Ultimate Golf Course Beer?

[ajbram]

For the last several years, some friends and I have participated in our own little golf league/tour. It started when we were all in university, and we used to play Biologists vs. Historians or Biologists vs. Engineers or Scientists vs. Social Scientists. We started out calling it the Academic Golf Challenge, and it has blossomed into what we call the Academic Golf Association (AGA). We typically have 8 tourneys a year in various parts of the province and in the nearby states, on courses that range from ****ty converted cow pastures to championship courses. As golfers, we range from very good (1 guy qualified for the Canadian Amateur Championship and averages in the very low 70s) to pretty decent (several of us shoot low 80s most of the time) to really really horrendous (120+). The two things we all have in common are a lack of consistency (even the really good dude sometimes blows it and shoots a 90) and the desire to drink heroic quantities of beer while golfing. These two things are related to one another I'm sure, and have led to us calling ourselves a "Semi-Amateur Sporting Organization." Amateur literally means someone who does something because they love it. And we're ****ty enough to only love golf about half the time, hence semi-amateur.

What I'm getting at by writing this huge background, is that we now have 3 homebrewers on tour (all biologists - go figure) and we decided to make an AGA signature brew. We're all getting too old to drink crappy golf course beers, especially when we have the talent to make something good.

What style is your ultimate golf course beer? Any recipe suggestions?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I've never played ball golf, but I'm an avid disc golfer. Drinking during tourney play isn't usually allowed, but during regular rounds I like to bring a few brews with me. Never brought homebrew, the bottles are a pita and who's really gonna carry a mug of beer while humping the course (disc golfers seldom use carts)?! I usually take a few cans of craft brew, something like Surly Furious or 21st Ammendment's IPA. I'm stoked for the canned SNPA that will be out by golf season! I also often take a sixer of PBR out when I throw a round, cheap, easy and thirst quenching. Once I get a bottler that can fill bottles off my kegs, I'll probably take homebrew w/ me when I play. Again, pale ale or IPA would be my first choice, although a pilsner or a kölsch would also be quite nice.

 

[dfess1]

I drink Labatt Blue when on the course. Cools me down, and doesn't get me hammered to the point where I no longer can make contact with the ball. I am not that good to begin with (so good in fact, that I do no keep score), but being smashed on the 18th hole would not be fun for either me, or the multiple groups lined up behind me at that point!

 

[ajbram]

I've never played ball golf, but I'm an avid disc golfer. Drinking during tourney play isn't usually allowed, but during regular rounds I like to bring a few brews with me. Never brought homebrew, the bottles are a pita and who's really gonna carry a mug of beer while humping the course (disc golfers seldom use carts)?! I usually take a few cans of craft brew, something like Surly Furious or 21st Ammendment's IPA. I'm stoked for the canned SNPA that will be out by golf season! I also often take a sixer of PBR out when I throw a round, cheap, easy and thirst quenching. Once I get a bottler that can fill bottles off my kegs, I'll probably take homebrew w/ me when I play. Again, pale ale or IPA would be my first choice, although a pilsner or a kölsch would also be quite nice.

This would be something bottled from keg, and we seem to always end up with bottles in our golf bags somehow, so it should work fine

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

This would be something bottled from keg, and we seem to always end up with bottles in our golf bags somehow, so it should work fine

that's actually one of the main reasons i want to start bottling from kegs. i play two to three times a week when the weather's nice, and i've never taken my own brew out with me. i think it'd be great to bring a sixer of something home-brewed to share when i'm out playing.

 

[Hugh_Jass]

I'd think something like a Mild would be nice. It's low gravity and can be served warm.

A few of us brewed Orfy's mild for the HBT comp last year:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f67/mild-mannered-ale-ag-e-uk-us-52776/

Here's the winning recipe from that comp:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f67/reapers-mild-1st-place-2011-hbt-competition-239228/

 

[Clanchief]

I think a lot of it is going to depend on the weather where you're playing. I golf a lot in the Chicagoland area and I tend to bring a hefeweizen in the summer and for spring and fall a pale ale of some sort (though usually not an IPA). I also try and avoid super high gravity beers, unless I feel like bringing an extra box of balls and adding ten strokes to my score!

 

[ajbram]

Hugh,
That's what I was thinking too... Something with a low FG at least so it has a nice crisp light mouth feel to it. I would probably want something with a little more hop presence than a typical mild though. A good stock ale might fiit the bill.

 

[ajbram]

I think a lot of it is going to depend on the weather where you're playing. I golf a lot in the Chicagoland area and I tend to bring a hefeweizen in the summer and for spring and fall a pale ale of some sort (though usually not an IPA). I also try and avoid super high gravity beers, unless I feel like bringing an extra box of balls and adding ten strokes to my score!

I find there is a plateau effect when it comes to inebriation while golfing.

0 beers - I suck
1 beer -getting warmed up
2 beers - better
3 beers - short game gets really good
4 beers - optimal (I shoot almost par-golf in this state)
5 beers - still pretty optimal, on the top of the plateau
6 beers - still pretty optimal, but starting to get unnecessarily risky (Sure, I can clear that pond with the old 4 wood)
7 beers - it all comes crashing down - good shots are very good, but they happen seldom
8+ beers -all bets are off. And then I have to start thinking about beer consumption on the back 9.

 

[Hellfish76]

To get me on the golf course it'll take Everclear or at least a couple Tactical Nuclear Penguin http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16315/54571

I have a lot of respect for golfers after playing a couple of times, man is it a frustrating game!

 

[iaefebs]

I find there is a plateau effect when it comes to inebriation while golfing.

0 beers - I suck
1 beer -getting warmed up
2 beers - better
3 beers - short game gets really good
4 beers - optimal (I shoot almost par-golf in this state)
5 beers - still pretty optimal, on the top of the plateau
6 beers - still pretty optimal, but starting to get unnecessarily risky (Sure, I can clear that pond with the old 4 wood)
7 beers - it all comes crashing down - good shots are very good, but they happen seldom
8+ beers -all bets are off. And then I have to start thinking about beer consumption on the back 9.

Man, for a second there I thought I wrote this.
My golf partner has a cooler designed for a mini keg. We take the 5L Bells two hearted ale for a golf outing.

 

[Hugh_Jass]

i find there is a plateau effect when it comes to inebriation while dancing.

0 beers - i suck
1 beer -getting warmed up
2 beers - better
3 beers - game gets really good
4 beers - optimal
5 beers - still pretty optimal, on the top of the plateau
6 beers - still pretty optimal, but starting to think the dougie is a good idea
7 beers - it all comes crashing down - break dancing 80's style
8+ beers -all bets are off. People's definition of rhythm differ at this stage.

ftfy :d

 

[ajbram]

Man, for a second there I thought I wrote this.
My golf partner has a cooler designed for a mini keg. We take the 5L Bells two hearted ale for a golf outing.

My engineer friend and I are currently working on a bladder/CO2 system that fits in a carry/stand bag. I never have anything in the big side pouches... just balls and tees in the usual spot. So, we're thinking 10L bladder with dip tube etc. in the big pouch that faces away from you in a stand bag and CO2 bottle and regs in the little pouch on the side facing towards you. Perlick tap through the side of the bag and "umbrella handle" will be the tap handle. We'll make provisions for refrigeration on days that we take a cart.

 

[buffalobrewer]

good beer on the course has been a constant problem, not wanting to bring bottles on the course. Luckily some micro's are starting to can now the the minimum order of cans got cut down.

Do your adventures ever get to the massena cc? grew up playing there.

 

[ajbram]

good beer on the course has been a constant problem, not wanting to bring bottles on the course. Luckily some micro's are starting to can now the the minimum order of cans got cut down.

Do your adventures ever get to the massena cc? grew up playing there.

Not yet, as I just moved here in the fall, but it's on the list for the 2012 tour.