Type: Beer – Smoked Beer
Name: Rivertown Brewing Company – War: Smoked Red Ale
Price: $2.99
Made:   Cincinnati, OH
Alc/Vol: 5.1%

“War is a smoked Irish-style red ale, brewed with a wonderfully potent domestic cherry wood smoked barley. Rye and roast barley are there to remind you that war means fire as well as smoke, and a liberal dose of traditional UK amber malt provide the bold body war deserves. Save one for December 21st 2012

Batch No. 2 in The Brewmaster’s Reserve Limited Release Series. War is the second of four brews released centered around the Mayan apocalypse of 2012 signifying worlds end on December 21st 2012.” (more…)

Type: Beer – Indian Pale Ale (IPA)
Name: The Brew Kettle – White Rajah IPA
Price: $1.99
Made: Strongsville, OH
Alc/Vol: 6.8%

“A West Coast style IPA full of citrus-like and tropical fruit like hop flavor and aroma with an assertive yet smooth bitter finish….malt, take a back seat please.” (more…)

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Type: Beer – Oktoberfest/ Märzen
Name: Thirsty Dog Brewing Company – Oktoberfest
Price: $1.99
Made: Akron, OH
Alc/Vol: 6%

First I had Dogtoberfest, now Barktoberfest? I’m not sure why dog themed breweries like märzen style beers but as long as they keep producing brew, we’re cool.

Now I had a bad experience with another Akron brewery‘s beer, but in defense of Hoppin’ Frog Brewery I learned that I wasn’t a fan of winter ales. Now, it has been some years since I’ve been to Akron but I’m always down to support a local brewery, even if they value all the other weird animals over monkeys. Either way…onto the beer!

The scent is light with a touch of sweetness to it that is typical of oktoberfest style beers. This beer has a bit more orange than amber color to it.

The taste however is a pleasant surprise. I was expecting something a bit more sweet but instead got a bit more malts and nutty flavorings. There is a strong carbonation mouth feel along with a wheaty taste. The mix of malts, nuts and wheat gives you a good taste all the way through. This is a mark of a good beer, you want to initial taste all the way through to the finish to leave you smiling and thirsting for more. In reality this process is over in a second or two but that is all you need to know if this is the right beer for you.

I would warn you though, it is a bit less sweet and more malts then your typical oktoberfest and that switch gives it a different flavoring than you would expect. Overall, I give this brew 4 out of 5 bananas. Keep doing what you do Thirsty Dog Brew, but your next creation should be a drunken monkey @(^_^)@

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Now there is camping and then there is family camping. Popping up your tent in the middle of the woods where you ponder life’s great questions like, “Does a bear shit in the woods?” Then there are the big campground places you go to with your family to get away from it all but not too far away so if your kids get bored, you know you can send them to the arcade or something. Well, I dare say Mohican country located in Ohio is the place to go. It is packed full of campgrounds that there is enough options for you to choose from. They have state parks and smaller campgrounds and every activity you can think of.

I have been going down to the Loudonville-Mohican area for about 10 years now and stayed in as well as visited a whole host of their campgrounds. I’ll be 100% honest, I’m not all about state parks. You don’t get a site with any trees and you can’t even bring your booze. Those two are a must when we go camping so we usually venture out to either River Run or Mohican Wilderness. Both campground offer fun Halloween weekend activities, I’ve heard that Mohican has improved theirs greatly. I remember going on a ghost tour where they handed the kids sticks with a nail in it, stuck a pop can with the top ripped off, wrapped a rag in there and poured in kerosene. As flaming liquid dripped down onto our arms we decided this wasn’t the best idea as we trekked up a large hill sloshing our fire torch o’ death. River run offers a DJ on certain holiday weekend nights which is great for your teens but if I have to listen to Cotton Eye Joe one more time I’m going to flip someones friggin tractor…and then I’ll start flinging poo.

What I enjoy about this area is that it is one of the best canoe/kayak places in Ohio. You can float on down for hours enjoying the great outdoors for what it truly is. My family would bring jello shots and toss it by as we pass, you know for our fuel to keep us going. That or we would pull over for a swig of Boones Farm, yeah we are classy like that.

Also, it wouldn’t be Mohican country if it didn’t have wonderful hiking trails and views to keep you busy for days. There is one lookout point that has to be breathtakingly beautiful in the fall (Just look at those rolling hills to the right). They also have zip lines, water parks, horseback riding and many more activities depending on how adventurous you are and how deep your wallet goes. Additionally, if you go into Loudonville they have a bunch of small shops and usually have town festivities during the holiday weekends as well.

However, my favorite thing about camping is sitting down with a good book and doing absolutely nothing. Then at night toasting marshmallows and serving up hobo-pies.

My tip if you do visit Mohican country during a holiday weekend, leave before 9am if you are leaving on the holiday (like Memorial Day) or stay an extra day because you will get stopped by every small town parade between there and home.

I did feel bad for the whole area this past Memorial Day weekend, they lost out on millions of dollars and set a bad tone for the kickoff to summer camping. The rains had overflooded the river and left many campgrounds underwater and the river flowing too high to allow canoeing. Campgrounds were calling campers who reserved telling them not to come. We lucked out and stayed above water this time but I hope that the improvement in the weather has shone down on them and campers since.

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On my recent trip to North Carolina I decided to take photos on my drive home through Appalachia on my 12 hour ride. However, my camera decided to have a different plan. I wanted to set my camera to go off every minute to take photos of my ride home, care free. Well, the certain camera I have doesn’t let me do that so instead my wife volunteered to snap off photos on the drive. We didn’t get all 12 hours but we did get photos of our drive through Appalachia as we crossed through West Virginia, Virginia, and southern Ohio. We got well over 500 photos put together in this fun short video for you, hope you enjoy!

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