Walsh Whiskey (part of the Amber Beverage Group) has rebranded The Irishman range of super-premium whiskeys, with major design changes to the bottle, labelling and packaging.
A campaign behind the rededication and rebranding begins in Ireland (including through ARI at Dublin Airport) on 3 February, before rolling out across Europe and Canada from April, the US in the Summer and the rest of the world in the second half of 2022. The rebrand will support the whiskey brand’s target of doubling sales across its 50+ markets within five years.
The €500,000 rebranding follows a strategic review which commenced in April 2020. Walsh Whiskey was assisted by Bord Bia’s (The Irish Food Board) specialist Insight Centre – The Thinking House. The extensive design project was undertaken by HERE design agency in London.
Announcing the renewed focus on single malt and the brand redesign, Walsh Whiskey Founder Bernard Walsh said: “As the Irish whiskey category continues to develop with increasing variety, it is important that we are clear in our proposition to whiskey consumers. Our message is simple: The Irishman will always be single malt focused – whether championed in pure expressions or blends – and it will always be triple distilled to leave a lasting impression.”
He added: “We respect and honour Ireland’s great distilling heritage, while also exploring exciting new innovations through the use of rare and unusual woods and finishes, as well as cereal varieties, to influence the single malt spirit. To date this has seen us work with Florio Marsala, Oloroso Sherry, Caribbean Rum and Irish Peated Red Ale. In the generational pursuit of whiskey excellence, our quest for the perfect dram, or taoscán [tay-scawn] of single malt, is just beginning.”
A key change in The Irishman rebrand is the introduction of a bespoke, tall, tapered bottle. All expressions in the range are now sealed with a cork which the company said affirms the super-premium nature of the whiskeys.
The look of the bottle carries strong whiskey cues, including broad ‘shoulders’ and a tapered base. A significant feature is a series of embossed phrases around the lower part of the bottle.
A new brand icon featuring a capital letter ‘I’ (for Irishman) inside two-tone staves of a barrel is one of three distinctive features on the label and product packaging. Others are the addition of braille for the visually impaired and nutritional and calorific information on e-labels positioned on back of pack 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 blend of two premium styles of whiskey, was the first whiskey created Bernard Walsh. The renaming of this core expression as The Harvest honours the contribution of the farming community in the whiskey-making process. The whiskey is crafted 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 and the Vintage Cask. The Irishman Caribbean Cask Finish is a rare vatting of single malt and single pot still whiskeys finished for six months in Chairman’s Reserve Rum casks from the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, before being bottled at 46% ABV.
A new colour palette of cream, green, grey, blue and burgundy is applied to the labels of the six core expressions of The Irishman range.
- Click here to read our recent story on Walsh Whiskey and its release of a limited-edition collector’s bottling of its super-premium Writers’ Tears – Copper Pot expression. That launch this week celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the 1922 publication of James Joyce’s great novel, Ulysses.
