Loop Links, no. 16

Turning hops into...?

Unsubstantiated Rumor Corner

I heard a rumor last week that MI Local Hops was closing. Like most rumors I come across, they are less rumors and more like loosely reported on stories that just need some digging to reveal the full details. That is what’s happening here. I’m essentially going to weave a hypothetical situation into a story about hops, something I enjoy in a beverage, but otherwise know very little about.

MI Local Hops in Williamsburg is well-known in two different communities - the beer-producing and the golf-obsessing. As a grower and processor of hops for craft breweries, they are the largest producer and processor not only in the state, but also East of the Rockies. The MI Local Hops farm also famously sits on what used to be the front nine of High Pointe Golf Club, Tom Doak’s first 18-hole course design. That course closed in 2009, and the relatively untouched back 9 is now incorporated into Doak’s new High Pointe design, a private club that has a soft opening this year (?):

I’ve nearly reached saturation on High Pointe content, but the above is actually pretty good.

While MI Local Hops has had a good run of success, like many others in the beer industry, they took a hit during Covid. Michigan alone saw a $600 million sales decline between 2020 and 2022, and many of the small craft breweries that MI Local Hops sold hops to and/or processed hops for sold to larger, over-the-counter breweries. While they also sell hops to some of the larger producers in the state, such as Short’s, Founders, and Bell’s, MI Local Hops has seen supply outpace demand for the past six years, as have many other hops producers.

“You’ve got to be able to sell all your hops,” one expert, J. Robert Sirrine, explains. “You can grow the best hops in the world and if you’re leaving 10% of them in the freezer and they’re not getting sold, that’s your profit margin.” 

All of this is to say, MI Local Hops has been looking for a buyer for the past few years, often bringing other hops producers to the processing facility in an attempt to sell to someone who will keep the operation running. “MI Local processes quite a few hops for other growers across the state,” Sirrine said. “Keeping them in business is important for not just them, but the Michigan (hops) industry as a whole.”

As of summer 2023, MI Local Hops has gone public with their attempt to sell, and listings for the processing facilities can be found online. Those listings are still categorized as being active, for whatever that is worth. Even if the processing facilities remain in use, the farm land itself will almost certainly be sold, if it hasn’t been already. As some of the articles I’ve read mentioned, and as I’ve heard about the situation, it should not be difficult to unearth a number of developers who would be interested in building on that land. I’m not knowledgeable enough in this stuff to tell if the land is still actively listed, but I did find at least one MLS listing for both the land (196 acres) and facilities together for $7.3 million.

I enjoy drinking hopped beverages, enough so that I incorporated the font style for Bell’s Two Hearted Ale into my logo, but my interest does not go deep enough to provide a background on MI Local Hops just for fun. With the prospect of that land being for sale, I have ideas. Because of course I do.

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A nearby developer who might take interest in the former hops farm is Rod Trump, owner of the new High Pointe Golf Club project located next door*. If you watch the beginning of the video embedded above, Rod gets emotional while talking about High Pointe, and the labor of love that the project has become. Were those 196 acres to be added to his property, there are any number of things that could be done with it. It could be the new home for a short course, a top of the line practice facility, housing for national members. You name it.

Trump calls the restoration of High Pointe “a testament to the game’s greatest living architect”. Playing on the name, he feels the club should be “the high point of golf”, and should be dedicated to and laser-focused on the golf.

What could possibly be a better way to embody all of those characteristics than bringing back the original front 9 of High Pointe and making it public?

Sure, many of the features of the land were bulldozed out when the hops farm was created, but High Pointe has two things going for it. First, the architect who built it, Tom Doak, has an encyclopedic memory of golf holes, so remembering features should not a major obstacle for him. Second, Doak also has a tool at his disposal named Brian Zager.

Zager was added to Tom Doak’s team during the Lido project at Sand Valley. The basis of the Lido project was a digital recreation of the original Lido course by Peter Flory, and Zager’s role was to help convert Flory’s version into a scale model that could be programmed into GPS bulldozers and translated into a real world model. Part computer programmer, part game modder, and part golf course architecture enthusiast, Zager did this by ingeniously hacking the measuring tool inside of the PGA 2K course designer to create essentially a CAD version of the course. I understand the process of how he did that, but not well enough to really describe it any more in-depth than what I’ve just offered.

In short, Zager has some impressive and useful skills. Doak was impressed enough to bring him on post-Lido as an intern, and more importantly, I was hugely impressed after he helped me solve several technical challenges to get started on the lost Coore & Crenshaw project in Santa Barbara, Dos Pueblos Golf Links**:

So how would Zager be helpful in bringing the front 9 of High Pointe back to life? As long as the GPS bulldozers are still available, we know a digital model of the front 9 is there waiting to be brought to life:

*As every single article about the High Pointe project has been quick to point out, Rod has no relation to the other guy with that name.

**The full digital model of this project is getting much closer to completion. Part 2 of the series may actually happen after all!

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As a final plus for this idea, considering that a public-facing restoration of the front 9 wouldn’t be a part of the club and wouldn’t emanate from what will be the new High Pointe clubhouse, the old clubhouse from the previous course is still intact. It’s visible in the video above with Trump, Doak, and superintendent Dan Lucas at the 25:30 mark.

This saves the cost and permitting hassle of building a new clubhouse, and already fits nicely with the routing of the original front 9. All of the pieces are there. We just need someone to step up and put them together.

Photos: Noah Jurik

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Merch

I’m starting to look at ideas for Great Lakes Loops merchandise. My first idea was a hat, and this was my first test product from Imperial hats.

I almost like it. Unfortunately the front is way too structured and box-y, and looks dumb on my head. Also the stitching on the back looks extremely cheap, especially for a supposedly premium hat.

So I’m still exploring options. I’ve reached out to American Needle and I’m hoping they contact me back. Perhaps this model isn’t available to normies like me, but this Masters hat from American Needle is currently the best thing in my rotation.

So can I ask for a little help? What brand of hats are you rocking today? Who should I look into?

Aside from hats, what else would you like to see? Personally I would like to do an order of gloves from North Coast at some point. I have one of these from the Fresh Coast Flock (IG: freshcoastflock) and it’s super clean. I think the GLL logo would look great on there.