Beer of the Week

The beer: Koffee Kake

The brewery: Victory Brewing Company, Downington, Pennsylvania

Description (from the website): "Locally brewed. Locally baked. Locally loved. This very tasty collaboration between Victory Brewing Company and TastyKake takes the delicious flavors of TastyKake's Koffee Kake into a sweet ale with notes of pound cake and cinnamon."

Would I buy it again? The coffee cake flavoring is a lot more subtle than I was expecting. I'm not sure I would have figured that one out in a blind taste test. As a beer, it's fine and perfectly drinkable, but the relative lack of "pound cake and cinnamon" is disappointing. I probably would not buy this again.

The Tooth, The Whole Tooth, And Nothing But The Tooth

When you hear or see the word "microbiome," there's one part of the body that immediately comes to mind: the gut. Those billions and billions of bacteria living in your gut are usually the star of the health show, but today, let's turn the spotlight someplace else. A different microbiome, underappreciated and unloved.

This is the story of our mouth microbiome. Or, more accurately, a history.

The new research asked a pretty simple question: How did our ancestors' mouths differ from those in the modern day? To answer this question, the researchers performed a genomic analysis of a pair of teeth taken from a man who lived in Ireland 4,000 years ago, during the Bronze Age.  

To no one's surprise, the consensus is that the man's dental microbiome at the time of death was not exactly healthy, and in fact he was at high risk for developing cavities. Hey, let's see you have a healthy mouth when you live in a society without toothpaste. It did exist at this time, but not in Ireland. 

While the poor shape of the man's mouth isn't a shock, the reason behind it is rather interesting, as the teeth were rich in Streptococcus mutans, a bacteria very well known as a major contributor to tooth decay. Now, this doesn't sound like it should be a surprise, considering the aforementioned lack of toothpaste, but other ancient mouth microbiomes do not show nearly as much S. mutans. It's actually very rare to see this bacteria in people living before 1500 AD. 

In our Irish friend's case, the S. mutans had done such a thorough job taking over his mouth that other, more beneficial streptococcal species were basically absent. That said, there were plenty of other bacteria species in the sample. So many, in fact, that the ancient microbiome was more biodiverse than modern-day mouth microbiomes. In a lot of ways, ancient teeth were healthier than ours, mostly down to the lack of sugar in their diets compared to ours.

So, if you think you could pluck a person out of ancient history and they'd have a smile like this, think again. All our Irish friend needed was ye olde dentist, which is something pretty much everyone over on the British Isles need. Yeah, we're ending with a "British people have bad teeth" joke. You knew it had to happen.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Lovestruck Brown Ale

The brewery: RAK Brewing Company, Frederick, Maryland

Description (from Untappd): "This English style Brown ale is conditioned on 25lbs. of roasted Pecans and brewed with British malt to accentuate the caramel notes. Overall, a nice balance between nutty, malty, caramel flavors."

Would I buy it again? RAK Brewing Co. is the new kid on the Frederick beer block, so I wasn't expecting anything extraordinary going in. New places always take some time to get going. And while I'm not convinced of the place's decor, I can't argue with the quality of the beer. This brown ale is, quite simply, fantastic. It's got the pecan and caramel taste, it's pleasantly malty with no hint of hoppy bitterness, and it's pretty easy to drink. Not only would I buy this again, I already have. Couldn't resist walking out of the brewery with a four-pack. It really was that good a beer.

That Gene Has Too Many Nucleotides, Apologize!

It's often said that there's only two things a person is guaranteed to experience in their life: death and taxes. And while there are probably a few studies out there about the medical effects of taxes, death and aging are a more prurient concern for doctors around the world. We spent billions and billions of dollars to stave off the slow march of time, and while healthy eating, exercise, and abstinence from things like hard drugs helps, it can't overcome one simple truth: Our genes degrade over time. 

There's been plenty of research into telomeres specifically – the DNA at the ends of our chromosomes, which shorten and degrade as we age. When the telomere reaches a certain critical point, the cell can no longer divide and either dies or becomes senescent, a fancy word for inactive. Telomere shortening has been associated with aging, cancer, a higher risk of death, all the things that come with getting older.

That said, telomeres aren't the only part of our genetic makeup letting the side down. According to new research from four research groups across Europe, there's an entire spatial dimension conspiring against us. That's right, it's time to start body shaming those wide, fat genes for ...

It's length. The longer the gene, the more likely it is to become less active as a person ages. Which makes a lot of sense, if you think about it. If a protein going around duplicating DNA has a 99% success rate, a gene with 10,000 nucleotides will have a lot more mistakes than one with only 2,000. The more complex the machine, the easier it is to break.

This is a big change from the current prevailing approach, which focuses on specific genes, rather than gene length over the entirety of our genome. But the researchers checked the molecular data from multiple organisms, from humans to bacteria, and gene length was associated with advanced aging in everything. They also noted that the genes involved with brain loss and Alzheimer's are extremely long, and that pediatric cancer patients who undergo DNA-damaging chemotherapy often experience advanced aging.

So, if you want to stay young forever, the answer is simple: Just tell your genes to put on the jean shorts and do their best Daisy Duke impression. Now there's a mental image you probably weren't expecting to experience today.

Review: The Fairways of Halfmoon (Part 2)

It's time to take a look at the back nine at The Fairways of Halfmoon, go here to see the front nine.

The tenth hole is 420 yards, making it the longest par 4 on the course. The tee shot is very straightforward, with no hazards in play; however, I would probably favor the left side. The angle is marginally better going into the green, which is narrow and slightly angled left to right, but it's more because there's water left of the green, and if you're approaching from the right, you're aiming more at the water instead of away from it. So long as you don't hook the second shot into the pond, this isn't a tough hole.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is a fairly short par 4 with a drive that plays across a valley (with the pond from the previous hole at the bottom) up to a gently curving fairway. While the drive is wide open, the green here actually presents some difficulty. It's got quite a few humps and a noticeable tier in the back, so a precision wedge shot is important.

The eleventh hole.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is a mid-length par 4 that plays noticeably shorter, as it's significantly downhill. The tee shot is to a blind fairway framed by forest, and while the fairway and playing corridor is fairly generous, it does narrow and curve off to the right the further you go. You can definitely run out of space if you stray left, so longer hitters may want to use less than driver. A solid drive will leave you a downhill 125-150 yards into the green, so just a wedge or short iron. The green itself is pretty straightforward, though it's guarded by two bunkers.

The twelfth hole.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is 160 yards, making it exactly the same length as the previous two par 3s. However, while they're the same length, they play very differently. The eighth plays 40 feet uphill, this hole plays several dozen feet downhill. So while the green is quite large and an inviting target, it's not quite as easy as it looks. You need to judge your distance well, which is a challenge in fairly strong, swirling winds; out of the four tries our group of generally competent golfers took at this green, we hit the green in regulation precisely none of those times. 

The thirteenth hole.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is a shortish par 4 squeezed down into the bottom of the property; much like 4, 5, and the start of 6, holes 12-15 have been squeezed into land not exactly ideal for golf. The flattish field the majority of the course sits on was definitely plenty for 9 holes, but not 18. That leaves several holes to deal with nonideal golf terrain. And while the elevation change isn't extreme like on the previous hole (or the next hole), the hole definitely feels way more cramped than any other hole other than 4. With a narrow fairway, O.B. left in the form of dense shrubbery and a railyard beyond that, and more native area and a whole paved hiking/biking trail left, you'd be crazy to hit driver here. Use a long iron, get into the fairway, and settle for a full wedge or short iron. The green is small, fairly narrow, and is separated into two tiers, with the back much higher than the front. While it's only 355 yards, this may be the toughest hole on the course.

The fourteenth hole. The elevanted paved hiking trail is at top left.

Approaching the fourteenth green.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is the reason why everyone takes a cart at this course. It's a very short par 5 (though 20 yards longer than the seventh, which plays over level terrain), but it effectively plays much longer, since you're quite literally climbing a mountain the whole way. Which make sense, you've come down the past few holes (particularly on 13), of course you have to go back up. And in a way, I'm sort of glad they do it all at once rather than spreading it out over more holes. This is more memorable, which is good because this hole is pretty unremarkable otherwise. No bunkers, no hazards beyond forest lining the fairway, a small, fairly flat green. Yes, it's a brutal climb, but I'd still choose to walk the course in the future, even knowing how bad the hike up this hole is. It's literally just one hole.

The fifteenth hole.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole is a driveable par 4 and by far the most interesting hole on the course. It's very reminiscent of the tenth of Riviera: While you can go straight at the green, doing so presents a lot of challenge. For one, there are four bunkers around the green (especially impressive, considering the course only has 18 bunkers in total), with one large bunker in front and three smaller ones behind. The green itself is shallow, angled to be best approached from the left side, not the tee. There's even a fairway bunker left of the fairway about 250 yards out, guarding the ideal landing spot to approach this green. That's the ideal way to play this hole, lay up just short of that fairway bunker, pitch down along the long axis of the green. This avoids having to pitch over any bunkers. But the green is so close and so tempting, it takes a lot to resist going straight at it. And if you can pull it off, great. If not, you're going to have to work to make par, let along birdie.

The sixteenth hole.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is a bit of a cliche, being a par 3 with a green perched partway out into a lake, but at least it's not a long hole, being just 155 yards. The green is sloped from left to right, so while the golfer is obviously going to be drawn away from the water, bailing out too far left and ending up in one of the two bunkers left of the green will result in an incredibly dicey second. Everyone loves bunker shots with water lurking behind the green. Not as interesting as the previous hole, but not too bad either.

The seventeenth hole.

The eighteenth hole is just under 400 yards and plays over the side of the same lake from the previous hole. It's about 225-250 yards to fully clear the lake from the back tees, so longer hitters will be able to swing away with driver without much concern. Shorter hitters will have a more interesting choice: Either play away from the pond, leaving a longer, tougher approach into a green protected by two bunkers, or challenge the water fully and giving yourself just a wedge or short iron second. A solid if not spectacular hole to end the round.

The eighteenth hole.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

I didn't have much to say about Halfmoon before, and I still don't have much to say. Not to say I didn't enjoy the round, because the course is perfectly fine. Not difficult, with a few really quirky holes. The Fairways of Halfmoon is (are?) the perfect example of a whelming golf course. Not overwhelming, not underwhelming, right in the middle between them. I had expectations going in, and those expectations were met but not exceeded. It's a perfectly nice, occasionally fun, occasionally head-scratching golf course. It costs exactly what you'd expect a suburban public course in upstate New York. $40 to walk, $60 to ride. Not insane value, but not a ripoff either. 

Crucially, I think Halfmoon never pretends to be something it's not. It's pretty short, just 6,200 yards from all the way back, so it was never going to be a very tough course. And I think they've done a good job steering into that idea of just being a pleasant place to play. There aren't very many bunkers, and aside from the few holes routed through the forest, there aren't many trees either. They also introduced the more-claustrophobic holes early on, and then returned to it later in the round. Which I think is good from a routing/pacing perspective. Neither stretch from 3-6 or 12-15 really stuck out as not belonging on the course, even though the majority of the round happens in a basically open field.

Apparently I did have a bit to say after all. As to the question of whether or not I'd play here again, I mean, I wouldn't say no, but if I'm looking for a round at a public course in the Albany area, I'd go for Orchard Creek every time. Either that or take an hour to drive over to Copake. Halfmoon is fine and I'm sure you could do worse, but you could also do better.

Beer of the Week

The beer: French Toast Imperial Ale

The brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company, Lakewood, New York

Description (from the website): "Toasted, sweet caramel malts blend into notes of maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg to replicate the flavors of French Toast. The addition of Milk Sugar creates a creamy, sweet full-bodied beer that balances the complex malt bill. The finished beer is a brunch-inspired treat that will remind you of digging into a plate of fresh French Toast!"

Would I buy it again? There's often an issue with these kinds of imperial ales: The abundance of sweet ingredients crowd each other out and the beer ends up tasting like nothing. A sweet nothing, to be sure, but very distinctly not whatever sweet food the beer is trying to emulate. Happily, that isn't the case here. The initial taste is distinctly cinnamon-y, with the maple syrup coming in at the end. Those are the two big ingredients in any good French toast, so it's mission accomplished on this. It manages to be good and capture French toast's distinct flavor; I'd absolutely buy this beer again.

To Boldly Go Where No Head Has Ached Before

Space travel is a bit of a headache. Actually, that's underselling the problem, space travel is an enormous headache. There are so many things that can go wrong and so many things that need to be accounted for to keep astronauts safe in a cruelly punishing environment. You have to think about air, radiation, the lack of gravity ... the list goes on and on.

And now, if the metaphorical headaches weren't bad enough, astronauts also need to contend with the actual headaches. 

In research published in Neurology, 22 of 24 astronauts followed during a 7-year period of observation on the International Space Station experienced one or more instances of headache, with 378 headaches being reported over 3,596 total days in space. In addition, before going into space, only 38% of those astronauts experienced headaches; after returning to Earth, no astronaut reported experiencing headaches.

It's perhaps not surprising that headaches were worse during the first week in space, being both worse in severity and more likely to be migraine-like, but headaches continued to occur throughout each astronaut's time in space.

So, what's going on to make space both a figurative and literal headache? While the study authors stressed that the study findings only show an association between space travel and headaches, they added that it most likely comes down to the lack of gravity. Not only does zero G degrade your bones and muscles, it also affects balance and posture. Space motion sickness is extremely common, and while vomiting may be the first thing that comes to mind for astronauts who haven't gotten their space legs yet, headache is actually just a common a symptom of motion sickness.

Now obviously, there are bigger problems to tackle than space headaches when it comes to making human space travel possible. Still, it is an important issue to tackle. We don't want the first person to step foot on Mars to walk out of the lander and say "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for the ibuprofen keeping the migraines at bay."

Review: The Fairways of Halfmoon (Part 1)

I'm always a bit dubious of courses with the naming scheme "the X of Y," though admittedly "the Fairways" is less egregious than "the Links." A course hundreds of miles from the ocean will have very little in common with true links courses, but a course named "the Fairways of Halfmoon" is probably going to have fairways. 

It does. 

And that's about all I knew going into the round, other then that the course – located in Halfmoon, New York, a bit northeast of Albany – was okay, with a few quirky holes. Also, I was advised that walking would be a mistake, but since my youngest brother insisted on walking, I decided to see just how tough a walk the course would be. 

The first hole is, by a hefty margin, the longest hole at Halfmoon, playing 560 yards. Make that even longer for our round, since it was playing pretty much straight into a pretty strong wind, and the course was very wet. A downpour about 2 hours before our round made extra sure of that. Anyway, the hole quickly turns hard left after escaping through a wide chute of trees, so you definitely want to hit a draw. Slicing a drive adds distance, and this hole is long enough. The second shot is very wide open, but there is a pond lurking right of the green. Not a big concern if you're approaching the green from 100 yards away, but the long hitters who can reach this hole in two will need to be wary of it.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is a pretty quiet mid-length par 4, as it has almost literally no hazards in play. The only thing to watch out for are mounds left of the fairway and a big tree directly in line between the green and the tee. Hitting a fade around that tree works very well and should give you just a wedge into the green. This green is pretty large, and while the greens at Halfmoon aren't flat, they're not filled with big, exciting undulations. There's break and slopes, but they're subtle. Still, this is definitely not a difficult hole.

The second hole.

The second green.

The third hole is just 330 yards and plays downhill; while technically it could be driven, that is very much not the smart thing to do. The green is carved into the side of a hill, with a steep falloff into brush and trees just right. The best play is an iron into the admittedly narrow fairway, leaving a wedge up and over an oddly placed tree (it is right in the way, so you really want to avoid the left side if you can) to the green, which is quite long and very narrow.

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

The fourth hole is not a long hole at just 345 yards, but what it lacks in distance it makes up for in narrowness. There is very little room between the dense forest left and dense forest right. 30, 35 yards. Accuracy is king here, though if you can get to the top of the little ridge in the fairway, that will give you a full look at the green. If you have to miss, a miss left is much more likely to bounce you back down into play thanks to the sideslope. Right is completely and thoroughly dead. Find the fairway, and the second shot is pretty straightforward; the green isn't complicated and there's no hazards around it.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is 160 yards and plays around the shoulder of a hill to a partially blind, fairly shallow green. The elevation change in the green isn't dramatic, but it is quite noticeable, and the back left portion is distinctly higher than the rest of the green. Long is a very, very bad place to miss.

The fifth hole.

The sixth hole is 370 yards, but it effectively plays longer, as you can only really use a long iron on this tee. The hole bends nearly 90 degrees right about 200-225 yards out, so a solid lay-up to the middle of the fairway will leave you about 150 yards. A solid short iron, or even more if you don't hug the right tree line. Fortunately, the green, which is long and narrow, has no bunkers or hazards around it, so it's a fairly inviting target. And yet, my brothers and I all doubled this hole, because we all fumbled the tee shot in various ways. Golf is weird sometimes.

The sixth hole.

Approaching the sixth green.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is every golfer's dream: A 440-yard par 5. And that makes it pretty easy, as there's a ton of room to play with left. No need to mess with the tree line and bunker right. Sure, that lengthens the hole and makes the second much less inviting, but at the end of the day, it's still a mid iron second shot into a par 5. Of course, you still have the option of taking the ideal line down the more-dangerous right side. Doing this gives you a better angle into the green, which is protected by a pond short and left as well as two small bunkers short left. I actually like that this hole is a par 5, instead of the par 4 most courses would present. The written par doesn't make a difference in what the golfer actually makes, but because the scorecard says a par 5, it flatters the higher-handicap golfers. And I can't say that's a terrible decision for a public golf course to make.

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole isn't technically a long par 3, as it's just 160 yards, but it plays steeply uphill, so you'll need to add at least a couple clubs to whatever you'd normally hit. There's a single bunker a bit short of the green that can catch anyone who doesn't use enough club on the tee; go in that bunker, and you'll have a nasty 30-yard bunker shot, one of the hardest shots in golf. The green is tilted fairly significantly from back to front, so the golf ball will stop, even though it'll be coming in at a lower than normal angle.

The eighth hole.

The ninth hole is a pretty uncomplicated short par 5 at just under 500 yards. There's very little to worry about on the drive beyond a few trees, and with just one bunker protecting the green, you've got a green light to go for the green in two, even if your drive isn't optimal. The green isn't what I'd call easy, but this is still an excellent opportunity for a birdie.

The ninth hole. Fun fact, the tees pointing off to the right in the middle of the picture belong to the eleventh. For some reason, the back tees for that hole were placed directly in the line of fire for this hole. They do not belong there. We played from the next tees up on 11.

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: Cookies 'N Cream Stout

The brewery: Stevens Point Brewery, Stevens Point, Wisconsin

Description (from the website): "Dunk the little cookies and watch bubbles come up. This sessionable dessert stout recalls everyone’s favorite sandwich cookie with a smooth, biscuity base of dark chocolate malt, softened with flavors of cream filling, speckled ice cream, and white chocolate."

Would I buy it again? I had never heard of Stevens Point Brewery before this, but apparently it's the fifth-oldest brewery in the country, dating back to 1857. It's also a top 20 craft brewery in terms of beer production. Presumably, their beers have just not been available in Maryland before now. Or I could just be blind. Anyway, this is definitely not the first Oreo-inspired beer I've had, and while it's not as good as the one Flying Dog made, it does have the advantage of being available. It could feature a bit more cookies and cream flavor, but it's solid enough, and with Flying Dog's version being discontinued, this is a decent substitute. I could definitely see myself buying this again.