The goal of the half-million-dollar-plus rebranding — which includes a new bottle design, brand redesign, production and marketing initiatives — is to double The Irishman’s sales across its 50-plus U.S. markets within five years.
“As the Irish whiskey category continues to develop with increasing variety, it is important that we are clear in our proposition to whiskey consumers and this redesign is testament to that dedication. Our message is simple: The Irishman will always be single malt focused and that it will always be triple distilled to leave a lasting impression,” said Bernard Walsh, founder.
“We respect and honor Ireland’s great distilling heritage, while also exploring exciting new innovations using rare and unusual woods and finishes, as well as cereal varieties, to influence the single malt spirit. In the generational pursuit of whiskey excellence, our quest for the perfect dram, or taoscán [tay-scawn] of single malt, is just beginning and this redesign in the next step in our ongoing journey,” he added.
The most striking change in The Irishman rebrand is the introduction of a bespoke, tall, tapered bottle with the addition of a cork seal, affirming the super-premium nature of the whiskeys. The bottle has strong whiskey cues, including broad ‘shoulders‘ and a tapered base. A significant feature of the bottle is a series of embossed phrases around the lower part of the bottle that capture the essence of The Irishman’s focus and purpose, which is ‘to pursue a lifelong journey in search of the perfect dram, while respecting past traditions with ambition for future possibilities.’
Additional highlights include:
- New bespoke bottle design introduced across the entire range
- Founder’s Reserve expression renamed The Harvest
- Caribbean Rum Cask Finish added to core expressions in portfolio
- A new brand icon is one of three very distinctive features on the label and product packaging. The icon, which features a capital letter ‘I’ (for Irishman) inside two-tone staves of a barrel, signifies The Irishman’s journey to learn from the past while creating the future.
- A new color palette of understated cream, green, grey, blue, and burgundy is applied to the labels of the six core expressions of The Irishman range.
Other unique and notable features of the new labels are the addition of braille for the visually impaired and nutritional information on e-labels positioned on the back of the bottle and online. The braille highlighting The Irishman’s brand name, is also a personal tribute by Bernard Walsh to the memory of his own grandfather, Jack Walsh, whose loss of vision made a lasting impression on his grandson.
There are also changes to the composition of the range, with a change of name for one core expression and the addition of a limited edition to the core of the portfolio.
The Founder’s Reserve blend (70% Single Malt & 30% Pot Still) has been renamed The Harvest. This expression, a truly unique blend of two premium styles of whiskey, started life as the first ever whiskey created by Walsh Whiskey’s Founder. The renaming of this core expression as The Harvest honors the great contribution of the farming community in the whiskey-making process. The whiskey is crafted entirely from a mash bill of 100% Irish barley.
First released as a limited edition bottling in 2018, The Irishman Caribbean Cask is being added to the portfolio’s core expressions which also include The Harvest; Single Malt; 12-Year-Old Single Malt; 17-Year-Old Single Malt & the Vintage Cask Strength. The Irishman Caribbean Cask Finish is a rare vatting of Single Malt and Single Pot Still whiskeys finished for 6 months in Chairman’s Reserve Rum casks from the tiny tropical Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia, before being bottled at 46% ABV.
The Irishman Single Malt Whiskey has an ABV of 40% with a suggested retail price of $54.99. The new bottle is now shipping, rolling out nationally over the summer.