{"id":397,"date":"2011-08-03T13:03:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T18:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomharack.com\/?p=397"},"modified":"2011-08-03T13:03:53","modified_gmt":"2011-08-03T18:03:53","slug":"less-is-more-even-for-guinness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/golf\/397\/less-is-more-even-for-guinness","title":{"rendered":"Less Is More, Even For Guinness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_399\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2011\/08\/IMG_1396.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-399\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-399\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2011\/08\/IMG_1396-e1312238994923-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-399\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the designated un-drivers, Jeff partakes of two staples of any Irish golf vacation: Guinness and ibuprofen.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>At first we weren\u2019t sure whether John Farren was telling the truth or just winding us up with a bit o\u2019 blarney. The accommodating general manager at Ballyliffin Golf Club, Farren told us over lunch that Guinness had begun brewing a reduced-alcohol version of their iconic stout.<\/p>\n<p>His story had logic on its side. Legislation enacted in 2006 gave the Gardai, the police, the capacity to perform breathalyzer tests randomly at highway checkpoints. Guinness simply spotted a market segment \u2013 say, the golfer who just wanted to have a couple of post-round pints with his playing partners and still drive legally \u2013 and reacted accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s possible for us Yanks to idealize a brand like Guinness, of course. (I once attended a wedding in Dundalk where all the Americans drank Guinness and Smithwick, all the Irish kids preferred 16-ounce Budweisers.) Still, Guinness seems like an institution in a way that an American beer could never be.<\/p>\n<p>Turns out there is \u201cGuinness Lite,\u201d although we never sampled it. But here\u2019s hoping that ongoing cross-cultural exchange doesn\u2019t further narrow the gap between Guinness and Old Milwaukee.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, we could undoubtedly take a lesson from the Irish playbook: It\u2019s not that they don\u2019t drink anymore, they just don\u2019t drink and drive, having set up an elaborate network of alternative transportation when the need arises. Thus, the full club parking lots \u2013 \u201ccar parks,\u201d in the local parlance \u2013 during morning hours when the Irish have abandoned the course itself to the daft tourists.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"># # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At first we weren\u2019t sure whether John Farren was telling the truth or just winding us up with a bit&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/golf\/397\/less-is-more-even-for-guinness\" title=\"ReadLess Is More, Even For Guinness\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2226,3729,5353,39217,85174,18,17],"tags":[447,85188,90352,90353,414,1460],"class_list":["post-397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-perrygolf","category-golf-travel","category-tourism-ireland","category-golf-road-warriors","category-adams-golf","category-lifestyle","category-courses-and-travel","tag-ballyliffin","tag-smithwicks","tag-budweiser","tag-old-milwaukee","tag-ireland","tag-guinness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2011\/08\/IMG_1396-e1312238994923.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":744,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions\/744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tomharack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}