Hitting these together due to their proximity. These are both 9-hole courses. You can knock out a morning round in Luling, and grab lunch at City Market. City Market’s dining room was closed due to covid-19 during our visit, but you could order and pick up outside. The Luling course does sell beer, and you get a couple decent views of the San Marcos River.
After lunch, head north 16 miles to Lockhart State Park. The park does not sell beer, so plan accordingly if you want to inconspicuously enjoy a couple. It looks like the course has a bit of a wild hog problem, so expect to see a couple of traps and some fairway damage.
If you haven’t burned out on bbq, you’ve got a list of well-known places to choose from.
4.2% ABV. If you’re feeling fruity, this is your drink. It also seems to pique the curiosity of a wide demographic. James got a bunch of “Are those good?” from young and old alike while he was buying his pack and taking it to LA (Lower Alabama) last week.
2.1% ABV. John’s been getting these in the Austin area (specifically a QT gas station—haven’t found them anywhere else yet). If you drink light beer you should be fine with these. These would be great for a marathon outdoor session where you need to maintain your cat-like reflexes.
Saw some bad news. Quail Creek in San Marcos, TX is closing on July 1, 2018. We used to play there quite a bit. Knock out 18 holes then head over to Sean Patrick's Pub in town for some Irish Egg Rolls--good day. You can see a little bit of the Blanco River in one of the pics below.
If you've wondered how fast your drink warms up when it's hot outside here's a little chart for you.
The Setup
1 Beer with no koozie
1 Beer protected with BSG ONE koozie
Temperature was in the high 90s, but the beers were mainly shaded
It doesn't pay to procrastinate, but a koozie definitely buys you some time! Pro tip: If you're using the BSG ONE, scoot the can up a tiny bit so only the koozie is touching whatever you're resting your drink on. Cut out that conduction between the hot surface the beer is on and your beer. Thinking man's drinking.
We made a brisket taco today, and the brisket was the taco shell. Used a Longhorn brisket flat from our friends at Dear Run Land & Cattle Co. that weighed in around 7 pounds.
Rub applied, and placed on a V-rack on the Big Green Egg
Smoked over oak for about 8 hours.
Almost done.
Dressed with queso, guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, Yellowbird sauce, and some lettuce on the side.
It's Sunday of the Masters, and time for another OGT installment. Between Austin and Houston you'll find the small town of Giddings, Texas. If you've driven Hwy 290 you'll know it because they have a Buc-ee's. Just down the street from Giddings State School you'll find a golf course.
The Giddings Golf Course is a nine-hole layout measuring in at 2764 yards from the tips. It's pretty flat so you can channel your energy on some cold Diet Coors. Nothing spectacular, just a nice quiet spot to knock it around a little.
Speaking of golf, this is the last week to register for the 2016 Austin SEC Golf Tournament. It's on April 24th at ShadowGlen in Manor this year. Beer Shield Gear is sponsoring a $10k hole-in-one contest. Hope to see you there.
We took some sparkling water cans to the beat laboratory for a little AR-15 action.
It was a little anticlimactic--definitely expected more impressive damage. The bad news is a regular neoprene koozie, or even the BSG ONE has no chance of stopping a .223 round. The good news is the rounds sail right through, and your BSG ONE is still ready for action.
Aftermath
This was cool, BSG ONE wrapped can took a flip, and stuck the landing after a hit from a Springfield XD-S 3.3" 9mm. I give it a 10.
Taking you about an hour east of Austin this time. Rockdale Country Club has 9 holes, and is just over 3300 yards. Nothing too noteworthy (it's pretty flat), but it's the only game in town. Now for the important info--yes, they sell beer.
Did you know Willie Nelson owns a golf course outside of Austin? It's nine holes and measures 3330 yards. Make sure you take a cooler, ice, and drinks. You're on your own out there.
Pine Forest isn't as off the grid as some of the tracks we hit. It's in Bastrop, Texas--which is fairly close to Austin--and they even have a web site. It does fly under the radar compared to Wolfdancer a few minutes away though.
It's worth a look if you're in the area. Pretty cheap, and plenty of hills.
We have a non-Texas course this time. Driving through Louisiana on I-10 with a little spare time? Check out Jennings Golf Club. Jennings is about halfway between Lake Charles and Lafayette.
The course is 18 holes and 6503 yards. I slipped in late one Friday afternoon, and the regulars were already finished up at the clubhouse. I had the course to myself and was able to get around in record time.
A little more data for you. What kind of advantage do you get by starting with beer that's already been refrigerated? Data below is based off the same basic setup as the last installment. Ice Mule Pro Cooler, 10 pounds of ice, salt. We probed 2 Michelob Ultras: one from the refrigerator, and one that was room temp.
The pre-chilled beer is getting in the slush zone by 15 minutes.
You've undoubtedly heard that adding salt to your cooler can get your beer slushy. We decided to do a little test. You have room temperature beer, and you're thirsty now. Can salt help? If so, how much?
We punched a hole in the top of the can, and inserted the thermocouple so it was close to the center of the can. Then the can was buried in the cooler with plain ice for 30 minutes while we logged the temperature data. Next we removed the first can, dumped a packet of salt in the cooler, mixed it with the ice, and buried a fresh can.
What's the verdict? Check this out.
The ice and salt mix got the beer 10 degrees colder after 30 minutes.
