It started as a beer
Howerton told Adweek he was looking to get into the liquor space because it seemed like a natural extension of the personas he, McElhenney and Day played on television. But they wanted it to be different from what other celebrities were doing, putting out high-end tequilas and vodkas.
“Our thought was, it felt more on brand for us to do something like a beer, like a light beer kind of thing or like a lager or Pilsner…and not that have a super high price point,” said Howerton.
After talking about it with the team, they learned about an emerging category of Irish-American whiskey and decided that would be the right direction to take since they’re all Irish Americans, they grew up in Irish-American pubs in New York City and Philadelphia, and on Always Sunny they run an Irish-American pub and play Irish-American bartenders.
Howerton said that he is a whiskey fan but was worried about getting something at an approachable price point.
“My biggest fear was we weren’t going to be able to come up with a blend that I thought was good enough and still hit the price point that we wanted to hit,” said Howerton.
After much trial and error and a lot of tasting, they came up with a blend of Irish whiskey with American rye at a price of roughly $35 that could be both enjoyed on the rocks or mixed in cocktails.
“After our higher-end releases, it was important for us to make a whiskey priced that all of our fans could try and that bartenders would want to use in everyday drinks,” said Day in a statement.
A retro-modern campaign
The name celebrates bars and bartenders, so McGrath said that the marketing campaign needed to also celebrate the rich stories about how those places and people have shaped culture.
“Myself and everybody on the team really believe that the love affair that we have with the bar and the role that it plays in our lives maybe has slipped a little bit. And we want to really do the work to bring that back,” said McGrath.
The “Come on in!” campaign features the three stars, but it isn’t just about them. Numerous videos were shot at Molly Malone’s in Los Angeles, and McGrath called in favors from all the people he has worked with over the years to bring about the right aesthetic, one that recalled the great beer ads of the ’70s and ’80s.
