Road Trip - The Beer Thrillers

Visiting Virginia Breweries in Fairfax, Sterling, and Ashburn – Or Voyaging in the Land of Animal Breweries – Saying Farewell to Rocket Frog Brewing and Hello to Chubby Squirrel Brewing, Lost Rhino Brewing, and Old Ox Brewery

B. Kline — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 22:17:18 +0000

Pictures from our trip to Virginia – (starting upper left and working clockwise: Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company, Lost Rhino Brewing, Old Ox Brewery, Lost Rhino Brewing, and Rocket Frog Brewing Company – with the two most photogenic ladies I know – Amy and Scarlet)

Visiting Virginia Breweries

Thats probably the headline I should just go with. Because, lets be honest: Visiting Virginia Breweries in Fairfax, Sterling, and Ashburn – Or Voyaging in the Land of Animal Breweries – Saying Farewell to Rocket Frog Brewing and Hello to Chubby Squirrel Brewing, Lost Rhino Brewing, and Old Ox Brewery — is a mouthful! And probably ruins all attempts at search or marketing or whatever.

A simpler, better title would have just been “Visiting Virginia Breweries” or even “Visiting Virginia Breweries in Fairfax, Sterling, and Ashburn”, or maybe just my subtitle – “Voyaging in the Land of Animal Breweries”. I dunno, but I couldn’t decide on what I wanted, and so here you go – enjoy the long winded title!

But enough on why I named the article what I did, lets move onto the actual article right?

Firstly, let’s talk about why we headed down to Virginia in the first place….

Rocket Frog Brewing Company Announces Closure

Back on November 29th, Rocket Frog Brewing Company announced they would be closing their doors for the last time on December 11th. You can read about it here: Rocket Frog Brewing Announces They Will Be Closing December 11th.

We had first visited them back on January 15th of 2022. Here, I’ll share an excerpt from the closing article:

Amy and I got to travel to Rocket Frog back in January on a Bengals play-off gameday. I got out of work early (I was still working Saturdays then), using my top of the EO card and we made the two and a half hour trek down to Virginia hitting some breweries. We stopped in the Sterling Park Business Center to hit two breweries right off the bat. The first of which was Rocket Frog.

We had a really good time. We got to see the Bengals win against the Las Vegas Raiders – their first playoff win in 30 years (they last won in January 1991). We got to Rocket Frog Brewing Company before the game started. We then watched the first half at Crooked Run Fermentation, before driving to Beltway Brewing where we saw a little bit of the third (they didn’t have any TVs on, so we quickly left to get to Mustang Sally’s after a flight), and we finished the game out at Mustang Sally’s where I got to witness the first playoff win since I was 5 and a half years old. Amy and I then celebrated and finished the night out watching the Bills rout the Patriots at Bunnyman Brewing.
Rocket Frog Brewing Announces They Will be Closing December 11th – The Beer Thrillers

You can find our trip here: Trip Down to Sterling Virginia and Beyond to Visit Rocket Frog Brewing Company, Crooked Run Fermentation, Beltway Brewing, Mustang Sally Brewing Company, and Bunnyman Brewing.

December 10th – The Trip

Traveling with a nearly (one day shy) month old certainly changes things a bit. It certainly doesn’t make the trip go smoothly, thats for sure. So there was certainly a new monkey wrench thrown into the works that wasn’t there our last trip to Virginia.

To start the day, we decided we would hit Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company first, mainly because its the furthest from home, and do a ‘hit the others as we work our way home’ approach. Our typical approach to brewery visiting, and usually the one that works out best for us.

Plus, Amy has absolutely been looking forward to hitting Chubby Squirrel. (To the point where she got two Christmas gifts for her from the brewery…. shhh…. nobody tell her…. she has no idea….) They popped up on our radar from an Instagram or Facebook suggestion post. They immediately grabbed Amy’s attention – firstly with the fun name, secondly with the food options. Poutine and pierogies. You had us at poutine and pierogies. We could seriously do an entire blog post on just poutine, and another on just pierogies. Maybe list all the best breweries in the area with poutine and pierogies… hmm….

Anyway… I digress.

So we originally had planned on leaving in the morning at 10:30AM. According to Google Maps it would take us 2 hours and 30 minutes to get there, putting us as at getting there at 1PM. Perfect.

Google Maps – from Hummelstown to Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company

Well, as you might imagine, things didn’t go according to plan. We’ve been in the process of moving Amy’s Uncle Bob’s car into our name, and with him having moved into an assisted care home and unable to drive anymore we needed the title, and this and that, etc, etc, etc… and Uncle Bob’s been having some memory issues, so it was a bit of an issue finding the title and everything required, so we were just going to request a new title; but luckily just before we were about to do that he found it. This then took up our morning, taking SueAnn (Amy’s mom), Amy, Scarlet, and myself to the notary and getting this all finalized. And a few other errands, and then dropping her mom back off, and then finally on the road… at a healthy 12:20PM to start the day…

Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company

Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company logo

After a stop at a Sheetz outside of Gettysburg (where Amy says to me, hey… maybe on the way home we can stop at Fourscore Beer Company, and I just assure her and say, sure… sure… sure dear… we’ll have time I’m sure… – insert massive eye roll here), and another stop a bit of the ways down as well (both stops were to feed and change Scarlet) we finally made it to Fairfax Virginia at roughly 3PM.

I ordered a flight, and we got the pierogies and the poutine to go with it. (Because, of course we got the poutine and pierogies to go with it.)

The beer flight was:

Prancing Squirrel Christmas Ale – a Spiced / Herb Beer. 7.4% ABV, 15 IBU. Global average rating of 3.82. I gave it ****.
Hazy Squirrel – a New England IPA. 6.2% ABV, 55 IBU. Global average rating of 3.56. I gave it ****.
OK This is Gonna Be Weird IPA – a West Coast style IPA. 5.4% ABV and 55 IBU. Global average rating of 3.73. I gave it ****.
FUCOVID Cinnamon Bun Stout – an Imperial / double stout. 8.9% ABV. Too new for global average rating. I gave it ****.

The poutine and pierogies were wonderful. We had an absolute wonderful time there. The ladies working were so very nice and were loving getting to see Scarlet Emma. I highly recommend Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company if you get in the Fairfax Virginia area. Found out as we were leaving, there is even another brewery just a block away – Ornery Brewing; which sadly we didn’t have the time to stop at. We are definitely planning on coming back, so will certainly be stopping there as well. Also looked like the town was doing a little Christmas thing in the nearby park / business district area.

For more information on Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company, check out their links:

Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company’s information on Untappd: they are considered a brew pub out of Fairfax, Virginia. They have 146 unique beers with around 10,000~ ratings. They have a global average rating (as of 12.13.22) of 3.65. Their Untappd description reads: “No need to be bitter, we’ve got the hops! Located in Downtown Fairfax, Virginia, Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company is the first nanobrewery & brewpub in the City of Fairfax.”

Scarlet Emma

Speaking of Scarlet Emma, she’s now been to quite a few breweries already (and is just a wee bit over one month old). Her first brewery was Boneshire Brew Works (because, right now, where else?). She’s most recently been to Compass Mill Tap Room, Jackass Brewery, Selin’s Grove Brewing, and just the day before this Virginia trip we had errands in Reading so she got to visit Willow Creek Brewing and Saucony Creek Brewery at Franklin Station. And now after this trip, you can add Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company, Lost Rhino Brewing, and Old Ox Brewery. (You’ll see why shortly I don’t consider her trip to Rocket Frog Brewing Company as counting.) So in total she’s been to nine breweries so far.

Rocket Frog Brewing Company

From Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company to Rocket Frog Brewing Company was about a twenty – five minute drive. (And was the longest distance between the breweries we hit; other than the initial drive down and home.) We got there around 5:15 – 5:20PM and the place was absolutely rocking. Standing room only on the inside, their deck was pretty packed, and even the spill over tables they were using in the parking lot were full. The parking lot itself was pretty full as well.

Amy decided to stay out in the car with Scarlet and feed her rather than even brave the insides of the brewery. Amy gets a bit of an anxiety in large crowds, so it was fully understandable for her to stay out, especially with Scarlet. (You can read Amy’s excellent article about her anxiety here – Brewfests with Anxiety.) We debated about skipping the brewery, and even heading over right next door (well, a block around the corner) to Crooked Run Fermentation; but we decided that we made this entire trip to stop at Rocket Frog Brewing Company, so I went in and grabbed two tasters and bought a stein to go.

The tasters I got there were:

Bowcaster – a brown ale, 5.2% ABV, no IBU. Global average rating of 3.92. I gave it **** and 1/4.
Snark Infested Waters – a schwarzbier, 4.5% ABV and 22 IBU. Global average rating of 3.71, I gave it ****.

Rocket Frog Brewing Company has already listed their brewery as “permanently closed” on Google, Google Maps, Facebook, and Untappd. They delisted all of their beers on Untappd as well. So the following information is slightly skewed due to that.

Rocket Frog Brewing Company on Untappd is listed as a “permanently closed” brewery from Sterling Virginia (formerly listed as a micro brewery). They have 0 unique beers with a total of 42,298 ratings, and a global average rating of 3.82 (as of 12.13.22). Their Untappd description reads: “Closed December 2022 Rocket Frog Brewing Company is an independent craft brewery based in Sterling, Virginia, serving the greater Northern Virginia and Washington, DC community. Our passion for quality craft beer runs deep and we demonstrate this with our four to five flagships, seasonal offerings, and a variety of specialty beers throughout the year.”

For more information on Rocket Frog Brewing Company:

They recently did a podcast with DC Beer, which you can find here: A Moment to Celebrate a Beloved Brewery.

Lost Rhino Brewing Co.

Lost Rhino Brewing Company logo

We decided to skip Crooked Run Fermentation as we were running out of time, and really didn’t want to be leaving Virginia too late. (Even from the Ashburn area where Lost Rhino is, its about a 2 hour and 12 minute drive home.) As it was, we were looking at maybe having to skip Old Ox Brewery, so time was becoming a bit of an issue. We did stop and get gas, as gas is always a good 20 to 30 cents cheaper in Virginia than it is back home in Central PA.

Lost Rhino was another lovely brewery find. We saw it on our one trip to Virginia, but sadly only on the way back home so we didn’t have time to stop, so I made it a point of interest to hit it today. And besides I figured – why stop the animal themed brewery names? We were already hitting Chubby Squirrel Brewing Company and Rocket Frog Brewing Company, why not add Lost Rhino Brewing Company and Old Ox Brewery to the list? If we wanted, we could have went and hit Ocelot Brewing (again) as well, to really round out an all animal named brewery tour of Virginia.

I ordered a flight as we watched the end of the Army vs. Navy game that went into overtime and provided a great ending. My flight included:

Coco Caliente – an Imperial Double Pastry Stout. 8.5% ABV, 20 IBU. Global average rating of 3.93. I gave it ****.
Tmavý Dark Lager – dark lager, 6.2% ABV, 32 IBU. Global average rating of 3.64. I gave it a ****.
Pink Panther – Sour / gose. 5.2% ABV. Too new for a global average rating. I gave it a *** 3/4.
Face Plant – a West Coast style IPA (IPA American). 6.8% ABV, 65 IBU. Global average rating of 3.64, I gave it a ****.
Dark Hours – Imperial / Double stout. 10.9% ABV, 79 IBU. Global average rating of 3.98, I gave it a **** and 1/4.

‍‍We very much liked our time there, and will definitely be back down in the area for a return visit. (In fact, we really enjoyed every brewery on our trip this time, not always a lock for our trips.)

Lost Rhino Brewing Company’s information via Untappd:

Lost Rhino Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Ashburn, Virginia. They have 252 unique beers and around 122,000~ ratings. They have a global average rating (as of 12.13.22) of 3.59. Their Untappd description reads: “Lost Rhinoʼs founders, Matt Hagerman and Favio Garcia, set out on an adventure of their own: a coast-to-coast journey in search of discovering the greatest traditions and the wildest frontiers of beer brewing. Our beers are inspired by the experience of choosing the scenic route, the tough challenge, the road less traveled. In the brew house, we take pride in bringing together a global perspective and locally harvested ingredients. Everything we craft is personal, from our innovative pursuit to cultivate wild Virginia yeast strains from nearby orchards, meadows, and even fossils, to our steadfast dedication to support local Virginia farms.”

For more information:

The Trip down to Virgina hitting all the breweries

Quick Shout Out

If I got you reading this far, please indulge me on a quick shout out. This Sunday we will be appearing on the Central PA Pour Podcast. You can find out more information on them here:

Pretzels – Pretzels – Pretzels

While I’m at it here, let me do a quick public service announcement. We have recently joined up with Pretzels.com to provide you with a cheaper option on pretzels; a perfect gift for this time of year. They make a great Christmas gift or stocking stuffer. We will have a few posts and videos (an unwrapping / unboxing video, as well as beer and pretzel pairing posts) so be on the lookout for all that. Yes, we are an affiliate with them, so when you go and order, be sure to use our gift code: THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – this will provide you with 20% off your order, as well as help us keep the blog running.

Ok, now, back onto our last stop of the night.

Old Ox Brewery

Old ox Brewery

Luckily it didn’t take a whole lot of convincing to get Amy to stop at one more brewery, namely because she wanted some food for the ride home. I was given a “hard fast” 8PM deadline at Old Ox (spoiler alert – we didn’t leave til 8:30PM). We ordered the meatballs which were extremely tasty, and I did my usual – ordered myself a flight.

My flight from Old Ox Brewery was:

Billionaire Space Party – a collaboration with RAR Brewing – a west coast style IPA. 7.1% ABV, no IBU listed, global average rating of 3.81, I gave it a ****.
Robot Dreams – a milkshake IPA, 7% ABV. A global average rating of 3.88, I gave it a ****.
Hoppy Place IPA – traditional west coast / American IPA. 6.5% ABV, 65 IBU. Global average rating of 3.69, I gave it a ****. (Humerous note: when looking things up here for the post, on Untappd they have a check – in for this from a person from a day ago that says “quite hoppy. solid taste” and proceeded to give it **1/2 …….. and this is why people don’t take Untappd all that seriously.) (Checking the dude’s profile, he gives one beer a “tasty” comment and only **, but then also says “very tasty” for Voodoo Ranger and gives it ****1/2 ….so once again, take Untappd with the grain of salt that it needs to be taken with.)
Bourbon Barrel Oxorcist – Pumpkin / Yam beer. 10% ABV, 12 IBU. Global average rating of 3.94, I gave it ****.

We had a really great time, talked to the bartender at closing, who comes up often to the area to play softball – at Spooky Nook – where we were just at a few weeks ago (thus why we went to Compass Mill Tap House). Once again, as with the other stops, wonderful food, beer, and great service.

Some information on Old Ox Brewery via Untappd:

Old Ox Brewery is a micro brewery from Ashburn Virginia with 482 unique beers and 115,000~ ratings. They have a global average rating of 3.66 (as of 12.13.22). Their Untappd description reads: “Old Ox is a family owned and operated commercial brewery. Our family works together. Plays together. Celebrates together. Faces life’s obstacles together. We’ve founded our brewery on hard work and a commitment to the community. We are looking for ways to partner with the artists, farmers, restaurants, retailers, and other businesses that make Loudoun County a special place to live. We chose Old Ox Road as the inspiration for our brewery. Old Ox is one of the oldest roads in Loudoun County and was originally built to connect the agricultural producers of Loudoun County to the markets in Fairfax County and beyond. It is this same sense of connection that we want to provide for our customers…whether they are here in our tasting room or enjoying a pint in their favorite restaurant or tavern. We brew in a 30-barrel brewhouse. Just to give you some perspective, each batch we brew will produce 930 gallons of beer. That is enough for 9,920 12-oz. cans of beer or a little over 413 cases of beer per batch. Our beer is on draft in many restaurants and in on the shelves in stores in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. Of course, our beer is always available in the Tasting Room either by the pint, refillable growlers or kegs.”

For more information:

Heading Home

The Return Trip via Google Maps

After hitting up Old Ox Brewery it was time to head home. Needless to say, like I called it, we didn’t have the time (or energy) to hit Fourscore Beer Co in Gettysburg. No issues on the return trip and we made it home around 11PM, just enough time for me to take Leela for a walk and hit my 10K steps (haven’t missed a day this entire year, not about to miss one yet).

Conclusion

This trip really hit it out of the ballpark. Every brewery was fantastic. The beers were wonderful, the food was great, the staff at all the spots was on point and lovely people. We always have a blast on our trips, but there’s usually a dud or two breweries on our journeys. Not this time, each place was a home run. Can’t recommend the breweries enough. If you get down to Virginia – particularly Fairfax and Ashburn, make sure you hit these guys up. They are well worth your time and visit!

Our Virginia Brewery trip.

Other Trips and Travelogues

Big 3 Day Weekend
Big 3 Day Weekend: Friday Recap
Big 3 Day Weekend: Saturday Recap
Virginia Road Trip (Quick Recap) (November 2021)
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)
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

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for reading everyone! The year is nearing its end, and 2022 has been a wild one! I’m still off until the 26th when I go back to work. Amy has already gone back, so its mostly me here at home with Scarlet (and Leela). So when she’s asleep I’ve been working on the blog. Lot of big things in the works for 2023!

But 2022 isn’t over yet, and we still have some great stuff coming out.

Like I said earlier, we are affiliated now with Pretzels.com so be sure to check them out and use our promo code – THEBEERTHRILLERS20 to get 20% off your order.

Also, as I said earlier, we will be doing a podcast / video with Central PA Pour on Sunday. So be on the lookout for that.

We still have a planned trip to The Alementary in Hackensack New Jersey; just not sure when we’re gonna be going. But you’ll know when we do.

Thanks for reading everyone, as always, we appreciate it so much here. Cheers to all!

(PS: This article took me all day to write because I had to do it in small bits and pieces whenever Her Majesty Scarlet napped.)

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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Road Trip: Day Two

BKline — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 11:53:48 +0000

Burnish Beer Co.

Day Two Begins

Its now 6:30AM and Day Two is about to begin (leaving and packing up here at the hotel). Today we are taking the ferry across from Lewes to Cape May, and then will be traveling up from South Jersey to Philly (and then eventually back home to Harrisburg.)

Day One Recap

Breweries we visited yesterday

So yesterday turned out to be a bit ‘too ambitious’. We ended up hitting:

Jailbreak Brewing
Cult Classic Brewing
RAR Brewing
Burnish Beer Co
Burley Oak Brewing

There was a lot more planned, but we just ended up running out of time. We didn’t end up hitting any of the Delaware breweries, including the bump up into Lokal Branch (my partner in crime said it looked too full). We ended up hitting Burley Oak and staying nearly an hour and a half and didn’t have enough time to stop at Dewey Beer Co or Dogfish Head (Dogfish Head closed at 8, and Dewey closed at 9).

We one hundred percent loved the breweries we did get to stop out at. Burnish Beer Co is very new (and you can tell) but the beers were good and they have a great place. RAR and Burley Oak Brewing are obviously notables and great beers and breweries. The new Laboratory section of RAR was really cool. Jailbreak and Cult Classic were also really fun stops.

Day Two Hopefuls

Hopefully today we can stay on time and task better. We will be leaving on the Lewes Ferry to Cape May shortly, and then once over there, we will be doing Gusto Brewing, Cape May Brewery, and then working our way up South Jersey through places like Bonesaw, Death of the Fox, Glasstown, etc, and then crossing over into Philly, where we are looking to hit Humanrobot, Love City, Brewery ARS, Fermentation Foam, Crime and Punishment, and Monk’s Cafe before heading home, and hopefully hitting Tired Hands.

*Fingers Crossed we get it all done*

Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

A Trip Out to Indy

BKline — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 04:32:37 +0000

Indianapolis (photo courtesy: Wikipedia)

Just like last summer (August 1st-3rd) when I took my daughters on a trip up to Elk Country, to Kinzua Bridge, to Pittsburgh, to Bushy Run, and back home; I am again taking a road trip.

This time, it’s a solo trip, just myself. So wish me luck that this reads as a “Tale of There and Back Again” and no Reading shenanigans happen again.

Unlike the trip with my daughters, this is being a bit more ad-hoc and I am kind of doing things on a whim. With them I had a very planned itinerary of where we were going, what days, what times. However, for my trip the main focus point is getting to Indy for Wednesday the 11th (Veterans Day) which is Kurt Vonnegut’s birthday and visit the Vonnegut Museum and Library.

Vonnegut Museum (photo courtesy of Forbes – through IBJ / Jeff Newman)

I do have a list of some breweries I will be hitting, but not a guarantee I will hit them all. COVID-19 is throwing a bit of a monkey wrench in my plans for what breweries are open certain days, plus unlike last time, I’m traveling Sunday through Friday whereas last time it was a Thursday – Friday- and Saturday.

You can read about my trip last year here:

August Road Trip Series:

I didn’t go into a crazy lot of detail about all the places we went to in the articles, but you can still read them and get an idea of what I did hit up. In later travelogues for the blog I’ve gone into a bit more detail on my crazy travels with Drew or Ming or by myself.

For my first day of travel – tomorrow – Sunday, November 8th – my places of visit will be:

Thousand Steps Trail (Mount Union, PA)
Juniata Brewing Company
Ghost Town Trail
Levity Brewing Company

Hopefully everything goes according to plan. Tomorrow is a few hikes, a few breweries, and then Monday will be the outskirts of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh area, and then Tuesday I will drive through Ohio and Columbus make my way towards Indianapolis. Where Wednesday I will spend the day in Indianapolis. Then Thursday I will make my way back through Ohio through Cincinnati. Friday I will be making may way back home.

Fingers crossed.

I will most likely be doing a “recap” of each day once at the hotel at the end of my days, so be on the lookout for that.

Be sure to leave some comments letting me know where to stop and check out on my travels. Let me know what your favorite breweries and places to visit are, I’d love to hear them!

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!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Indianapolis

The Trip to Indianapolis:

Beer Review: FVCK COVID (Version 2.0) (Ale Asylum)

BKline — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 01:30:00 +0000

FVCK COVID by Ale Asylum

Bit late on getting this review up, been meaning to get this written, alongside the Stone Cold Steve Austin IPA we had that night, and I also apologize that there hasn’t been a new post in a bit, been a rocky few days for myself (not speaking for the other writers; just for myself). But…. here it is, and its about time I get this up.

I feel like this is a beer that well encapsulates a lot of people’s thoughts about the disease. I was going back and forth on how to write up the beer name for the title and in the article. The can itself reads as “FVCK COVID” – and it also shows up as such on Untappd, but I was also tempted to do F*CK COVID; but felt that actually looked more vulgar. I think the misspelling of it (even with a letter replacement that is meant to be similar) actually detracts from the vulgarity of it. Either way though, the beer’s title is FVCK COVID, and it exactly what everyone thinks of this virus.

So needless to say, once I saw this on Breski’s Beverages Facebook page, I knew I needed to pick up a four pack of it and give it a try for the blog. As always, I cannot recommend Breski’s Beverage enough. One of the best beer distributors in the Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) area. One of the best bottle (and can) shops, with lots of hard to find breweries and some ‘whale’ status breweries as well. Occasionally having Triple Crossing, Aslin Brewing, Burley Oak Brewing, etc on their drafts for crowlers / growlers as well is also nice. One of the best selections for mix-a-six packs (definitely hop on their deals for mix-a-sixes, a fantastic way to try new beers and breweries). So when I stopped in, I picked up a four-pack of FVCK COVID as well as the Stone Cold Steve Austin IPA from El Segunda Brewery. My first from either of these breweries. Look for the Broken Skull IPA review soon. (I know, I know, I’m a bit backlogged on the beer reviews.)

(Yes, like I said above… I am quite back logged on the beer reviews. I have a long list of word.doc’s on my computer of tasting notes, and factoids and things about a whole host of beers that I’ve had in recent months; just need to write them up and post them.)

I had picked up the two four-packs for one of our many video game streaming sessions at D. Scott’s. He runs a Facebook page where he streams various video games, and (B. Kline) I’m a somewhat regular on it. We’ve been doing a lot of randomizers for The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time, as well as Majora’s Mask, and other games. You can check out his Facebook page here: Knights of Nostalgia. Definitely check it out sometime while we’re on. (Right now D. Scott is doing a stream where he’s doing the side scrollers of Wizards and Warriors, and I’m having it play in the background as I type up this article.)

Enough with all the pre-beer review shenanigans and lets get on with the beer review – which is what I’m assuming 99.999999999% of those reading this are really here for anyway (not the drunken ramblings of a mad man; but the beer reviews of a drunken mad man who rambles….).

Onward!

FVCK COVID Version 2.0 by Ale Asylum

Beer: FVCK COVID (Version 2.0)
Brewery: Ale Asylum
Style: Pale Ale – New England
ABV: 5%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Description: The second installment of our FVCK COVID series. How about a shirt or neck gaiter to match the beer? Visit our Merchandise store at www.aleasylum and you can wear what we’re all thinking.

Ale Asylum is a brewery from Madison Wisconsin. They are listed as a Regional Brewery with 64 unique beers to their name and a global average rating of 3.72 on Untappd. Their Untappd description reads: “ALE ASYLUM is unfiltered and all natural. This is what we mean when we say our beer is FERMENTED IN SANITY. You know who makes it, you know what it’s made with.”

Starting off with appearance (as I usually do in my reviews) this looks like a typical New England style IPA or Pale Ale variant. In this case its a Pale Ale, and it is a bit lighter and not as full bodied looking as a New England IPA might. But it still has that same similar appearance; a hazy, orange, glowing, unfiltered drink. With a nice foamy white head with plenty of carbonation and good bubbles.

The nose to this isn’t all that particular or crazy exciting. Its a typical New England pale ale; and because of it being a pale ale versus an IPA, its not got that much of a hop aroma to it. Despite being New England, despite being unfiltered, the nose is minimal hop aroma, minimal fruit notes, more just blandish beer smell.

Taste, at least it gets a bit beyond bland. Its not a crazy ridiculous new taste, but its not bland. It is a pale ale and not an IPA so its a bit low on the flavor profile, especially as far as hops go. My notes from the night of on this is that its a nice beer, a bit light on flavor, light on hop flavor in particular, but it has a pleasant overall taste with no aftertaste or lingering bad taste. It is a bit strong on malt and has a noticeable malt sweetness to it. There is some floral-ness to it, but its a bit underwhelming. This is not a bad beer and I’m not taking anything away from it. Its malty, its sweet, its floral, its light hoppy, and its a good beer, and at 5% its easy to knock down the whole four pack in a sitting while playing video games with your buddy. This beer though is definitely sold on its name above all. I don’t want to take away from the beer, because its a good beer, just not great, but as far as marketing goes, the beer name kind of sells itself. Its a theme in craft beer; a cool name or a gimmick pop culture or cultural reference, or cool can art, sells the beer more than the quality of the beer itself does. Thats not completely and necessarily the case here, but it gets a boost because of its name in sales I imagine. I’m guilty of that, buying a beer based on can art, or like in the case of this – beer name. My guilty vices for this is any beer that is Star Wars or Futurama themed; their auto instant buys for me. This was still a very enjoyable beer, and I don’t mean to sound pessimistic or upset at it, its a good beer and enjoyable, and worth the drink.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.46 (as of 8.4.20)

Sorry this took so long to be posted. I’ve been working on several articles all at once (including several Black is Beautiful beer reviews), as well as working on other side stuff too. But, my August hasn’t gone quite to plan. I haven’t gotten as much accomplished as I’ve wanted. A lot of things going on, an increase in hours at work (50-55 hour weeks), amongst a lot of other things going on in my life (personal and otherwise). It is interesting, a year ago this past few days is when I took my daughters on our trip – on August 1st, 2nd, and 3rd – and went up Elk Country to Kinzua Bridge to Pittsburgh to Bushy Run and back to Central PA.

You can read about those here:

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Stay tuned for some stuff coming out soon, like the huge backlog of beer reviews like I’ve mentioned earlier, as well as any day now a new interview with a beer scientist from Cape May Brewing with A. Parys. As well as an interview I’ve done with Scott Smith of East End Brewing. I’m also excited to do beer reviews for several of the Black is Beautiful beers, including the Ever Grain / Harris Family / Wolf Brewing collab, the Spring House Brewing one, and hopefully if I can snag a can (or more) Thursday at Troegs Brewery the Harris Family / Troegs Brewing collaboration.

Lots of stuff to see and do here at The Beer Thrillers, so be sure to subscribe, like, and follow us here, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thank you everyone for reading, and please be sure to leave a comment!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Beer Review: Fredhead Red IPA (Attaboy Beer)

BKline — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 00:00:08 +0000

Fredhead Red – a Red IPA from Attaboy Beer

Happy Father’s Day everyone. Hope you all made the best of your day, I certainly did. Home from Frederick Maryland and with some fresh beer to boot. You can read about my trip Monocacy Battlefield and Frederick Maryland here: Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th and June 20th, 2020) and the lead-up article to it here: Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland. But now home, safe and sound, and feeling a lot better, its time to spend time with the family and enjoy a nice, relaxing father’s day with some cold, refreshing, craft beer.

The day started with me making the girls scrambled eggs on the grill and them giving me my gifts; which was a ‘The Dadalorian’ shirt, and a small mini-fridge that can hold six cans. It can be plugged in regularly or into a car, so that’s pretty cool. The shirt:

Instead of The Mandalorian – its The Dadalorian

As a fan of Star Wars and especially the Mandalorian show, its definitely a cool shirt. After my shower for the day I made sure to put it on when we went to my sister and brother-in-law’s for a lunch / dinner picnic gathering.

Social distancing was done, don’t worry, (though I did not bring any Social Distancing), but the gathering was only myself and my girls, my parents, and my sister, her husband, and their son. So everyone whose been in contact with each other in recent history anyway. Also, while there, due to an upcoming stomach procedure my father had to be tested for COVID-19 and he got his results by phone – negative. Which was a gift in and of itself for father’s day.

For my father I had gotten him a book about Eagles’ Zac Ertz, as well as a new hand-made broom for their porch, and a rose I planted in their garden.

The get together was nice, and relaxing, the kids played in a water pool and played with squirt guns and water balloons, my brother in law grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and I drank a few delicious Fredhead Red IPAs. Even having one later watching a nice storm roll through.

So let’s check it out….

Fredhead Red IPA – Attaboy Beer

Beer: Fredhead Red IPA
Brewery: Attaboy Beer
Style: IPA – Red
ABV: 7%
IBU: 50
Untappd Description:

Piney, Roasty, Rich. Fredhead is formally named Fredheaded Stepchild. An ode to the great Red IPA’s out there.

Starting Gravity 14
Final Gravity 3.8
Hops: Simcoe, Mosaic, Horizon, Cascade

Malts: 2 Row, Munich, Crystal 80, Black Malt, Black Prinz

I enjoy the Untappd descriptions for Attaboy Beer’s; they include the malts used, the hops used, the starting gravities and the final gravity. All great for home brewers who would want to replicate (or attempt to) their recipes or make a clone. If anything, it at least gives them a base idea to start from. Plus, for consumers (drinkers) its a great way to learn more about the beer and the ingredients in it that you are drinking. Always cool, a smarter consumer, smarter drinker, is a better consumer and better drinker.

Appearance is similar to Amber Ales; in that its just that – Amber. Red. Red… and an IPA…. Oh, I get it now! Now do take note – this is a IPA – Red; not an Amber Ale, like Nugget Nectar. So remember folks – Nugget Nectar is NOT an IPA, its an Amber Ale, this – Fredhead Red – IS an IPA, and its a RED IPA. Ok? We got all that sorted? Though I do have to confess loving sitting at the bar at Troegs Brewery watching people call Nugget Nectar an Amber IPA or Red IPA or just an IPA in general and everyone roll their eyes, sigh, and try to begin to explain. But anyway….. getting back to the appearance of this redheaded stepchild….. First off, color is a dark amber red, still fairly transparent but not completely (due to its darker hue; not due to filtration). Super carbonated, but not a gusher. Big foamy, fluffy head with randomized and large bubbles.

Aroma is hoppy, but with a much more distinguishable malt backbone to it. Definitely not a hop bomb or a malt bomb either way, by any means. This is certainly closer to being a West Coast style IPA and there is a nice piney, resin, earthy heavyness to the nose on this. A hint of citrus, some of the simcoe making its presence known, but for the most part this smells more like a roasty, malty West Coast IPA.

This drinks like a darker, more malty, roasty, version of a West Coast IPA. It is malty, but not a malt bomb. It is hoppy, but not a hop bomb. It mixes nicely and makes a very nice combination of the two. There is a very healthy piney, resin taste to it that gives it that good old fashion West Coast IPA taste, thats nice to get back to every once in a while. In the current New England IPA dominated beer trends, its nice to kick back every once in a while with a good old fashion West Coast style IPA (even if its a ‘Red IPA’). With the piney-ness and resin, I also get some faint hints of grapefruit, bit of citrus, bit of roasted malt, darker, bread-crumb like malt, slight biscuit, and earthy notes. The mouthfeel for this is pretty much spot on, not too thick, not too thin, right where an IPA should be. Its well carbonated and is a lovely brew. This, along with the other two beers I had at Attaboy Beer were downright fantastic. And definitely makes Attaboy Beer worth a stop if you are in the Frederick Maryland area. This is a great Red IPA, a great West Coast IPA, and just a downright great beer.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.6 (as of 6.22.20)

Cheers everyone, happy father’s day, and make sure dad gets to sit back, relax, and drink a nice cold craft beer!

My Trip to Frederick Maryland:

Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland

BKline — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 03:00:33 +0000

Best Farm at Monocacy Battlefield (just outside of Frederick Maryland)

Yesterday was meant to be a simple trip. Had a simple plan. Simple trip idea. And should have been relatively easy to accomplish.

…..But nooooooooooooooooope. Things definitely didn’t quite work out that way (do they ever?). Checked with some knowledgeable people online (primarily Tyler Budwash – of Pilger Ruh Brewing; who is a big Civil War battlefield buff and brewery buff) about the Monocacy Battlefield as well as nearby breweries. So I figured out the itinerary (roughly) to go; leave at 10:30AM, get there at 12-noon, when Idiom Brewing would open up. Eat lunch there with the girls, do the battlefield until about 4:30PM/5PM and then go to another brewery for dinner, then be able to drop my oldest daughter off at a sleepover in Lemoyne, and take my two younger daughters for some putt-putt (Mini Golf for the layman) and call it a day. A nice, fun, family day trip vacation.

There is a LOT of good breweries in the Frederick Maryland area. Idiom Brewing, Midnight Run Brewing, Rockwell Brewing, Smoketown Brewing, Attaboy Beer, Monocacy Brewing, and many more.

We were probably going to hit just two breweries – Idiom Brewing for lunch and then most likely Midnight Run Brewing for dinner. BUT…. like I said, nothing ever seems to work out quite right.

So what started as a one-day trip, with clear target times… lasted two days, two full days (only got home at 10PM tonight), and resulted in quite possibly one of the most interesting one (turn two) day trips I’ve done in a long time.

Idiom Brewing Company logo

In the past, when I’ve done multi-day trips (like my August trip with my daughters) I broke it down per day, and gave three day reports. Given the nature of how this trip went down, I’m going to just make it a single blog article about both days (especially since I’m also doing this post as well). Since all of day two was impromptu, its all a bonus anyway! What started out as probably doing a brewery review Friday night when I got home from all of the trip, and got my youngest two to sleep, has now turned into a full on report of the trip.

And no, I’m not going to give you spoilers about what all happened and why it ended up turning into a two day trip. You’ll just have to read on yourself to find out why! (Don’t worry, I don’t think you will be disappointed and most likely will be able to get a laugh or two at my expense.)

Until then everyone, cheers!

-B. Kline

Monocacy Battlefield – Best Farm

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

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:

The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

BKline — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 20:38:39 +0000

Rickett’s Glen in Benton, Pennsylvania

Sunday me and my friend Ming traveled to Rickett’s Glen to hike the waterfall trails there. Planned, as I mentioned in the previous article here on the blog – A Road Trip to Ricketts Glen. We had planned this out a few weeks before, but left things kind of open ended. It was basically just a simple plan: Sunday – drive to Rickett’s Glen, walk waterfalls, drive home. With of course, a brewery on the way up, and one on the way home, possibly more if time allowed.

So, as I’ve done in the past with road trips and brewery visits, I’ll give a recap of our day here. This post was meant to go up Monday, but didn’t quite work out that way. Though, Monday did see the beer review of Boneshire Brew Works‘ Pandemic Pils go live on LetUsDrinkBeer’s blog (a site I contribute and write for occasionally) as well as on our blog here. (To see the review on their blog – click here: LetUsDrinkBeer Pandemic Pils, and to see it here on my blog – Beer Review: Pandemic Pils by Boneshire Brew Works.) I definitely knew it wasn’t going up Sunday night when we got home, just no chance of that happening.

Thus this was started on Tuesday, but unfortunately I had to pause and finish today (Wednesday) due to chores around the house, mowing, walking the dog, (yadda yadda yadda, boring crap, boring crap, boring crap), but mostly because I had to head over to D. Scott’s to do a podcast (as well as our first YouTube video) with D. Scott, Esty, and Skott. This was our time travel podcast where we discussed time travel in movies, books, and TV shows. Namely Back to the Future, Terminator, Looper, and a host of others (shout outs to Rick and Morty, Futurama, Austin Powers, and Avengers: End Game). That will be going up soon – both for the podcast and the YouTube video. I will make sure to edit this and include the links to those when they are uploaded. You can check out the Podcast channel itself here: So a Mexican and a Scott Walk Into a Bar…. (Be forewarned – language is a bit in the R category, and most of the episodes are titled “WTF Did I Just Watch”, so you can figure out and parse out what the W… T… F… stand for.) This was our first podcast / YouTube video and our first podcast with Skott on as well, so we’ll see how it goes. I enjoyed Abomz World (Ever Grain and Abomination Brewing collaboration), Wookie Monster (Fourscore Beer Co), and Buddy Shots (Cycle Brewing) while on the video. Finishing up the night with County Line IPA by Neshaminy Brewing. (But enough about that and those beers, lets get to the road trip.)

So, like I said before I interrupted myself, me and Ming planned to take this road trip from Hummelstown (he picked me up) to Rickett’s Glen which is in Benton, Pennsylvania. (See map below). It’s a roughly 2 hour and some minutes drive (depending on speed, traffic, etc.). According to Google Maps its a 2HR-8Min drive.

The Google Maps travel route from Hummelstown Pennsylvania to Ricketts Glen Pennsylvania.

As I noted in my previous article here – A Road Trip to Ricketts Glen – we planned on hitting a brewery on the way up, and then one (or more) for dinner on the way home. Some of the breweries I had google mapped and looked up (in the vicinity of Ricketts Glen or at least along RT15 and RT11 – which are the main roads we would be on) were:

Selinsgrove Brewing
Isle of Que Brewing Co.
Jackass Brewery
Eclipse Craft Brewing
Turkey Hill Brewing
Old Forge Brewing Co.

Ming gets to my house around 11AM. We load up the backpacks, I add a four-pack in for the actual hike (New Trail’s Hammock, Troegs’ Scratch 415 and 417, Pizza Boy’s The Pen is Mightier). We head out. Stopping at the Sheetz by those strip clubs once you get near Little Buffalo and then we are fully out on the road.

Looking at the breweries on my phone, we decide to stop at Isle of Que Brewing Co. first.

Isle of Que Brewing

Its just a little over noon when we get there. We are the first to enter for the day, and as soon as walk in, the bartender / owner / brewer Mike immediately recognizes me from the blog here. Which was a bit surreal as it was definitely a first to be recognized for the blog, and especially remotely (not a local [to my area of living] bar or brewery). Was definitely a very cool moment. Ordered a flight, while Ming had a water (since he was driver and basic DD for the day).

Mike was a super cool and chill dude. We talked about podcasts, YouTube, breweries, the COVID-19, quarantine and lockdown, how its affected his business, how the local area of Selinsgrove is / was during the pandemic, etc.

My flight consisted of: Peanut Butter Ale, Coal Wrecker Region Raspberry Ale, Black IPA, and Sexual Chocolate Stout. Mike gave Ming a sample of the Queban Joe (a coffee porter) which I stole a sip of.

Black IPA
Coal Wrecker Region Raspberry Ale
Peanut Butter Ale
Sexual Chocolate Stout

My ratings for the beers on Untappd (and their global average ratings):

Peanut Butter Pale Ale – ****.25 / 3.91 (as of 6.16.20)
Coal Region Wrecker Raspberry Ale – **** / 3.93 (as of 6.16.20)
Black IPA – ***.75 / 3.58 (as of 6.16.20)
Sexual Chocolate Stout – **** / 3.47 (as of 6.16.20)

I would have ordered another flight or perhaps a pint, but Ming wanted to get to the trail, so I paid and we headed out. Selinsgrove Brewing was closed, so we were on the road to Ricketts Glen. Which we arrived at around 2-2:15PM.

For those who’ve never been to Ricketts Glen, it is absolutely gorgeous. We had a beautiful day, sunny, bright skied, no clouds, gorgeous day. Not too hot, just a beautiful early June day (June 14th, 2020). Just an absolutely beautiful gorgeous day. We had a fantastic hike with no problems. It was possibly the most ‘populous’ hike I’ve ever been on (most of the places I’ve hiked, I don’t see anyone on the trails, or if I do its a one time passing), here, its like caravans, and occasional slow-downs at different waterfalls. This is a map of our hike:

Our hike of Ricketts Glen recorded using MapMyRun (a walking / running / hiking / biking GPS recording app)

I will say there is parts of the hike that are ‘difficult’ for those who might have walking issues or leg problems. Overall, most of the hike is easy to moderate, but there is a few places at some of the various waterfall areas where the steps are tough and can also be a bit slick. Plus, if you actually get close to some waterfalls, its also tough and hard, and I wouldn’t fully recommend doing that.

Here is a gallery (of a LOT of pictures) of our hike:

My hike with Ming at Ricketts Glen, Benton Pennsylvania

The hike lasted about four hours roughly, and was a good, fun, nice, beautiful hike and trip. As you can see from the pictures, I did enjoy the four pack I brought with me; which consisted of:

Troegs Independent Craft Brewing: Scratch 415 – Witbier
* My Rating: ***.75 / Global Rating: 3.77 (as of 6.16.20)
Troegs Independent Craft Brewing: Scratch 417 – Orange-Lemon Peel IPA
* My Rating: **** / Global Rating: 3.89 (as of 6.16.20)
New Trail Brewing: Hammock
* My Rating: ****.25 / Global Rating: 4.37 (as of 6.16.20)
Pizza Boy Brewing: The Pen is Mightier
* My Rating: ***.75 / Global Rating: 3.89 (as of 6.16.20)

After our hike, we hit the bathroom one final time, loaded back up, and checked out the breweries map to see what is available and where we would have dinner.

There were several that we looked up – Eclipse Craft Brewing, Pine Knotter Brewing, Old Forge Brewing, and Turkey Hill Brewing. According to the Google Maps and their Facebook (I made sure to check both), Turkey Hill was going to be open til 7PM, and Old Forge was to be open until 9PM. Turkey Hill was closer to Ricketts Glen / Benton than Old Forge, so we decided we’d go to Turkey Hill Brewing, and then from there go to Old Forge Brewing since they were opened later.

Turkey Hill Brewing Co.

We arrived at Turkey Hill Brewing Co. at roughly 6:20-6:30PM, and find out their actually open until 9PM. As we got back there, our reception returned to our phone, and we started getting inundated with texts. Our co-workers were getting called back into work (with Friday, June 19th, Dauphin County Pennsylvania goes green, our work was reopening). So everyone was seeing who got called, how they got called, what information they had, etc. Everyone had different ideas, theories, and stories of their call-backs.

While Ming went and talked to Don about his department that got called back, and their evening plans, I ordered a flight. We sat outside under a beautiful tree, and had a small little table in front of us, it all felt like sitting and eating at a family picnic at someone’s house for say Memorial Day or Fourth of July or Labor Day. Very informal, very interesting, and there were couples all around on various other benches eating in a similar fashion. Due to the current circumstances they do a generic flight of six, so that’s what I got. Once Ming came back from his call, we ordered small things of food (Don was making him dinner, so we weren’t going to get a big meal – just appetizers). I got fries and Ming got Asian Tuna.

Blond Ale
Red Ale
Belgian Triple
Stout
IPA

The fries were very good, and Ming said he loved the tuna (no way was I having any as I’m allergic to seafood). The beers were also very good.

The beers (not in the particular order I had them in above):

Donny’s Irish Dry Stout
* My rating: ***.75 / Global Rating: 3.73 (as of 6.16.20)
Inflategate NE IPA
* My Rating: **** / Global Rating: 3.74 (as of 6.16.20)
St. Abban’s Irish Red Ale
* My Rating: ***.75 / Global Rating: 3.56 (as of 6.16.20)
Oliver’s Twisted Belgian Pale Ale
* My Rating: ***.50 / Global Rating: 3.3 (as of 6.16.20)
Urban Abbey Apricot Pale Ale
* My Rating: ***.50 / Global Rating: 3.69 (as of 6.16.20)
Barn Dance Blonde Ale
* My Rating: ***.50 / Global Rating: 3.44 (as of 6.16.20)

The atmosphere there was very beautiful, laid back, and wonderful. The staff was also really nice, wore their masks, handled the food and drinks and everything very nice. Wonderful all around. The beers were good as well. Overall the venue was beautiful, and I’d love to come visit it – outside of a pandemic – and get to really experience the place, as it looked wonderful.

Turkey Hill Brewing

After the dinner and flight, we looked up Old Forge Brewing, checked to make sure it was due to close at 9PM and headed off. We arrived there at a roughly 7:30-7:45PM, possibly going on 8PM. And it was closed up and locked. So either they closed early or their Facebook (as well as Google Maps) was using old – pre-COVID-19 – hours of operation. So sadly, we missed out on that. We climbed back into the car and headed for home with Ming dropping me off around 9:45PM or so; maybe 10PM. (I was probably not the best judge of time by this point.)

All in all, it was an absolute blast, and a wonderful road trip. I highly recommend both breweries – Isle of Que Brewing Co and Turkey Hill Brewing. Going to have to try this trip again on a weekday where we can hit a few more of the breweries, and do the hike, with hopefully less people, and later hours of operation for the breweries, so we can do more of them.

The venue for Turkey Hill was beautiful. The building for Isle of Que was nice and small and quaint, reminded me of the Warwick Hotel in Hummelstown. I enjoyed both places, both staffs, and both drinks. (Probably give the nod to Isle of Que’s beers over Turkey Hill; but there was nothing wrong with Turkey Hill’s beers, they were average / adequate and were very good. I’ve heard from several people online since that they have phenomenal full food, so maybe next time I’ll stop there and have a full meal.)

Of the beers I brought with, I enjoyed all four as well, though I had three of the four before (the Witbier was the only one I hadn’t had before). I did a review for Troeg’s Scratch 417 before. The Hammock is a great NE-IPA; the Scratch 417 was a delicious IPA, the scratch 415 was a very tasty Witbier, and The Pen is Mightier is an interesting and tasty Sour IPA.

I also highly recommend Ricketts Glen. If you love hiking, love the outdoors, love beautiful scenery, love waterfalls, it was all amazing, and just gorgeous. You definitely won’t be disappointed by the beauty of it all, it does get crowded on weekends, but I don’t think once you get out on the actual trail it is that bad. Right now it was a bit awkward with some close proximity to people given the nature of the pandemic and concerns over it, but overall, I don’t think it was too busy, and never felt threatened by their closeness, nor worried. Doing the full hike path that we took though (as shown above) will take you roughly three to four hours, especially if you stop and take in each waterfall, viewing them, and taking pictures. (Also, of course, depending on your speed, gait, etc.). Ming and I are in our thirties, so use that as a barometer I suppose.

I know this wasn’t a typical road trip, and we really only hit two breweries, but felt like making it into a fun little write-up and blog post. Perhaps next time I take the trip I’ll be able to hit more breweries and make it into a bigger brewery related blog post. Also apologize for the massive photo dump in the middle of this post, at least you could skip them (and the horrible pictures of myself, I apologize for anyone who I scared with my appearance).

But, as always, thank you very much for reading. I appreciate any comments, questions, feedback, etc. If you have any recommendations for trails, hike paths, or breweries, I’d love to hear them! Let me know in the comments! Also, be sure to hit the follow, subscribe, and like buttons. Share with friends, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and thank you all so very much for reading! I love writing for you guys, so its always great to hear from you!

Cheers and happy trails!

-B. Kline

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

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 waterfall at Ricketts Glen, Benton Pennsylvania

A Road Trip To Rickett’s Glen

BKline — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 14:32:27 +0000

A waterfall at Rickett’s Glen State Park.

As I did last summer when I took my daughter’s on a road trip across Pennsylvania (from Hummelstown up to Elk Country, to Kinzua Bridge, down to Pittsburgh, to Bushy Run, and then back home), which I covered (slightly) here on the blog, I will be doing the same tomorrow – when I take a road trip with my friend Ming up to Rickett’s Glen State Park to hike and check out the waterfalls.

We will be making a few stops along the way, and seeing a few different breweries, but not a whole lot, and due to the coronavirus / COVID-19, practices and things will be a lot different. There won’t be any brewery tours, and there won’t be as much to do, just outdoor seating. So it will certainly be interesting.

We’re also not sure yet what all breweries we are going to be visiting. (So if you have any suggestions, be sure to list them here in the comments section).

Some breweries we are looking to stop at are:

Selinsgrove Brewing (if open)
Jackass Brewery
Isle of Que Brewing
Eclipse Craft Brewing
Old Forge Brewing
Turkey Hill Brewing

And if we stray the area a bit, and go into Williamsport area we might check out New Trail Brewing. But we’ll see; the main reason for the trip is the park and the hike, so the breweries are secondary, and with it being a Sunday (and due to the current ongoing crisis) most places will have limited hours (many closing by 6PM), so we’ll see.

Fingers crossed for beautiful weather and a lovely day, and to check out some nice places and drink some good cold beer. Today, I am meeting my sister and her son at Colonel Denning (taking my daughters with). Not a whole lot brewery wise in the area, but maybe we’ll stop somewhere on the way home, who knows. Trying to get some things in, as it looks like June 19th I might be going back to work (Dauphin county goes ‘green’ on June 19th). So looks like my furlough will soon be up; meaning its time to get everything done quickly!

Cheers everyone, and stay tuned after tomorrow to see what’s up and what we got done! Make sure to check in and see!

-B. Kline

(Brewery travels):

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series: