Beer of the Week

The beer: Festie Oktoberfest Lager

Brewed by: Starr Hill Brewery, Charlottesville, Virginia

Description (from the bottle): "Smooth and malty with a clean finish, this is our tribute to the German tradition of Märzen lagers."

Would I buy it again?: It's that time of year. Fall is upon us, and with it comes fall beers, with all two varieties. Pumpkin beer and Oktoberfest Märzens. We start off with a beer in the Oktoberfest style from Starr Hill. I've enjoyed their beer in the past, and I enjoy Oktoberfest beer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I enjoyed this. It's pleasantly malty and perfect for a fall afternoon. If I wasn't filled up on fall beer already, I'd definitely consider getting this again.  

Review: Butter Brook Golf Club (Part 2)

It's time to see the back nine at Butter Brook, go here to see the front.

After a very long walk from the clubhouse, the tenth hole is a 380 yard par 4, or so the scorecard claims. This happened a few times during the round where the hole seemed a lot longer from the back tees then the scorecard indicated. I hit a good drive here, and I got stuck on the upslope of that crossbunker on the left side, which is 150 yards from the green. I'm not as long as I used to be, but I can hit a driver more than 230 yards. Anyway, there's really no reason to challenge that bunker as I did, since the green is bunkerless and, save for a slightly shorter shot, you don't gain a better angle by going left. If I were to play here again, I wouldn't be fooled into trying to carry the fairway bunker.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is 250 yards. Now take a guess, is it a par 3 or a par 4? Unfortunately, it's a par 3, but that length is really the only thing this hole has going for it. There's a single small bunker left of the green, but otherwise the green is wide open, meaning you can run a shot up without issue, or you can lay up and try to get up and down for par. That's honestly not a bad strategy, especially when it's the second hole of the day and you didn't warm up much. The green itself has some interesting movement though, and it's one of the best greens on the course.

The eleventh hole.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole emerges from the forest into an open plain of sorts. For the next few holes, the course will meander back and forth through this treeless area, with plenty of waste bunkering framing the holes. This hole is 520 yards, which can make it reachable if you're not going straight into the wind. You're better off going down the right side, flirting with O.B. and the waste area. From there, you can go for the green with a wood or long iron, or continue down the right side with a lay-up. The green is protected by a standard bunker short left, so you'll want to hit a draw at the green, or lay up down the right, to give yourself the best shot at the flag.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is a short par 4 at only 320 yards. Much like the second hole though, it's not exactly reachable from the tee. There's not a lot of hole visible from the tee, there's a bit of fairway, a big bunker, and that's it. The ideal line is actually over that shed in the crook of the dogleg. Even a long iron is enough to carry, so don't worry about that. After a good long iron, the second shot will be a wedge to a green that's well defended with sand. I like the inclusion of the shed in the design of the hole, it's not something you see every day. And yes, I said the same thing about Galen Hall and the barn last month, but trust me, most golf courses don't incorporate old buildings.

The thirteenth hole.

Approaching the thirteenth hole.

These two people keep following me everywhere make it stop.

The fourteenth hole is a fairly standard 200 yard par 3, with a single bunker front right protecting the green. It looks like a small target, but there is more green than what you can see from the tee. 

The fourteenth hole.

The fifteenth hole is the longest par 4 at Butter Brook, playing nearly 450 yards straight into the wind. If you go down the right side, you'll shorten the second shot, but you also risk running out of fairway and going into the pond. Going left lengthens the hole, but you avoid the water and you give yourself a better angle into the green. Even so, it's a tough second shot. Mid irons are tough, especially when the water is lurking right. There is room to bail out left if you're not feeling confident, which is nice.

The fifteenth hole.

Approaching the fifteenth green.Add caption

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is the final par 5 at Butter Brook, playing parallel to the twelfth but in the opposite direction. It's the same length as the twelfth hole too, so if you can't go for one green because of the wind, you can go for the other. You have to carry the pond on the tee shot, but that's not a big challenge. Of greater concern is the fairway bunker left, exactly where you'd want a drive to finish. If the hole is playing downwind, you can go at the green with a wood or long iron; the green is in a saddle of sorts with a bunker left. If you're laying up, there's a bunker about 75 yards short on the right side of the fairway that you'll want to get close to in order to give the best angle into the green.

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is quite a hole. It's 420 yards, and if you play it from the back tees, you're basically looking at some trees with a small sliver of fairway visible to the right. Needless to say, I did not play this hole from all the way back. But even from the next tee up, this is a very tough hole. To the right is a line of trees, and to the left is a marsh. The fairway in between is quite narrow, and it pinches in further where a driver would end up. So it's a lay-up off of the tee, which means you'll have a very long second shot, probably around 200 yards. It's a tough mid to long iron too, since the green is small and flanked by sand. Par is a very good score.

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The last hole finishes things off in a mellow yet still challenging fashion. It's a fairly short par 4, playing just 355 yards. The hole is fairly wide if you use a wood or long iron, but narrows if you want to use a driver, as a marsh encroaches from the left. Since the hole is short, you don't need a driver though. If you've hit a good drive, all you have is a wedge or short iron into the green. But with the marsh and a bunker short and a pond long right, it's not the easiest second shot. This is a hole that rewards precision instead of brute force, which is nice to see in a closing hole.

The eighteenth hole.

You generally want to get closer to the final green off the tee than I did.

The eighteenth green.

I'll be completely honest, Butter Brook is not my cup of tea. You'd be hard pressed to find a more inaccurate golfer than me, and most of the holes at Butter Brook are lined with tall trees that are next to impossible to go over or around. Yes, the hole corridors are wide, but not wide enough for me. I felt very claustrophobic throughout most of the round.

However, I can be mature enough to not let my personal taste detract from what is absolutely a good golf course. There are solid strategic options throughout, the greens are interesting, the course is walkable, and for most people who aren't me, the fairways are pretty wide. It was $60 to play on a weekday morning, which isn't great value, but for what you get, it's not terrible. It's a newer course, and from my experience newer courses are more expensive. All in all, I'd describe Butter Brook as being solid if unspectacular, and a good place to begin our tour of eastern New England.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Invasion Tropical Pale Ale

Brewed by: Cigar City Brewing, Tampa, Florida

Description (from the website): A Pale Ale developed with long days of pillaging, pirating, and marauding in mind, Invasion Tropical Pale Ale’s genesis lies with Tampa’s Gasparilla Pirate Invasion. The annual celebration of apocryphal Tampa history began in 1904 and has been injecting eyepatches, cutlasses, and scurvy into the city’s culture each January for more than 100 years. The brewers at Cigar City Brewing developed this moderate alcohol and tropically inspired beer to perfectly complement the fun and excitement of the Gasparilla Pirate Invasion, with generous additions of Motueka, Galaxy, Simcoe, Pacifica, and Amarillo hops adding tangerine and nectarine notes paired with a moderate body and vibrant carbonation."

Would I buy it again?: I had high hopes for this one. A tropical pale ale from Florida? Surely they'd know how to make a pale ale taste different, especially when they stuck tropical in at the beginning. Floridians know tropical. But no, this tasted like pretty much every pale ale. Which is fine if you like pale ales, but I'm not a huge fan. So I'll pass on this in the future.

Review: Butter Brook Golf Club (Part 1)

Well, it's that time of year again. Vacation time. Two years ago it was Connecticut. Last year it was upstate New York. This year? Boston. Sort of. It wouldn't be a proper family golf trip if we didn't spread the golf far and wide. Sure, the states in New England are small, but we managed to hit courses in four different states during our trip. And quite a trip it was, my brothers and I played seven courses, though I'll admit that two of those seven were nine hole courses.

We begin our tour of the majority of New England close to Boston (what a concept), with a course we actually played late in the week. Butter Brook Golf Club is a bit northwest of the city, maybe an hour from downtown. It's a quiet place, well forested. The course was built in the mid 2000s by Mark Mungeam; while this is the first solo design of his that I've played, he did the rerouting and new holes at Shennecossett back in the late 1990s when they did their land swap with Pfizer. This course isn't much like Shennecossett, surprisingly enough. But is it good? Let's find out.

The first hole is a par 5 that really sets the stage for what you'll be seeing for most of the round. The fairway is wide, but it's lined with tall trees. The ideal drive is a gentle draw aimed at the fairway bunker on the outside of the dogleg. From there, you can either lay up over the second rightside fairway bunker, away from the bunker on the left side, or you can go for the green. It's not a big target, but there's plenty of room on the right side to miss. This isn't a tough hole, so it's a good chance to start with a birdie.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is a short par 4, only 315 yards. It's not quite driveable, so if you're a longer hitter, you can either lay up with a long iron, or challenge the small ravine left of the fairway to get close to the green. The fairway does narrow up quite a bit once you get past 200-225 yards from the tee, so that's something to keep in mind if you do decide to go for the bold play. The green has a single small bunker to the left, and is as undulating as the first green.

The second hole.

The second green.

The third hole is a very short par 3, playing just 135 yards. Butter Brook actually has two short par 3s, which is a nice touch. This one has a long, narrow green with a big bunker to the left. You wouldn't the two bunkers short of the fairway wouldn't come into play, since you'd have to chunk your tee shot really bad to find one of them. Guess what I did? Anyway, I'm sure this is a good hole if you play it somewhat close to correctly.

The third hole.

The third green.

The fourth hole is a mid-length par 4, and it looks a bit intimidating when you're standing on the tee. There's not a lot of fairway visible, but rest assured, there's more hole hiding over that fairway bunker, which isn't actually in play, and more fairway to the left. It's actually a pretty easy tee shot, and it's not tough to get into a decent position to attack the green, which is the most interesting part of this hole. It's a very long green, and falls significantly from back to front in a series of waves. You won't want to be above the hole, and you won't want to find the bunkers that flank the green, since they're quite deep.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The long and undulating fourth green.

The fifth hole is the second short par 3 at Butter Brook, and oddly enough, it's literally exactly the same length as the third hole. Fortunately, this hole does play differently to the third. Your eye may be drawn to the small section of exposed rock short and right, but the bunker left of the green is a much more pressing matter. That said, the green does slope from right to left, so it may actually be easier to recover from the left than from the right.

The fifth hole.

The sixth hole is a fairly long par 4, by far the longest on the front nine. That's not saying much though, since there are only three. The hole is 435 yards long, and that isn't made any easier by the drive, which is tricky. That bunker on the left really narrows the fairway right where you want to land the drive. If you can carry the bunker, the fairway is quite wide. The green is partially blind and protected by a big bunker short.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is a fairly long par 5 at 550 yards, though it's nothing compared with what we'll see soon. This is quite a hole, and unusual for a par 5 in that it gives you something to think about on every shot. Off of the tee, there's a fairway bunker right and left, both eating into the fairway. There's dense forest lurking left as well. If you do hit the fairway, there's another bunker on the left side about 125 yards from the green that you need to carry to give yourself the best shot into the green. The third shot is slightly downhill into a small depression; the green is fairly undulating and punchbowl-like.

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is the third par 3 on the front nine, which is a nice touch. Too many courses go with the standard two par 3s and 5s, this one has three of each par. This hole, playing 170 yards, has a touch of Redan about it. The green is gently sloped from right to left, and with the bunkers short and left, you definitely want to hit a draw into this green, and it may not be a great idea to go straight at the flag. 

The eighth hole.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole is a very, very long par 5 at 620 yards. Now, maybe I'd be more in favor of this hole if we hadn't started on the back nine. That made this the last hole of the day, and let me tell you, playing a hole this long at the end of the round is not my idea of a fun time. But let's look at the hole in isolation. You definitely want to hit a draw off of the tee; going too far to the right brings in the tree line. There aren't any bunkers to worry about, which is something. The same goes for the second shot, which is less good. Basically you need two brute force shots just to give yourself a decently short third. That third shot is the interesting shot, hit over a long bunker to a medium-sized green. 

The ninth hole.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green.

That's it for this week, next week we'll take a look at the back nine.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Mexican Lager

Brewed by: Väsen Brewing Company, Richmond, Virginia

Description (from Untappd): "This brew is light, clean, and extremely crushable from a can, but if you slow down long enough you might notice hints of citrus and maize along with the classic malty lager flavors from our traditional Mexican lager yeast. ¡Arriba, abajo, al centro y adentro! Brewed with lime peel & salt."

Would I buy it again?: Another lager, another excuse to bring out the Yuengling test. Is this beer good? Yes, I liked it. Would I buy it over a Yuengling? No, I wouldn't. It did definitely taste different, I'll give it that, and it wasn't a bad taste, that citrus and maize, but it's not enough to justify the extra money.

Want to See a Golf Ball From 15 Miles Away? Now You Can!

Courtesy of the world's biggest digital camera. It takes 3,200 megapizel images, and it's more than 2 feet across. In order to view this image in its entirety, you would require 378 4k televisions. And yet, I'm pretty sure I could still hit a golf ball far enough off line to be beyond its capability. 

Of course, this camera won't be used to take pictures of golf courses (too bad for me). Instead, it's going to South America, where it'll be mounted to a new observatory and used to conduct a 10-year survey of the universe. That's probably a bit more scientifically useful.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Dead Rise Old Bay Gose

Brewed by: Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, Maryland

Description (from the website): "Our most-piloted beer to date is brewed with the rugged spirit of the Chesapeake Bay watermen. Born in the heart of crab country, Dead Rise started as a gose, highlighting the bold spiciness of Maryland’s most beloved culinary staple: OLD BAY seasoning. Over the years, Dead Rise has evolved into an easy-drinking blonde ale, perfect for backyard BBQs, deck parties, and sunny summer days drifting aimlessly on the water in a speedboat that’s run out of gas. The combination of lemon peel and Cascade and Citra hops make this beer the perfect sidekick for seafood, seafood, seafood, and also seafood."

Would I buy it again?: I got suckered in by the Old Bay beer that Flying Dog made last year, but this year was going to be different. I wasn't going to do it, but then a friend wanted me to buy some, so I bought some for myself too. Not again though. I'll drink pretty much any beer, but I really do not enjoy drinking this. Old Bay and beer don't mix, and I also don't like goses or sour beers. So this gets a big "no thanks" from me.

Reminder: Hand Sanitizer Is For Your Hands, Not Your Mouth

Everyone loves hand sanitizer right now. Not many businesses have been booming during the pandemic, but perhaps unsurprisingly, personal hygiene products are doing just fine. All sorts of companies are making sanitizing products, and those products are coming in all shapes and sizes. So the FDA has had to issue a warning that hand sanitizers packaged in beer cans, water bottles, and other odd containers aren't actually safe to drink. You'd think that would go without saying, but all things considered, I'm surprised it took this long for such a warning to come out.