Paul
Apart from the turf and the location, nothing really defines Scottish or Irish links. Clearly, the great, and some of the not-as-great, Scottish links are older than Irish links. These were designed for the game of old, yet still accomodate the modern game. Other than that, links in both countries depend entirely on the land developed.
Whiskey is much the same. It goes with links golf like ham and egg. Roger, while most Irish whiskey is tripple distilled, some scotch is too. Also, the Cooley distillery in Ireland now produces double distilled produce, like the excellent Connemara whiskey. The real difference is that Irish whiskey uses malted and unmalted barley.
Rich, I know you are speaking in jest, especially since you object to the "e" in whiskey due to your dislike for redundant keystrokes yet still use the word "superfluous" to describe it. However, Bushmills would not be considered the finest of Irish whiskey. Indeed, it would seem that Blackbush would seem to have gone down in quality over the years, although there are some excellent brands to be had there. And on it being produced by presbeterians - they actually only produce grain whiskey there and get their malts from the Middleton distillery in Cork, which is owned by the same company, for their blends. And Powers is considered the world over as an excellent brand. The Powers Gold is a gorgeous ball of malt, which goes beautifully with a stout. On to the finest Irish whiskey. Two that define the Irish label are the pure pot stilled ones - Redbreast and Greenspot. Considered by many to be two of the best whiskies in the world - hard to get, although not expensive, I would recommend you all try it after a bash on the links.
Other excellent Irish tipples include
Redbreast
Greenspot
Jameson 1780
Middleton Very Rare
Powers Gold Label and Special Reserve
Knappogue Castle
And scotch
Glenhaven single malt - 17 year old
Aberlour 15 year old Speyside single malt
Glenfarclas single malt...
and many more. mmmm.
A great day would include a round in Portmarnock or RCD and Redbreast. I'll have to organise that before the weather gets bad.
Paul Daley
I read your book and enjoyed it very much.