long kite tail until it eventually completely unattached. The firetruck unaware the entire time kept speeding on. I was making sure to keep a good 10 – 15 feet back from the hose, which was trailing for probably about 20 – 30 feet from the firetruck itself. Once it became unattached and flew back, I had to quickly swerve so it didn’t hit the car, and it nearly clipped the car behind me who was riding my tail pretty aggressively.

After the Gorge it was finally time to head into Columbus. On the way there, I passed the Longerberger Basket building, office, headquarters, what have you. Reminded me of my aunt who used to sell their baskets, as well as my (ex) mother in law who did as well.

Once in Columbus, the first brewery to hit was Wolf’s Ridge Brewing. Parking was about a half block away, and was only 3$ for 6 hours, which for a city, is fantastic. Also, next to the parking lot was Elevator Brewing, where they were working on inside – unfortunately they weren’t open yet, and were still doing the work on the building, so I had to skip them. Wolf’s Ridge Brewing though more than made up for it.

Due to COVID, instead of eating and sitting inside, they turned the alley to the side of their brewery into a make-shift patio with a construction set barrier around the place. I had two full drafts there while reading and talking to an amazing bartender / server. Very beautiful and sweet lady who chatted with me about their brewery, my trip, Indianapolis, Harrisburg, and all kinds of things.

The first beer I got was the Buchenrauch. I can’t turn down a Rauchbier when I see it on a menu. I just can’t. Always have to give it a try, just to see how the brewery handles doing such a hard beer style. Luckily (and unsurprising for anyone who knows Wolf’s Ridge Brewing) they absolutely nailed it.

Beer: Buchenrauch
Brewery: Wolf’s Ridge Brewing
Style: Rauchbier
ABV: 5.7%
IBU: 20 IBU
Untappd Description:

2016 Gold Medal winner: San Diego International Beer Competition

2016 Gold Medal: Alltech Commonwealth Cup

2017 Silver: Alltech Commonwealth Cup

2016 Bronze: Indiana Brewers’ Cup

2015 Bronze Medal winner: San Diego International Beer Competition

This traditional smoked lager style hails from Bamberg Germany. The name literally means “beech smoke,” which pays homage to the time honored tradition of smoking the malt over beech wood to create the signature smooth smokiness. Mahogany in color and rich in flavors of campfire smoke and crusty bread. Buchenrauch is crisp and savory. The lager yeast and cold aging provide smooth drinkability and will leave you wanting more than just one.

Delicious, lovely beer. Compared to the medals and awards this beer has won, my recommendation means very little, but I do certainly highly recommend it. If you are in the Columbus area, this is worth the stop at Wolf’s Ridge Brewing alone.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.69 (as of 11.27.20)

Beer: Dire Wolf
Brewery: Wolf’s Ridge Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Russian Imperial
ABV: 10.4%
IBU: 50 IBU
Untappd Description: 2017 Gold: Beer Army Beer Wars

2016 Silver Medal: Best of Craft Beer Awards

2015 Gold Medal winner: San Diego International Beer Competition

Canis Dirus, or “fearsome dog,” is the scientific name for the Dire Wolf. One of the largest known breeds of wolf, the Dire Wolf went extinct at the end of the last ice age. Similarly, the Russian Imperial Stout was a beer style destined for extinction until craft brewers in America began to resurrect historical styles. Our Imperial Stout is named for the Dire Wolf because it is big, bold, and fearsome. Brewed with copious amounts of oats and brown sugar. Black as night with a dense tan head and chewy texture. Notes of dark chocolate, caramel, and espresso stand against a hefty bitterness to balance this monstrous beer.

Another style I absolutely love – Russian Imperial Stouts (RIS). For any Game of Thrones geeks out there, the name is great too. This was a boozy, heavy, delicious, rich, strong and very powerful beer.

My Untappd Rating: ****.5
Global Untappd Rating: 4.04 (as of 11.27.20)

Sadly, I had to move on and say goodbye to the bartender and the great brewery. I had enough time to hit one more brewery in Columbus before heading out to Dayton, my stop for the night (to shorten the trip for the next day). The second brewery I got to try out in Columbus was Land-Grant Brewing Company. Which was kind of set in a hipster like location, right across the street from BrewDog Ohio. Their ordering system was all on the phone, and was actually a bit of a challenge, as you had to pick your flight of beers all from their online menu which made things a bit more difficult than need be, but I don’t begrudge any breweries right now with strong COVID-19 / coronavirus safety protocols.

At Land-Grant Brewing, I ordered a flight that I had to wolf down pretty quickly to be able to get to Dayton in time for both the brewery there and the hotel and to call it on the day, and be somewhat near Indianapolis for tomorrow. According to Untappd, Land-Grant Brewing is a micro brewery; obviously located in Columbus Ohio, it has 531 Unique Beers, and over 163K ratings, with an average rating of 3.7 (as of 11.27.20). There is no Untappd description for the brewery.

The flight I ordered was:

• Beard Crumbs
• Make Mine Irish
• Skull Session
• Son of a Mudder
• Bottomless Coffee

Beer: Beard Crumbs
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Oatmeal
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 42
Untappd Description: Beard Crumbs is a smooth dark stout teeming with notes of chocolate, coffee, and an extra punch of holiday cheer via the addition of carmelized raisins. It delivers the joy of an oatmeal raisin cookie, minus the crumbly clean up.

It’s a festive ale that old Saint Nick himself would love.

This was a fun, tasty oatmeal stout. Ginger, nutmeg, or cinnamon rounded out the chocolate and coffee to make it feel more ‘festive’ and like a Christmas or Thanksgiving beer.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.71 (as of 11.27.20)

Beer: Make Mine Irish
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 8.4%
IBU: 33
Untappd Description: Sometimes a well brewed cup of coffee isn’t quite enough on its own. Sometimes a well brewed glass of beer needs a little something extra to push it over the top. Both benefit from a warming dose of whiskey. For that reason we brewed this hearty Irish Coffee Stout with Stauf’s whiskey-barrel-aged coffee beans, creating a compound of smooth chocolaty stout, roasted coffee, and rich, smoky whiskey. So when you’re craving a beer, a coffee, or a whiskey, might as well make yours Irish.

A good ‘Irish’ coffee stout. Strong and bold and powerful. Good full stout flavor even in a taster, very nice.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.89 (as of 11.27.20)

Beer: Skull Session
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Lager – Red
ABV: 5.8%
IBU: 15
Untappd Description: This easy drinking Scarlet Lager owes a tip of its cap to a timeless autumn tradition. A chance to clear your mind before Saturday’s main event. This beer draws its ruddy hue from Red X malt, while maintaining a bright, classic balance from the addition of Tettnang and Chinook hops. This is a lager that’s in formation and ready to march.

An interesting lager. A lot going on flavor wise, but still pretty crispy. A fun and interesting take on the lager style. Wouldn’t mind trying some more Red Lagers in the future especially back home; see how other breweries do the style.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.63 (as of 11.27.20)

Beer: Son of a Mudder
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale – American
ABV: 6.1%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: Nevermind the conditions. This Brown Ale’s father was a Mudder, and his mother was a Mudder. This is a true and true American Brown Ale with a subtle hop presence at the turn and toffee, caramel, and coffee notes waiting at the finish line. When they’re calling for rain, dig in deep and grab a Mudder. It’s a sure thing.

I love brown ales, and I think the older I’m getting (ugh, scary thought) the more I’m enjoying them even moreso. This was no exception. Fantastic brown ale that is true to the style.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.6 (as of 11.27.20)

Beer: Bottomless Coffee
Brewery: Land-Grant Brewing Company
Style: Lager – Vienna
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Perfect any time of day, this easy drinking Vienna Lager gets a rich, roasty pick-me-up from a big old pot of Stauf’s India Malabar Coffee beans—roasted right here in Columbus, Ohio. Grab a stool, get comfortable, and we’ll keep your cup topped-off.

Another interesting lager take. A coffee Vienna lager. Not your normal thought for a lager is coffee. This works really well though actually, and I really enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. I always love it when a beer exceeds my expectations.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.51 (as of 11.27.20)

Sadly, I pretty much had to wolf these beers down and bolt, and couldn’t stay and enjoy the ambiance of the place. In an outdoor patio next door looked like there was a big game of trivia going down. Not sure if this was tied in with Land-Grant Brewing or with the BrewDog from across the street. It might have been a communal area or for just the one brewery. If I had to guess, I would say it was tied in with Land-Grant Brewing or maybe the old school bar nearby too. I don’t think it was tied in with BrewDog. But it looked impressive with a big seating area, a huge screen for the trivia, and a lot of people…. hopefully socially distanced and wearing masks when not drinking.

But, I was off now to my last stop, and had to book it too. I had to get to Dayton, and had to get there fast. I was heading to The Wandering Griffin, a brewery just outside of Dayton (technically considered Beaver Creek, Ohio) and right by my motel stop for the night. From Land-Grant to The Wandering Griffin its a 1 Hour and 1 Minute drive if Google Maps is to be believed. I wanna say I made it there a bit faster than that… but not going to incriminate myself.

I get to Dayton (or Beaver Creek) just before shutting down. I sit outside on their patio and enjoy a pint of Oktoberfest (2020). The place had an Applebee’s turned brewery vibe to it, or pick your own chain restaurant type place. Chili’s, Red Robin, Jiffy State, or whatever is local to your area type place. Not taking anything away from the place, it was nice, great patio area, nice bartender / server / worker, and the beer was good too.

According to Untappd, The Wandering Griffin is a brew pub in Beaver Creek, Ohio. They have 41 Unique Beers with 2,400+ ratings and an average global rating of 3.66 (as of 11.27.20). Their description reads: “We are The Wandering Griffin Brewery. We brew some really killer beer. We have lots and lots of room (over 10,000 square-feet) for you to drink our killer beer. Our floor is brown. We also have one really big ass patio. You can drink our killer beer there to. We also make some really killer grub. Did we mention that our beer is really good? We look forward to seeing you soon. Really. Parking? We have the largest parking lot in Dayton. Bring the bus! Brewery, full-service restaurant, beer garden and 3 bars. Great space for your event – large or small! Conveniently located off 675 exit 15 near WSU, WPAFB and Nutter Center.”

I ordered the Oktoberfest (2020), and went out to the patio to sit, it soon started to drizzle slightly, but nothing horribly, and I had a table umbrella over my head, so I enjoyed my pint.

Beer: Oktoberfest (2020)
Brewery: The Wandering Griffin
Style: Lager – Amber
ABV: 6%
IBU: 28
Untappd Description:

Prost! Our 2020 Oktoberfest is brewed using a blend of select German hops, Pale, Munich, and Vienna malts. Together, these ingredients bring notes of freshly toasted bread and a touch of fruit character to the brew. At 6% ABV and 28 IBU, this year’s Oktoberfest is a big yodel to beer’s biggest party…Even if we’re doing it from 6′ apart.
Küss unseren Arsch COVID!!!

I enjoyed it. It was a little weaker than some Marzens – probably because (according to their Untappd page for it) its a Lager – Amber rather than a Marzen, but it was still serviceable, especially after I’ve already stopped at two breweries in Columbus and the one earlier in the day (like a lifetime ago) in Georgetown. Was a nice enough end cap to the day.

My Untappd Rating: ***.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.63 (as of 11.27.20)

After bidding adieu to the bartender / server I hopped the two blocks over to my motel and finally crashed for the day. Day three in the books. It brought me from Washington Pennsylvania to Dayton Ohio. As I carried my stuff into the motel, it started raining (more than a drizzle, but not hard), my friends at home said it had poured earlier in the day. Fun note – this would be the only rain and “bad weather” on the entirety of my trip. And it was overnight while in Dayton. Can’t say a bad thing about the weather I had in early November while traveling from PA to IN. I got extremely fortunate there. So as Tuesday came to a close, I had another wonderful day on my trip. I went to a State Park, went to another hiking place (Blackhand Gorge), visited four breweries in three different cities of Ohio (Georgetown, Columbus, and Dayton) and pretty much traveled the entire way across Ohio. Tomorrow brings on Day Four and takes me into Indianapolis to finally make it to the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library – the reason and purpose for my trip. So make sure to come on back to check in with us here at The Beer Thrillers for that! We still also have Days Five, Six, and Seven to get through! Be sure to come back to read the conclusion to the whole trip!

Thanks for reading everyone. Hope you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, happy Thanksgiving, Black Friday, etc. Make sure to shop craft beer and not just scoop up the Goose Island Bourbon County crap, help the local breweries in these hard times, especially as the virus numbers keep getting higher and higher and shut downs look imminent. Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

• Day One: Thousand Steps Trail, Juniata Brewing Company, Ghost Town Trail, Levity Brewing
• Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, The Meadows Casino
• Day Three: Salt Fork State Park, Southside Brewing Company, Blackhand Gorge, Wolf’s Ridge Brewing, Land-Grant Brewing Company, and The Wandering Griffin
• Day Four:
• Day Five:
• Day Six:
• Day Seven:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

• The Trip to Indy
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Three Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Four Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Five Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Six Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Seven Recap
• Recap and Stats

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

• Going on the Road
• The Trip: Day 1 Recap
• The Trip: Day 2 Recap
• The Trip: Day 3 Recap

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

• A Road Trip to Rickett’s Glen
• The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

Visiting Reading Pennsylvania:

• A Visit to Reading
• The Birthday Trip to Reading Pennsylvania – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

A Road Trip to The PA Grand Canyon:

• Visiting Wellsboro PA and the Grand Canyon

Hiking Hawk Rock

• Hiking Hawk Rock and Visiting Liquid Noise Brewery

Hiking Pinnacle Trail and Pulpit Rock

• Hiking to Pinnacle Overlook, Pulpit Rock, Visiting 1787 Brewing and Schaylor Brewing

Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania:

• Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania – Pour Man’s Brewing, Black Forest Brewery

Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse:

• Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse in Shippensburg Pennsylvania

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

• Brewery Touring York and Hanover PA
• Brewery Hopping – 12.27.19
• Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg – 9.6.19

My Article for Breweries in PA:

• Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

• Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

• A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown
• A Brewery Tour of Mellow Mink
• Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works
• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing
• A Trip to Gettysburg and Beer Review: This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Road Trip Snacks (Panther Island Brewing)
• Brewery Review: The Ministry of Brewing
• Beer Review: Esmeralda (Ministry of Brewing)

Also, be sure to check out some of our other beer reviews in recent history:

• Beer Review: Dreams of Orgonon (Human Robot)
• Beer Review: Unicorns Stomping on Lanternflies (Saucony Creek Brewing Co)
• Beer Review: Griddle (Funk Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Out of Order: Blue Milk (RAR Brewing)
• Beer Review: Up the Creek Extreme Ale (Thomas Creek Brewery)
• Beer Review: Hershey’s Chocolate Porter (Yuengling Brewery)
• Beer Review: Dropout (Rubber Soul Brewing)
• Beer Review: Pigtoberfest (Boneshire Brew Works)
• Beer Review: I Voted Today (Tired Hands)
• Beer Review: Super Villain (Urban Village Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Wookie Monster (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Shallow Grave (Nitro) (Heretic Brewing)
• Beer Review: The Growfather (Stickman Brews)
• Beer Review: The Pandalorian (Tattered Flag)

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

My first stop of the day was a morning wake up hike. I was wanting to hike and see the Jackson Falls… but unfortunately, despite Google Maps saying you could access them, the land for Jackson Falls (recently?) became purchased by a water company and was considered private property and you were unable to use the road to them; it was now a private road / driveway for this water company.

But, there was a nearby hiking trail that went along the creek called Rock Furnace Trail, and I did hike that, and it led out by the river and was a bike / walk path called Roaring Run Trail, and I walked some of that as well. The trails were located in Apollo Pennsylvania, and the river that ran alongside Roaring Run Trail is called Kiskiminetas River. It was a beautiful path (both the Rock Furnace Trail and the Roaring Run Trail), the creek alongside Rock Furnace Trail was pretty, low, meandering, and the Kiskiminetas River was big and roaring with lots of rapids. Unfortunately, no real waterfalls or cascades to see, I assume all of those were at the Jackson Falls that were now on the private property.

After hiking and walking the two trails / paths, it was about 11AM when I left Apollo and made my way to Vandergrift Pennsylvania, for my first brewery stop of day two. Vandergrift was a small, quaint, old time town, that reminded me of the town from Back to the Future. Not sure why, but it just did. I walked a few blocks of it before / after drinking and eating at Allusion Brewing Company.

Allusion Brewing Company is a micro brewery located in Vandergrift Pennsylvania; just outside of Pittsburgh. According to Untappd it has 18 unique beers, with 542 ratings and has an average rating of 3.8. The Untappd description simply reads: “Vandergrift’s hometown brewery.” The oldest created unique beer was on 12.26.13, but then the next wasn’t until 5.24.14. It certainly seems like it’s a relatively new and small brewery, but the beers were great, the building was beautiful, and the staff – Jim – was wonderful. If you get a chance to go by Vandergrift, make sure to stop in, visit Allusion Brewing, and see Jim as bartender, wonderful guy, very nice, informative and talkative.

I got a flight at Allusion Brewing, which was in an old card catalogue holder from a library, which was pretty neat. My flight was:

• Oh, Bother!
• One Inning More
• Baker St. Brown
• V.I.Porter

Beer: Oh, Bother!
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 4.75%
IBU: 28
Untappd Description: A sweet malty golden colored blonde ale brewed with caramel malts and Canadian honey malt to achieve a sweet honey taste. A beer to enjoy in the Hundred Acre woods.
My Untappd Rating: 3.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.74 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: One Inning More
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: 5%
IBU: 45
Untappd Description: American Style Pale Ale brewed with Pale and Victory malts and bittered with American Willamette and Cascade hops to produce a balance beer with hints of earthy, floral, spice from the hops. Let’s hope the Mighty Casey won’t strike out so that you can enjoy another inning of entertainment and great beer.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Baker St. Brown
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale – English
ABV: 3.5%
IBU: 15
Untappd Description: Traditional Mild English Brown Ale brewed with English floor malted maris otter, English chocolate malts, and English Fuggle hops for a light drinking sessionable ale with hints of caramel and toasted bread. Sit back and enjoy one while you solve your latest mystery.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.75 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: V.I.Porter
Brewery: Allusion Brewing Company
Style: Porter – American
ABV: 4.8%
IBU: 38
Untappd Description: American style robust porter brewed with various caramel malts and black mat to achieve hints of roasted coffee and dark chocolate. Sit back and enjoy your beer knowing that proceeds from each pint goes toward projects to help the local community.
My Untappd Rating: 3.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 11.23.20)

Bidding Jim a farewell, I was off to Pittsburgh proper and made it to the city roughly around 12:30-1PM. For the second time now, Google Maps has led me astray with the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden. I took my daughters through Pittsburgh last summer – August – and it was closed the day we were there, despite Google Maps saying it was open. Same thing, again, Google Maps listed it as open, but it was closed (closed for the season on September 15th). I have since figured out the issue – the synagogue that the garden is attached to is open year round, and Google Maps based the hours for the garden on that of the synagogue and not the actual hours for the garden. Le sigh. At some point I will get to visit the garden and walk through it. I swear it!

From there, I got a special treat, I was invited by Bobby – the head brewer for Couch Brewery – to visit Couch Brewery (on a day they were closed) for a personal tour and sampling of the beers. He was in the building kegging up their upcoming release for their Black Friday stout bash; a collaboration he did with friends (home brewers and other breweries in the area) called The Four Horseman. This was an utter blast, and Bobby is a fantastic guy, funny, down to Earth, and very knowledgeable about beer, brewing, stouts, home brewing, bars, breweries, etc. Was a blast getting to hang out for a few hours, check out the brewery, and try the entire run of their beers on tap.

I will be doing a full article on just the brewery tour (look for that most likely tomorrow), so there will be plenty more to go than just what I list here, so be sure to check that article out.

Beers I got to sample at Couch Brewery:

• Recliner
• Morning Wood
• Hippie Blackberry Sour
• Sofa Quemando
• Fest Bump
• F1 Hazy IPA
• Thicc Ric
• Macho Man
• Atomic Clock
• Stardust – Mango Passion
• The Four Horseman (collaboration)

Beer: Recliner
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Oatmeal
ABV: 6%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: A delicious yet unconventional oatmeal stout brewed with the wrong hops, or so you would think. It delivers a wonderful silky smooth mouthfeel with a refreshing hint of citrus, a little bit of chocolate and a touch of coffee.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.67 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Morning Wood
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Hippie Blackberry Sour Ale
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 4.7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.68 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Sofa Quemando
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: 7.1%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Mexican Stout.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Fest Bump
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Festbier
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.7 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: F1 Hazy IPA
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.56 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Thicc Ric
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.53 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Macho Man
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Wheat Beer – Other
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Hibiscus Raspberry Lime Wheat
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.82 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Atomic Clock
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Red Ale – American Amber / Red
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.57 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Stardust – Mango Passion
Brewery: Couch Brewery
Style: Hard Seltzer
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 3.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.52 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: The Four Horseman
Breweries: Couch Brewery, Fury Brewing, 2 Homebrew Collaborators
Style: American Brown Ale

There is no Untappd listing for this, and I don’t recall if Bobby gave me information on ABV / IBU / etc. (No official rating for Untappd for me or for others either then; but I would give it a 4.25.)

Bobby also gave me a four pack to go, which included Macho Man, Sofa Quemando (for Drew), Atomic Clock, and Morning Wood. Couch Brewery on Untappd is listed as a micro brewery in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania with 113 unique beers, over 12 thousand ratings, and an average rating of 3.59. They have no Untappd description for their brewery.

I finally had to bid Bobby a fond adieu and promised if / when I’m back in the Pittsburgh area I would definitely be stopping in, at a time when the place is open, and hopefully with some friends. The brewery is great and he was an utter blast to hang out with.

After Couch Brewery, my next walking / hiking activity was Riverview Park at the top of Pittsburgh where the Allegheny Observatory is. I made a few mis-turns and went up and down those massively steep hills a few more times than I wished or would have liked to, and actually even went past the chapel where I took the girls last year – St. Anthony’s Chapel – (they have a piece of the cross that Jesus was crucified on) (I did not stop in) – but I finally made it to the top of Pittsburgh Hill or whatever its called, and walked the park and walking trails.

The park and walking trails were really nice. Nothing crazy intense, but just a good walking area for families and for people with dogs or what have you. Some pretty views and sights. Lots of deer too that were pretty tame an would walk right up to you. The Old Zoo trail was really nice and interesting to see old broken paths, old Zoo enclosures and buildings (like the Bear Pit) and old crumbling buildings and infrastructure. The whole area was very busy, but people were keeping distanced and walking within their own families and friends. It reminded me of ants crawling around on an ant hill with everyone going this way and that and doing their own thing, and looking at things or seeing different views, and just meandering around, getting exercise and fresh air.

Once it got dusk and dark I finally left after a good three or so hour walk. While up on Troy’s Hill I passed the Penn Brewery, but unfortunately they were closed. I still stopped for a picture of their building because its a very beautiful building.

My next stop was a brewery – that … fingers crossed, God Willing, and Google Maps hopeful – was open… and huzzah it was! Hop Farm Brewing Company. ….but they were at max capacity so I had to wait for someone to leave. I walked the block and came back and thankfully someone was leaving just as I came back, so I was able to snag a table.

Hop Farm Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Lawrenceville Pennsylvania. Lawrenceville is in between Pittsburgh and Washington (where the Meadows Casino is). Its still basically Pittsburgh, but not fully in Pittsburgh. Untappd lists them with 209 unique beers, over 49 thousand ratings and a global average rating of 3.65. Their Untappd description reads: “Hop Farm Brewing company is a independently partner owned brewery by Matthew and Emily Gouwens, in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Our focus is on sustainability and local sourcing while producing hoppy ales, farmhouse ales, sour ales and various other interesting brews.”

While there, I had a delicious hamburger and two beers. I had the Kulak and the Pittsburgh Pale Ale.

Beer: Kulak
Brewery: Hop Farm Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Russian Imperial
ABV: 9.8%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (blank)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 11.23.20)

Beer: Pittsburgh Pale Ale
Brewery: Hop Farming Brewing Company
Style: Pale Ale – American
ABV: (none listed)
IBU: (none listed)
Untappd Description: (blank)
(….well that was all very informative huh?)
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 11.23.20)

After leaving the brewery, I went to The Meadows Casino and Racetrack. I scoped the place out, talked to a few dealers about COVID and how things have been going there for them (compared to my work) and played a little bit of dice. (26$ thrown down on the table – 12 on the 6 and 8, dollar each for the dealers. Hit the 8 twice, didn’t press, got 28$, then seven’ed out, so dealers made 2$ off me, and I made 2$ and I was done. Meh.)

I stopped over at the bar, and tried to have a beer with a hot dog as it was starting to get late – 10:30ish, I saw a brewery I hadn’t had before – Sobel’s Obscure Brewery and got a pint, it ends up kicking after just a little bit of it, so I ended up with a Hazy Little Thing by Sierra Nevada (the bartender didn’t quite get what I meant by “local craft beer” and kept suggesting Yuengling Lager………).

Watched a little bit of the Monday Night game while there, then got back to the hotel at 11PM, to pretty much fall straight to bed.

Tomorrow’s article should be the Couch Brewery Tour and Sampling, so be sure to check out that. Then it’ll probably be followed up with a few beer reviews, and then I will pick back up with the Trip articles. The next will be me entering Ohio, Salt Fork State Park, and Columbus and Dayton. Lots more great pictures, hikes, and breweries to go, so stay tuned and don’t miss it!

Thank you all for reading! Love to hear from you, so be sure to leave a comment or talk it up with me, you can also check out our social media pages and comment and talk to us there as well.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

• Day One: Thousand Steps Trail, Juniata Brewing Company, Ghost Town Trail, Levity Brewing
• Day Two: Rock Furnace Trail, Allusion Brewing Company, Couch Brewery, Riverview Park, Hop Farm Brewing Company, The Meadows Casino
• Day Three:
• Day Four:
• Day Five:
• Day Six:
• Day Seven:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

• The Trip to Indy
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Three Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Four Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Five Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Six Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Seven Recap
• Recap and Stats

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

• Going on the Road
• The Trip: Day 1 Recap
• The Trip: Day 2 Recap
• The Trip: Day 3 Recap

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

• A Road Trip to Rickett’s Glen
• The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

Visiting Reading Pennsylvania:

• A Visit to Reading
• The Birthday Trip to Reading Pennsylvania – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

A Road Trip to The PA Grand Canyon:

• Visiting Wellsboro PA and the Grand Canyon

Hiking Hawk Rock

• Hiking Hawk Rock and Visiting Liquid Noise Brewery

Hiking Pinnacle Trail and Pulpit Rock

• Hiking to Pinnacle Overlook, Pulpit Rock, Visiting 1787 Brewing and Schaylor Brewing

Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania:

• Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania – Pour Man’s Brewing, Black Forest Brewery

Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse:

• Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse in Shippensburg Pennsylvania

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

• Brewery Touring York and Hanover PA
• Brewery Hopping – 12.27.19
• Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg – 9.6.19

My Article for Breweries in PA:

• Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

• Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

• A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown
• A Brewery Tour of Mellow Mink
• Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works
• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing
• A Trip to Gettysburg and Beer Review: This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Road Trip Snacks (Panther Island Brewing)
• Brewery Review: The Ministry of Brewing
• Beer Review: Esmeralda (Ministry of Brewing)

Also, be sure to check out some of our other beer reviews in recent history:

• Beer Review: Dreams of Orgonon (Human Robot)
• Beer Review: Unicorns Stomping on Lanternflies (Saucony Creek Brewing Co)
• Beer Review: Griddle (Funk Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Out of Order: Blue Milk (RAR Brewing)
• Beer Review: Up the Creek Extreme Ale (Thomas Creek Brewery)
• Beer Review: Hershey’s Chocolate Porter (Yuengling Brewery)
• Beer Review: Dropout (Rubber Soul Brewing)
• Beer Review: Pigtoberfest (Boneshire Brew Works)
• Beer Review: I Voted Today (Tired Hands)
• Beer Review: Super Villain (Urban Village Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Wookie Monster (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Shallow Grave (Nitro) (Heretic Brewing)
• Beer Review: The Growfather (Stickman Brews)
• Beer Review: The Pandalorian (Tattered Flag)

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Its now been a week since I’ve returned from my trip (my last day of my vacation and trip was last Saturday – November 14th, 2020; and today is now November 22nd, 2020). Each night I posted a quick recap of each day, and you’ll be able to find the links to that at the end of this article, as well as the links to the full articles as well.

I was debating how I wanted to do this, if I wanted to do them daily, with a new article for each day, or if I wanted to break it up into two or three day chunks (like day one through day three being one article), or just one giant article with all seven days in one. I’m not sure whats best, but I last second decision, I’m doing them as daily articles, and might do one long combined one as well (just copy and paste of the seven articles into one with some added post-scripts) for ease of readers who prefer one larger article.

I can’t easily break into geographically, because I go from Pennsylvania through West Virginia into Ohio, to Indianapolis, back to Ohio, jumping into Kentucky, to West Virginia, back to Pennsylvania – with days in between each state, so doing it geographically wouldn’t work; so I was left with just doing this chronologically.

For those of you used to my beer reviews and other articles, these travelogues are more rambling, more stream of consciousness remembrances of my trips and how they transpired. I keep things chronological, and I remember and recall them in order of how they happened, but I’m more prone to digressions, discussions of what happened, and I do a little less editing, so some of this might seem like rambling, or like George R.R. Martin writing a feast. But hopefully, you find it entertaining, and at least enjoy the read.

Firstly, an overview of my trip. I was given six days off – Monday through Saturday (with my natural days off work being Thursday and Friday; so I was really given Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday – four days off). I called off Sunday (day one of this trip) to give myself a full seven days off. Ironically, due to having to ‘quarantine’ when returning, I got myself an extra ten days and it turned into a seventeen day vacation. But I’ll get to that later, probably at the end of the whole series.

Work has been hectic with vacation days due to how COVID-19 and the shutdown / lockdown and quarantine earlier in the year screwed up pretty much everyone’s vacation days. Once coming back we weren’t allowed vacation days or even PTO / requested days, and once they posted when vacation days were allowed, everyone jumped on them before I could even get to it. Despite being top twenty seniority, I was low man on the totem pole due to not signing up right away.

So, I was only given four days off rather than the standard week (whatever your week is, since we have different weekend off days). My plan was to drive out to Indianapolis, to be at the Vonnegut Museum and Library, on November 11th, Veteran’s Day, Armistice Day, Kurt Vonnegut’s birthday. And then drive back home. I wanted to stop out and do some hiking trails on the way out and back. And hit up a lot of breweries too of course. Planned hiking trails were Hocking Hills in Ohio, 1000 Steps Trail in Pennsylvania, and Ohiopyl in Pennsylvania.

I am not much of a driver, not a huge fan of it. Not really a big fan of driving for an hour just to get somewhere, and I think its one of the main reasons I’ve never been a huge traveler or even brewery jumper; I mean, I’ve hit every brewery near by, but unlike these guys in some of the beer groups and beer trading groups and such on Facebook / Twitter / etc, I’ve never been the most willing to drive an hour and a half to a brewery just to pick up a four pack (or a ton of four packs and mule them back) and then turn around and drive an hour and a half back home. The breweries I’ve visited were usually a result of being in the area for some form of vacation, trip, etc, especially when I was married and with my daughters. Go to the beach, hit a brewery in the area. Go to the Crayola Factory, hit a brewery in the area. Etc.

But, now that I am single (…hey ladies….) and divorced, and by myself, I have found I’ve been driving a bit more. Could be the single-ness and being by myself, could be COVID and having a lot more free time this year, but I’ve found myself driving an hour to go find a hiking trail and walking a hiking trail, like going to Pinnacle Overlook and Pulpit Rock in Hamburg, and then stopping at 1787 Brewing (check out my Hamburg Travelogue for more on that).

Last year, I had taken my daughters, just me and them, out north and west in Pennsylvania. Going up to Elk Country, to Kinzua Bridge, to Pittsburgh, to Bushy Run, and Johnstown, and back home. Was a way to escape and get away from the divorce that was beginning and happening, and the separation that wasn’t separating (hard to really call it a separation when she asks for the divorce and still stays in the house and lives in the same house for a while), and we had a wonderful time. You can check out those stories in the travelogue section as well. So this trip was going to follow a similar pattern, but instead of having with, it was just me. Not even my faithful canine companion Leela. Just me. On a six – now seven – day trip out to Indianapolis and back.

I did very little mapping for this, and did a lot more of the ‘winging’ it variety. Looking up some places in the morning / night before at hotels, and figuring out what I wanted, where I wanted to go, what I wanted to see and what I wanted to do. Typically I tried to break up my driving so I never drove more than an hour and a half at a time, and I would hit a small walk path or hiking trail or a brewery, just something to break up the monotony of driving, especially once you get into Ohio where its just all flat land.

Realizing that just Monday and Tuesday would probably not give me enough time to get to Indianapolis and hit some hiking trails, and do some drinking at breweries, I called off work Sunday, and started my trip a day early. I had to go to the Hershey Library and drop off some books, and so my trip started pretty much where it will end. Rubber Soul Brewing for a quick snack breakfast and wake up, then Hershey Library, and then on the road. Rubber Soul is right in town (Hummelstown) and will be the beginning and end to this trip, to give you some indication of my trip.

The above map shows you my first day’s trip and travel. Rubber Soul to Hershey Library, to Thousand Steps, to Juniata Brewing Company, to Ghost Town Trail, to Levity Brewing, and then right next to Levity (right across the street) was the hotel I spent the night in.

I typically tried to find a hotel / motel right (a block or two, or three at most) from the brewery I was last visiting, for many reasons, time, travel, safety, etc. Figured it was the best idea and limited issues that could pop up.

So, after dropping off books I had to drop off at the Hershey Library, I was on the road, about an hour or so to get to the Thousand Steps trail.

The parking lot / area for this hike path, is right along the highway. You pull off into a parking area and pull into parking spaces, and then walk about forty to fifty feet to the trailhead right alongside the highway. It was a gorgeous day, and I must say, I got extremely lucky for my entire trip. The first several days were the hottest, warmest, sunniest days of November that I can ever recall in my thirty five years of existence in Pennsylvania. The place was packed, so while everyone immediately went up the stairs, I turned left and took the Standing Stone Trail (North), which connects with the Thousand Steps trail.

This was a relatively simple trail, just at high altitude, and was off the beaten path of the Thousand Steps trail (which is primarily what everyone comes for). Didn’t pass a single soul on this two – three mile trail (a back and forth trail). Once back to the crossing with the Thousand Trails, I then went up the stairs.

I thought I was in shape. Really, not…. well, not “in shape” in shape. But at least not, dying any second, morbidly obese, shape either. Thirty five, I walk my dog a lot, I hike, I lift weights, but…. a thousand stairs / steps up, is pretty damn brutal, I won’t lie. I felt it. I think I gained one of those “booties” everyone is always talking about getting, just from walking up all the stairs.

My favorite quote, was, around the ledge, at I believe it was just over the 400 step mark, a rather rotund younger boy (probably 10 – 12) huffing, and puffing, leans against a tree, and says: “Thank god…. I’m never gonna do this again!” To which his dad then proudly points out that they are kind of at the halfway point. The look of pure dread and despair that crossed that poor boy’s face…. oh my.

These were all the pictures I took on the Standing Stone Trail, the Thousand Steps Trail, the various overlooks at the top, and the Dinky Shed at the top. (Its a large gallery, so you can either space your way through it or skip it.) (Yes, let this be your warning, that these travelogue posts will be including lots of pictures, and thankfully none of me, but lots of nature, waterfalls, lakes, parks, and of course… beer.)

While at the top, my internet kicked back in my phone, and as all the notifications and texts and everything pinged and pinged and came in, it was while sitting there at the top, that I got the notice that Alex Trebek passed away. I obviously never met him, and he never knew me or heard of me, but, I did grow up watching Jeopardy with my father, with my grandmother, and he always seemed like a person and a spirit that made the world better for having him in it. This is an unfortunate loss, to many, but he did fight, and he put up a good hard fight in the battle against Cancer. Hopefully some day we will defeat it, but in the meantime, its a fight that a lot will take on, and its not an easy one.

All told, my hiking was about 6 miles, and by the time I made it back to my car (where I nearly got hit by a dude flying on the highway, because I had to walk around a large SUV that didn’t want to fully pull up into their parking space) my legs were pretty tired. Nearby was Juniata Brewing Company, so that was my first brewery stop of the trip (outside of counting Rubber Soul at home).

This was a very nice location. Small, with a nice outdoor seating area. They had their own hops growing by the picnic area where you sat. And they did flights (which is my preferred method when traveling and trying new breweries for the first time). I got a flight of five.

My flight consisted of:

• Standing Stone Stout
• Rowdy Viking
• GAPA IPA
• Oktoberfest
• Raspberry Wheat

Beer: Standing Stone Stout
Brewery: Juniata Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: (None Listed)
IBU: (None Listed)
Untappd Description: A delicious stout brewed with Huntingdon’s own Standing Stone Coffee.
My Untappd Rating: 3.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.98 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: Raspberry Wheat
Brewery: Juniata Brewing Company
Style: Wheat Beer – Other
ABV: 5.4%
IBU: 15
Untappd Description: Lightly tart, slightly sweet. A good springtime companion!
My Untappd Rating: 3.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.78 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: Oktoberfest
Brewery: Juniata Brewing Company
Style: Marzen
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 25
Untappd Description: A classic marzen with light toasted and roasted flavors and a slight bitterness. Dark amber in color.
My Untappd Rating: 3.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.96 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: GAPA IPA
Brewery: Juniata Brewing Company
Style: IPA – Black / Cascadian Dark Ale
ABV: 5.4%
IBU: 40
Untappd Description: This Black IPA balances caramel notes and a slight rye spice with the resinous aroma of Chinook hops and a pleasing bitter finish. Collaboration brew with Our Culture Brewing out of Atlanta GA.
My Untappd Rating: 3.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.98 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: Rowdy Viking
Brewery: Juniata Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale – American
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 20
Untappd Description: A honey brown ale: malty, roasty, with a dry finish. Notes of honey and floral hops.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.94 (as of 11.22.20)

On Untappd, Juniata Brewing Company is listed as a Micro Brewery from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. They have 22 unique beers, 1,100 ratings, and an average rating of 3.89. They have no description on the site.

After leaving Juniata Brewing Company, I drove to the Ghost Town Trails at the Hoodlebug connection. Apparently, this is much more of a bike path and trail than it is a walking path, especially at this conjuncture – if you want to see anything. It was also starting to get a bit darker (one of the problems about this trip being in November, was that by 4:00PM it was becoming dusk, by 4:30PM it was near dark, and at 5:00PM it was completely dark). There is a lot to see on the Ghost Town Trail, old abandoned buildings and such, but not where I walked. I walked the path for about 2-3 miles, and did the loop of the playground, and went back to my car.

After this, I drove up the fifteen or so minutes to Indiana and visited what was a wonderful brewery. Top three breweries of my entire trip, and in all of my travels, probably a top ten brewery I’ve visited (total, out of all the countless breweries I’ve visited) (thus far).

I absolutely loved my time here, had two wonderful flights, got to talk to Eric, who was a fantastic bartender, and as it turned out, was a co-owner, who even sent me on my way with some free beer. (Without even knowing about my blog, after my flights, and when I was leaving, he was asking me what my favorite beer from the flights were, and I told him, and he gave me a can of it to go.)

Eric was top notch, talking to me, coming by to check on me, asking about my trip, the book I was reading, etc. I cannot recommend this brewery enough.

Firstly, I’m not a foodie, I’ve mentioned this several times here on the blog, food is an afterthought to me. Much to the chagrin of many of my fellow brewery travelers, who go to visit breweries just as much for the food as they do the beers. (Deuene being a prime example.) But, these Yolo Dogs from Levity, are absolutely phenomenal, and if you are ever at the brewery, they are a must buy. Two hot dogs, covered in bacon, beer cheese, scallions, onions, and a ton of potato chips, go perfectly with two flights of amazing beers. You can’t go wrong with that.

I had gotten two flights, watched the Dallas – Steelers game, which being near Pittsburgh country, I was inundated with Steeler fans (ugh…. as a Cincinnati Bengals fan, coming out to Pittsburgh and through the area is always rough, especially football season), read my book about the President’s office (The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency by John Dickerson), and enjoyed amazing food and drinks.

My flights included:

• ICFC Straight Red
• Hoodlebug Brown Ale
• Headlamp Stout
• Knock and Howl (2019)
• Debacle Doppelbock
• Haze Frehley
• End of Haze
• Punky Bruiser

Levity Brewing Company (according to Untappd) is a brew pub in Indiana, Pennsylvania. It has 65 unique beers, with 34, 226 ratings and a global average rating of 3.76. The Untappd description for the brewery reads: “Levity Brewing Company is a small brewery and pub in Indiana, PA-about an hour east of Pittsburgh. We aim to brew clean, crisp, and dry examples of style and bring a diversity of beers to our community. At any time we offer a variety of IPAs, kettle-soured fruit beers, oak-aged wild beers, etc, etc, etc..”

Beer: ICFC Straight Red
Brewery: Levity Brewing Company
Style: Red Ale – American Amber / Red Ale
ABV: 4.9%
IBU: 18
Untappd Description: This soccer club amber ale – initially developed for the Indiana County Football Club – is an easy drinking but flavorful pick me up after the big game. Lovely amber, bready, nutty, crisp. Toss one back with your team, the competition, maybe even the referee.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.64 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: Hoodlebug Brown Ale
Style: Brown Ale – American
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 34
Untappd Description: This easy-to-love beer is loaded with caramel malts and is gently hopped. Well-rounded, great with your dinner, not too filling. This beer has hit a sweet spot with our customers making it one of our best sellers. Named after the Hoodlebug Trail – a popular rails-to-trails path right next to the brewery. And a portion of sales are donated to trail maintenance!
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.76 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: Headlamp Stout
Brewery: Levity Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double
ABV: 8.9%
IBU: 53
Untappd Description: Just like the coal mines under us in Western PA, this beer is deep, dark, and complex. Cherry cordial sweetness shines through the dark roast and chocolate creating a fascinatingly rich, desert-like beer
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: Knock and Howl (2019)
Brewery: Levity Brewing Company
Style: American Wilde Ale
ABV: 7.3%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Our wild brown ale aged in well used bourbon barrels. Roasted oak and cherry pie on the nose. Sour cherry and caramel candy flavors with a Concord red wine finish
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.83 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: Debacle Doppelbock
Brewery: Levity Brewing Company
Style: Bock – Doppelbock
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)
My Untapped Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.52 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: Haze Frehley
Brewery: Levity Brewing Company
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: 42
Untappd Description: Hazy, juicy, grapefruit flavors out of this world. If you like IPA’s you are sure to enjoy this one. Bravo, Citra, & Mosaic, hops. You can smell the big tropical grapefruit aroma a mile away.
My Untappd Rating: 4
Global Untappd Rating: 3.79 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: End of Haze
Brewery: Levity Brewing Company
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Sabro and Moutere hops are our secret weapon to defeat the powers of darkness invading our world. Combined, they hyper-blast out a fruity, tropical, citrus beam of pure energy.
My Untappd Rating: 4.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 11.22.20)

Beer: Punky Bruiser
Brewery: Levity Brewing Company
Style: Porter – Baltic
ABV: 7%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Baltic Porter is a lager that’s smooth, clean, and delicate from a long cool fermentation. Plum floats perfectly with the dark chocolate, and toffee flavors, but never overpowers.
My Untappd Rating: 4.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.66 (as of 11.22.20)

Overall, both Levity and Juniata Brewing were great breweries. Levity Brewing gets my nod for being my favorite of the two, and Punky Bruiser gets my gold star for favorite beer of the day. Out of my hiking for the day, I really enjoyed the Thousand Steps trail. Was a beautiful trail, hard, but not impossible, with amazing, gorgeous views at the top.

I almost forgot to mention, that, I ran into a group of hikers all in various brewery / hop logo attire (shirts / hoodie), and I was wearing my Boneshire Mug Club shirt, and we were talking about Boneshire Brew Works, and the one was saying he had a roommate who worked there, and the woman was saying how she kept going back to their tent at the Gettysburg Brew Fest they went to. I had ran into the brother-in-law of Matt Trevan, a bartender at Boneshire Brew Works, when I went to Hawk Rock (you can read about that in the travelogues section).

After leaving Levity, and talking to some bikers (cyclists), and Eric, and Nathan the other bartender, I made my way over to the Wyndham across the street, got my room for the night, and promptly crashed. I believed I started watching some of the Sunday Night Football game, and I can’t even recall who it was, if it was the horrible Tampa Bay / Saints game or if that was the Monday night game, I don’t even remember, because I was soon fast asleep.

The next update on this series, will take me into Pittsburgh and to Washington, and then day three begins my trip into Ohio.

I hope you enjoyed this. You can read more about the individual days in quick recap form below, and you can read and see the many other travelogues I’ve done. You can also check around the site for beer reviews, brewery reviews, brewery news, brewer interviews, and what have you. Please comment, follow, and subscribe, I always love hearing from you guys.

Thanks for reading, and please stay safe out there everyone, as we get near the Thanksgiving season, this has certainly been a trying and difficult year, hopefully everyone stays safe for the holidays, and we all make it to 2021 safe and sound.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

• Day One: Thousand Steps Trail, Juniata Brewing Company, Ghost Town Trail, Levity Brewing
• Day Two:
• Day Three:
• Day Four:
• Day Five:
• Day Six:
• Day Seven:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

• The Trip to Indy
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Three Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Four Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Five Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Six Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Seven Recap
• Recap and Stats

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

• Going on the Road
• The Trip: Day 1 Recap
• The Trip: Day 2 Recap
• The Trip: Day 3 Recap

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

• A Road Trip to Rickett’s Glen
• The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

Visiting Reading Pennsylvania:

• A Visit to Reading
• The Birthday Trip to Reading Pennsylvania – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

A Road Trip to The PA Grand Canyon:

• Visiting Wellsboro PA and the Grand Canyon

Hiking Hawk Rock

• Hiking Hawk Rock and Visiting Liquid Noise Brewery

Hiking Pinnacle Trail and Pulpit Rock

• Hiking to Pinnacle Overlook, Pulpit Rock, Visiting 1787 Brewing and Schaylor Brewing

Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania:

• Hiking Around Ephrata Pennsylvania – Pour Man’s Brewing, Black Forest Brewery

Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse:

• Hiking Sunset Rocks and Checking Out Maxie’s Brewhouse in Shippensburg Pennsylvania

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

• Brewery Touring York and Hanover PA
• Brewery Hopping – 12.27.19
• Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg – 9.6.19

My Article for Breweries in PA:

• Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

• Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

• A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown
• A Brewery Tour of Mellow Mink
• Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works
• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing
• A Trip to Gettysburg and Beer Review: This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Road Trip Snacks (Panther Island Brewing)

Also, be sure to check out some of our other beer reviews in recent history:

• Beer Review: Dreams of Orgonon (Human Robot)
• Beer Review: Unicorns Stomping on Lanternflies (Saucony Creek Brewing Co)
• Beer Review: Griddle (Funk Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Out of Order: Blue Milk (RAR Brewing)
• Beer Review: Up the Creek Extreme Ale (Thomas Creek Brewery)
• Beer Review: Hershey’s Chocolate Porter (Yuengling Brewery)
• Beer Review: Dropout (Rubber Soul Brewing)
• Beer Review: Pigtoberfest (Boneshire Brew Works)
• Beer Review: I Voted Today (Tired Hands)
• Beer Review: Super Villain (Urban Village Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Wookie Monster (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Shallow Grave (Nitro) (Heretic Brewing)
• Beer Review: The Growfather (Stickman Brews)
• Beer Review: The Pandalorian (Tattered Flag)

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Welcome back to round number two of the four rounds of four beers I had during the last streaming I did with Drew on Knights of Nostalgia. The first was Pixels by Seminar Brewing, this is the second, the third will be Great Notion Brewing’s Fruit Monster, and the fourth will be Elder Pine Brewing and Blending’s Villeinage. (Spoiler alert: all four beers were really good.)

Aslin Beer Company is one of the many great breweries along the East Coast. In the middle of the East Coast; Virginia, Maryland, D.C, West Virginia, Delaware area; Aslin Beer Company, Burley Oak Brewing Company, The Veil, The Answer, Adroit Theory, Dewey Beer Company, are often mentioned on “must visit” and “top breweries” and “great” lists; they are usually the sought after, the traded for (the Facebook group ISO / FT), and the breweries that people mule back from. So needless to say, it’s fantastic to see some of these breweries (notably Aslin Beer Company and Burley Oak Brewing Company) popping up in distribution (distro) in the area. Breski’s Beverage on Eisenhower Boulevard (outside of Harrisburg between Harrisburg and Middletown) has been getting some wonderful cans from both breweries, as well as many other notable breweries, and is always worth checking in to see what they currently have in stock.

The mix-a-six selection at Breski’s and similar places are phenomenal right now (…phenomenally tasting; horrible on your wallet however). Last Tuesday before stopping at Tattered Flag for their Taco Tuesday, I stopped at Breski’s and got two mix-a-six six-packs (and paid about 60$), but picked up some tremendous beers; like the Isolation Anniversary Beer, two Great Notion beers, a pilsner (Billsner) from Burley Oak, a Black is Beautiful from Non Sequitur, Stickman’s The Growfather (can’t resist a good Godfather pun), two from Stranger Root’s Experimental Ales, Alarmist, Atlantic, etc. All in all, a wonderful selection of beers that you will be seeing reviews of (at least nine out of the 12 anyway, and hopefully in a timely fashion).

So, since I have a ton of reviews to do, and limited time (don’t we all limited time afterall?) I better get right down to this and do this beer review shouldn’t I?

Ok…. lets do it!

Beer: Isolation Anniversary Beer
Brewery: Aslin Beer Company
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double Milkshake
ABV: 9.4%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)

Always a little disappointing to see the description left blank (its nice to see notes from the brewers / brewery, or maybe a joke or pun, or some context behind the beer or the beer name, or why or how it was brewed, if it was a collaboration, if its someone’s favorite recipe, or something at least), but I think this beer doesn’t really need a description, as it stands on its own.

Appearance is similar to that of a New England IPA; its opaque, its hazy, its bright, and orange, and glowing, but its even thicker than a normal New England IPA looks. It has ‘floaters’ especially if you don’t roll it before opening it up and pouring it. Its very well carbonated and has a great foamy white head, with a good pour it has just the right amount of head, with a bad pour I could picture this filling a whole glass with just head. The bubbles on it are nice and it leaves a nice lacing in the glass. It’s turbid, busy, and active.

The nose on this is hoppy, juicy hoppy, citrusy hoppy, but also creamy and vanilla and lactose, like silky smooth creamy milk with lots of fruity, citrus, juice, hops in it. I get mango, peach, citrus, a bit of zest, and a small whiff of grapefruit hop notes in this blended with the vanilla sweetness and cream of the lactose.

First sip… wow. Second sip… double wow. This has a LOT going on. Which is not a fault or problem at all; granted sometimes it can be, but not in this case. This has a lot going on, but all in proportion to the beer itself and within its style and how the beer is supposed to be. It’s not going off into all kinds of different places with varied and confusing mixtures of flavors, or with off flavors, or with competing notes. This just has a lot going on within it, but all with a purpose, all within the style, and all just how you should want it. Its a milkshake, its a hop bomb, its juicy, its turbid, its hazy, its strong, its delicious. Most importantly…. its delicious. And… did I mention yet…. that its delicious? This was hands down my favorite of the night, and it was the boldest, most flavorful, and had the biggest wallop of flavors, notes, aromas, hop, juiciness, and outright drinkability. I could easily kill a four pack of these, and probably in short time too; its just that drinkable. Which is scary at its 9.4% ABV, but it doesn’t feel heavy, or boozy, or knocking you on your face and teeth skittering across the cement floor of the basement kind of alcoholic; its just crushable but at a higher ABV. This is like drinking a smooth, juicy, silky, creamy, orange juice with the fruity citrus juicy hops in for extra flavor. Just like with aroma, I got mostly mango and peach with the flavor, but also got citrus, some zest, and a teeny weensy bit of grapefruit. I do have to say, as much as I could crank down a four pack of this, as someone with lactose intolerance, thats probably not a great idea. These milkshake IPAs and milkshake sours and such with some having an insane amount of lactose in them (this one probably has a rather large amount in it) typically give me some ‘gastro’ issues next morning when I wake up. One or so don’t usually hurt too much, but after that it starts pushing it, especially with the very heavy lacto ones.

My Untappd Rating: ****.5
Global Untappd Rating: 3.98 (as of 10.25.20)

After wrapping up the beer review here, I wanted to do a bit more research on the beer for the blog, so I did a quick Google search (ASLIN ISOLATION ANNIVERSARY BEER) and the first site was their online ordering form for the beer, which you can find here: Order Isolation Anniversary Beer. It also came with a description for the beer which reads:

“🎉 ISOLATION ANNIVERSARY BEER 🎉 Today‘s the day we opened our (garage) door 5 years ago! 🍻In honor of the 1825 days that have passed since then, we bring you our Aslin ISOLATION ANNIVERSARY BEER. Soft ripe yellow peach, mango, and passionfruit unite with explosively juicy results, and a full-bodied, perfectly zippy taste that finishes off with woody resin notes from Cypress & Sugar Maple wood. This is juicy fruit flesh squeezed into a hazy DIPA!! We’re raising a glass of this to all of you for your incredible support that has helped bring us to YEAR 6. Hang tight, this is not the only drop in our 5th Anniversary series! 🎉 🍻”

Also came with a picture:

Hopefully that provides a bit of closure on the beer and fills in for the lack of a description on Untappd for everyone.

As always everyone, thanks for reading, and be sure to check back soon as I do the other two beers, as well as some recent travelogues (just did a recent hike with my faithful canine companion Leela to the Pinnacle Overlook in Hamburg and stopped at 1787 Brewing Company and Schaylor Brewing Company). As always, there is a ton to check out here on the blog, so be sure to be on the lookout, hit the subscribe and follow button, and always feel free to comment, we love to hear from you!

You can see my latest beer reviews here:

• Beer Review: Dreams of Orgonon (Human Robot)
• Beer Review: Unicorns Stomping on Lanternflies (Saucony Creek Brewing Co)
• Beer Review: Griddle (Funk Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Out of Order: Blue Milk (RAR Brewing)
• Beer Review: Up the Creek Extreme Ale (Thomas Creek Brewery)
• Beer Review: Hershey’s Chocolate Porter (Yuengling Brewery)
• Beer Review: Dropout (Rubber Soul Brewing)

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Also, in recent news, the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) 2020 ended (their 34th edition; this year virtually rather than in person in Boulder, Colorado), and they’ve announced their winners. You can see what Pennsylvania Breweries won here. As well as the 2020 NAGBW Awards.

Cheers everyone, and stay safe and healthy out there with all the rises in COVID cases. Remember to mask up, remember to wash hands, and most importantly: remember to drink some great craft beers!

-B. Kline