It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars expand whiskey distribution

Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day have celebrated the expanded distribution of their Four Walls whiskey brand across the US.

Day, who plays Charlie Kelly in the hit FX sitcom, told the drinks business that, given where It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is set, there was a logic to the strategy of which states were targeted for Four Walls first: “We initially started with Pennsylvania, for obvious reasons, as well as New York, California and Florida as that’s where a lot of our fans are located. The Northeast expansion was a no-brainer after hearing that a lot of fans were crossing state lines to grab bottles, especially South New Jersey which is so close to Philly. In terms of what’s next, we’ll see where demand is coming from but we want to scale smartly and not go too wide too soon.”

Pennsylvania is one of 17 control board states in the US, meaning that all spirits are sold through Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board stores, though Day said that working there with Four Walls had been “great so far”.

Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits handles Four Walls in California, New York, Florida, Delaware, Washington, D.C, and Maryland. In New Jersey, it is with Allied. To mark the arrival of the Irish American whiskey in the latter state, last month the brand released a tribute to The Sopranos, and it was revealed that McElhenney, Howerton and Day would be undertaking promotional visits to the Garden State.

The gang going on tour mirrors how Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul have also embarked on highly-publicised promotional tours for their Dos Hombres mezcal – fittingly, Cranston and Paul both starred in the Always Sunny season 16 episode ‘Celebrity Booze: The Ultimate Cash Grab’.

In the US, Four Walls is now available via e-commerce in more than 40 states. To mark the recent expansion into bars and liquor stores in New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C, a new advert starring Day has been released. Part of Four Walls’ Come on in campaign, it espouses the virtues of moderate day drinking post-Dry January because “you don’t want too much of a good thing”. It has the same retro feel, thanks to the clothing and grainy texture of the video, that has typified much of Four Walls’ marketing.

While the gang did drop into a Dublin whiskey shop when on a visit to Ireland, Four Walls isn’t distributed internationally just yet.

“We’d love to open up both Ireland,” Day shared, “since that’s where our Irish Whiskey comes from – and the UK soon, but our focus is still on the US market right now. We do plan to be available in Wrexham stadium as soon as possible, though just so Rob can celebrate his wins and not have to check a bottle of Four Walls every time he flies over.”

Four Walls is an official sponsor of Wrexham AFC, which McElhenney co-owns with Ryan Reynolds.