Beer of the Week

The beer: Green Farmer 22 / Catoctin Heritage Pale Ale

Brewed by: Milkhouse Brewery, Mt. Airy, Maryland

Description (from the website): "A classic 100% Maryland pale ale, made even more Maryland with the addition of our hop varietal 'Monocacy'. With Chinook bittering additions followed by copious amounts of Monocacy for aroma and presence, this is the first full batch of Maryland brewed beer featuring this unique hop varietal in quite some time! We are excited to share this piece of Maryland brewing history with everyone, and are even more thrilled about taking this interesting ingredient into the future of Maryland beer."

Would I buy it again? We've got the first beer in the Monocacy hop trilogy this week. And it's excellent. Not too bitter or hoppy, well balanced, easy to drink, and very tasty. I'm really happy I went out of my way to buy it, and I hope it sticks around. We'll see how the two lagers pan out, but I'm pretty excited now.

Beer Wars: A New Hop

Of the four main ingredients in any beer, the hop is the most particular and niche. We don't grow barley or wheat just for beer, yeast is used in many sorts of baking, and obviously water has a few uses, but hops are really only used for beer, and more importantly, they can only be effectively grown in a few areas. Bavaria in Germany and Washington state account for something like two-thirds of the world's hop production (don't quote me on that percentage, but either way, it's a lot). You can grow hops plenty of places, and there are certainly plenty of non–beer-related hops that flourish outside Germany and Washington, but if you want mass hop production, your options are limited. Beer hops require a specific soil and climate.

Take Maryland, for example. There are numerous farm breweries throughout the state that grow their own hops, but the total acreage devoted to hop growth is 20. That compares with over 50,000 acres in the Pacific Northwest. They need constant care in Maryland, as they're vulnerable to both excessive heat and numerous diseases and pests. But what if there was a hop that was adapted to the Maryland climate? A hop that's been here for many years and could be used in beer?

Say hello to the Monocacy hop. Discovered in 2013, it's completely unique, unknown anywhere outside Frederick County in Maryland. While technically it's not native, it's been naturalized, having been in Maryland since the early 1800s. That means it can survive Maryland's adverse conditions. And unlike other invasive species from Japan, it produces flowers usable in brewing. But the question is, while the research into the hop shows it can be used in beer, does the Monocacy hop taste good? And now, in 2023, the hop is moving out of the lab and into commercial production. Milkhouse Brewery in Mt. Airy, Maryland, came out with three beers utilizing the Monocacy hop. And while I would suggest any interested parties go out and try it for yourself, since Milkhouse is a 25-minute drive from home, I went out and secured all three of these new beers for myself. So, if you're curious, I'll be reviewing all three for the next 3 weeks.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Mixed Nuts Cream Ale

Brewed by: Indeed Brewing Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Description (from the can): "A spritz mingle of hazelnuts, almonds & roasted chestnuts, Mixed Nuts Cream Ale is a delightful mixed bag with a salty finish. Mouthful after mouthful, this cream ale is nuttier than ever and each sip is better than the last."

Would I buy it again? I think this beer is very well made, but the almonds really take it down a peg in my opinion. I really don't like the taste of almond. So I wouldn't buy this again, but if you do like almond, then this is definitely a beer for you.

Review: Lederach Golf Club (Part 2)

It's time to check out the back nine at Lederach, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is a mid-length par 4 with two main options off the tee. You can hit out right, using a 3 wood; this is easier but you can only go so far before a bunker cuts you off. It also leaves you with a worse angle over a bunker (and a tree). If you head down the left side, you'll need to clear a series of mounds about 225-250 yards out, but if you do that you'll have a fairly easy second shot. The green is fairly undulating and has two bunkers right.

The tenth hole.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is listed as nearly 400 yards, but if you're willing to hit a driver straight at the green, it plays much shorter. Maybe not quite driveable, but close. Naturally, doing so means you're aiming into a narrow neck of fairway with a bunker and significant mounding left and dense forest right. That's a bit too much to ask for most golfers, who will play out left. That drive is easier, but you'll have a tough second shot to a narrow green guarded by a bunker left. And I really do mean narrow this time, like maybe 15 yards wide. And it's got slope and tiers and everything. Not a green you want to approach from 150-plus yards out.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is an absolutely enormous par 5, playing over 650 yards from all the way back, with the second half of the hole playing significantly uphill. The tee shot favors a fade, and you'll want to avoid the O.B. left. On the second shot, your primary obstacles are a large mound in the center of the fairway and a bunker on the right side about 125-150 yards out. Two solid shots should leave a wedge or short iron into the green, which is semiblind and very shallow. It's not devoid of interest, obviously, but this is still kind of a slog.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

Someone forgot to take a picture of the green.

The thirteenth hole isn't the most exciting hole in the world. A mid-length par 4, it plays downhill to a blind fairway that runs out about 275 yards out, so you'll probably want to use less than driver. The hole then turns nearly 90 degrees, crossing a stream so there's no chance to play aggressively, up the green, which has the usual Lederach undulations and is fairly large and elevated significantly. This is a target-style hole; hit to the fairway, then to the green. Not much chance for creative play. 

The thirteenth hole. Not my best picture-taking day.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole isn't quite as monstrously long as the twelfth, but at 233 yards and uphill pretty much the whole way, it's certainly no slouch. That said, while the tee shot isn't easy, the green is very large (likely Lederach's largest) and most of it is open at the front, with just a single small bunker right. There's another bunker back right, but it really doesn't factor in. To miss long and right you'd have to significantly overclub, and I'm guessing that doesn't happen too much here. 

The fourteenth hole.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is the longest par 4 at Lederach, gently ascending for much of its 470 yards. The tee shot is wide open, with no hazards and plenty of space between the O.B. right and forest left. The second shot is a bit trickier, as a pair of bunkers about 20 yards short of the green basically cut the green off from the fairway. If you want to hit a running shot into the green, you'll have to contend with those bunkers, and since the hole is so long, odds are you'll be using a pretty low-lofted club on the second shot. So the bunkers come into play more than you might think. The green itself is vaguely two tiered, with the right higher than the left. 

The fifteenth green.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is a fun and quirky short par 3, playing just 140 yards. The green here is quite large and boomerang shaped, with the two wings pointing away from the tee. There's only one bunker on the hole, off right of the green, but there's a large mound guarding the left side of the green very efficiently. You need to hit a pretty accurate and well-judged tee shot to hold the green if the flag is on the left side. It's pretty easy to miss long, but there's no hazards long so it's both relatively easy and deceivingly tricky to get up and down from back there. Chipping from a tight lie in the fairway is never easy, since you've got so many options. 

The sixteenth hole.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is another long par 4 at 450 yards, and while there's no hazards per se off of the tee, the fairway here is narrowed significantly by a group of mounds in the landing area. The fairway isn't a whole lot flatter, so the odds of having a flat stance on the second shot are not high. That'll obviously make the second shot tougher, especially when this is a less-than-inviting green to begin with. It's not large, sloped from front to back, and protected in front by humps and swales, with a bunker left thrown in for good measure. 

The seventeenth hole.

Approaching the seventeenth green.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole, at the very least, is shorter than the stereotypical par 4 finisher with water in play. At 330 yards, it's very nearly drivable for the longest hitters, but with water lurking left that may not be the best play. There are two bunkers about 250 yards away, nestled in amongst mounding, and they're the primary focus of the tee shot, since that where you would ideally lay up. You don't want to be in all that, so you need to either commit to staying short, leaving a full wedge into the green, skirting left of them, bringing the water into play and potentially leaving an awkward pitch, or clearing them, which is obviously not a play everyone can manage. Whatever you pick, the green is easily the most extreme one on the course, filled with large undulations and falloffs toward the water. There's an especially brutal false front short left. This is not a green where you can take a two putt for granted.

The eighteenth hole.

The eighteenth green.

Lederach is a good golf course. It's got very interesting greens, and while the strategy is often a bit lacking elsewhere, it's not completely devoid of it. There are a fair number of holes I like quite a lot, like the fourth and sixteenth. But it can't escape the housing development curse, not completely. The individual holes are good, but there's no flow to the round. It all feels disjointed and disconnected, and routing matters. It's not the worst offender in the world, but since the course is decent otherwise, somehow you feel it more. And like I said, there's a fair number of holes where the strategy on the tee is just "hit it as far as you can," and that's not especially interesting. 

Overall, there's a fair amount to recommend here, and I wouldn't say you shouldn't play Lederach, but I do think there are better options for public golf in Philadelphia. Jeffersonville, for example, and the next course I'll be reviewing, which has to be my most pleasant surprise in a long time. However, if you're in the mood for a modern style of design, Lederach is absolutely a better fit than Glen Mills. 

Beer of the Week

The beer: Cold Brew

Brewed by: Barrelhouse Brewing Company, Paso Robles, California

Description (from the website): "Toss that boring old pumpkin whatever out the window and pick up one of this season's most anticipated specialties - Cold Brew - Coffee Blonde Stout. Crafted with a generous amount of locally roasted cold press espresso, infused with vanilla, lactose, and oats creating a mind-altering experience. Did we mention this beer contains caffeine? Cheers!"

Would I buy it again? This was a pleasant surprise. While it's a coffee stout, it's also a blonde stout, which means it's a bit less heavy than most beers with coffee flavoring. And of course, it doesn't taste like black coffee, but something filled with sugar and actual good taste. It's not overly sweet either, it's a pleasant, fairly drinkable beer, and I'd definitely buy it again.

Review: Lederach Golf Club (Part 1)

Normally, if you see the phrase "housing development" associated with a golf course, it's a sign to avoid that particular course. Houses and golf don't go well together. Golf courses created specifically to sell houses rarely elevate themselves beyond the mundane. How can you expect a golf course to be good when its integrity is compromised from the very start? When real estate prices come first, the golf suffers. Now, it's not impossible for a housing development course to be solid if it's well designed, but I guarantee you that if the architect had been given a freer hand over the same property, the result would be a lot better.

That brings us to Lederach Golf Club, a surprisingly well-regarded housing development course, designed by Kelly Blake Moran in 2006. It may not get any love in the rankings, but golf course enthusiasts generally hold it as one of the best public courses in the Philadelphia area. There's a reason my brothers and I went out and played it. And while there's literally no chance the houses help the course, the question is: How badly do they hurt Lederach? 

The first hole is labeled as being 450 yards on the scorecard, but if those tees exist, we couldn't find them. Instead, this is a short par 4 of about 350 yards, playing to a wide fairway cut off about 225-250 yards out by a pair of deep bunkers. If you want a nice short second shot, you'll need to carry those bunkers. The green here is the real story though. Most of the greens at Lederach are like this, but it's quite an introduction on the first hole, seeing a large green filled with massive humps and bumps. Not sure how many other places the flag can go other than front right, but that front-right hole location is pretty fun. Lots of opportunity to use the mini-punchbowl to bring shots in close to the hole. And there's also lots of opportunity to end up on the wrong side of the mounds and leave yourself an extremely difficult putt. All in all, a decent opening hole.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is a mid-length par 4 (for real this time, it's just the first hole that lies) that doglegs left around a deep fairway bunker about 250 yards out. The fairways plenty wide around it and there's no distinct advantage to carrying it, so really all you need to do is avoid it on the tee shot. Which I did not do. Oops. The green is the real story here; it's L shaped and separated into three distinct sections, with the lower middle section and two moderately higher wings. There's also a small hollow in the corner of the L. It's a fascinating green attached to a fairly uninteresting hole, basically. 

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is a sprawling 560-yard par 5 with an alternate fairway in play to the right if you're bold and long enough to carry a series of mounds and flirt with a small marshy pond. Do that and this green is easily reachable; play safely out left and this is a definite three-shot hole. The second shot, if you're laying up, is pretty straightforward, but there is a central fairway bunker about 75 yards short. The green is pretty tame, so if you have hit the green in two, you'll have a great shot at eagle.

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

The fourth hole is 430 yards and is one of Lederach's best holes, if not the best. It doglegs right around a hill, with trees and native area all down the left side. You can play down the left side, and that will give you a view of the green, but you'll have a worse angle and a longer shot. Play right and you'll obviously have a blind second, but the second will be much shorter and from a better angle. The green is long and narrow, with a bunker left and a steep dropoff into O.B. long. It's also a bit like the second green, in that the front and back are their own sections elevated above the middle. You can end up with putts with a ton of break if you end up in the wrong part of the green.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is a deceivingly difficult par 3. Sure, when you look at the scorecard and see it's 235 yards, you'd expect it to be tough. But then you get up to the tee and see nothing. No hazards, a wide open green and fairway. It's almost inviting. But this green is very shallow and sloped from front to back, so it's easy to run over. In addition, the terrain in front of the green is not exactly inviting of running up shots, with a small knob front left especially troublesome. My brothers and I played this hole in a combined 4 over, which goes to show that sometimes you don't need hazards to provide difficulty.

The fifth hole.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is a 530-yard par 5 and the first time you're really confronted by housing. Before this they've only been on the periphery and very out of play. This fairway however is rather narrow, with O.B. left and small stream right. Of course, the challenge on the tee is to cut off as much of the stream as you dare. If you're bold enough, you can reach the green in two. If you're laying up, the second is mostly a matter of keeping the ball in play, as there's no real trouble out there. The green is small and sited behind some large mounds, which are an issue for those coming at the green from a long way out but not so much for people who lay up. 

The sixth hole.

Approaching the sixth green.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is a pretty straightforward 180-yard par 3. There's a bunker left and the green is far from flat (noticeably sloping from right to left, so getting up and down from the right side is tricky), but there's no other big noteworthy hazards or difficulties, so this is a reasonable birdie opportunity.

The seventh hole.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is 370 yards and the tee shot is a bit interesting, as you have to hit through a gate of two trees on opposite sides of the fairway. There's certainly no lack of space, but it does feel a little out of place on a course that's otherwise very wide open when it comes to trees. There's also a small fairway bunker right in the middle, so you'll want to watch out for that. The second shot is semiblind, with a deep bunker protecting the front-left portion of the green. This is another very tough green to hit; much like the fifth this one is shallow and sloped from front to back.

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole may be a par 4 doglegging around an incongruous pond, but at the very least it's not a long par 4. At 375 yards, it's fairly manageable and there's plenty of room to miss left. Of course, not only does bailing out left leave you with a longer second from a worse angle, the terrain goes from undulating to heaving, so you'll almost certainly have a very tough stance. The green is elevated and not large, with it falling away on all sides and a bunker front left. It's very tough to hold if you're not coming at it from the ideal place. Not a long hole, but still plenty difficult.

The ninth hole.

The ninth green.

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