WANDERING (NOT SO) AIMLESSLY

Lost Irish Whiskey brings a global perspective to a traditional spirit

WANDERING AIMLESSLY (not so)

According to their ad campaign, Lost Irish Whiskey wants you to get lost and stay lost.

This is more noble than it may initially look. Their mandate is meant to promote exploration and adventure, the type of wandering that’s not done aimlessly. It also captures an ethos in tune with the Irish people and their penchant for wanderlust. “There are seventy million people of Irish descent in the world, and only five million Irish people living in Ireland,” explained Donna Stewart, an Irish expatriate serving as Lost Irish’s lead ambassador for the western United States. “Part of Irish culture is to leave Ireland in search of a better life. When they leave, they either stay abroad or bring back something from other places when they do return.”

This latter sentiment of bringing something back to the homeland provides Lost Irish with its foundation. The whiskey is an ambitious exploration of the impact that global flavors can have on Irish whiskey, a spirit that can only be produced in Ireland according to the European Union’s Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). It is indeed Irish whiskey, but its aging process involves seven different casks sourced from six continents: U.S. bourbon and Caribbean rum casks from North America; Colombian rum casks from South America; Spanish sherry casks from Europe; South African brandy casks; Australian tawny port casks; and Japanese Mizunara oak casks from Asia.

“This is a concept that’s bigger than whiskey,” explained Lost Irish co-founder Tim Herlihy. “It’s really a tip of the hat to where Irish people have settled around the world. By making the whiskey the way we’re making it, we’re really living out this part of the Irish story.”

Wandering Origins

The idea that eventually spawned Lost Irish came from equal parts obsession and wanderlust. Prior to the pandemic, Herlihy gave into his own sense of curiosity and left Ireland to canvass the United States, hitting all 50 states in 30 days to find the country’s best Irish pub. During the excursion, he realized it was an adventure that could happen on a global scale. “You’ll find Irish pubs in every country. You can find a proper Irish pub in Nepal or Mongolia,” Herlihy stated. “Ireland really is the world’s biggest small country.”

Rather than punishing his bank account by expanding his journey on foot, Herlihy and his business partner (and childhood friend) Neil Sands hatched the notion of stuffing the world into a bottle of Irish whiskey. “The world’s become a smaller place. Now we’re able to get casks from around the world,” he said. “When we came up with Lost Irish, we thought that [if] we were really going to make a whiskey, let’s really push the envelope.”

This creation put Herlihy on a path marked with detours into the unknown. He was equipped with an industry roadmap — he spent more than eight years as a brand ambassador for Tullamore D.E.W. before launching Lost Irish, and a partnership forged with the Mexican spirits group Casa Lumbre helped move the concept forward. However, this didn’t necessarily mean he knew how to read it completely. “I had no idea about corks, glass, and those kinds of things,” he admitted. “I did have a few unfair advantages because of my time in the industry, but I really didn’t know what I was doing.”

Herlihy acknowledges those industry benefits came in handy when it came time to gather the casks around the globe. Some casks, like the North American bourbon and South American rum casks, were easy to secure. Others weren’t. Australia especially produced a massive headache. Port restrictions caused by COVID lockdowns led to severe delays in shipment, compelling Herlihy to lean on his industry connections and a little ingenuity. “I ended up having to have Australian tawny port barrels lent to me so I could properly store the whiskey until my barrels arrived,” he said.

“Part of Irish culture is to leave Ireland in search of a better life. When they leave, they either stay abroad or bring back something from other places when they do return.”

— DONNA STEWART

Irish expatriate, Lost Irish’s lead ambassador for the western United States

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The international arrangement of casks imparts global influence into the whiskey as it ages, but there is also plenty of Irish backbone in the juice. The finished product is a blend of three different Irish whiskey styles, with each style delivering its own purpose: Grain for sweetness, malt for fruitiness, and pot still for spice and creaminess. The decision to utilize three different styles in the blend came primarily from a philosophy of ‘more is more,’ according to Herlihy. “If you have more paints to paint with, you’ll get more colors,” he explained.

Preparing the Journey

It’s common for a distillery to start spreading the word about a product well before it’s ready to launch. It’s also common for this strategy to sync up to an estimated launch date. Thanks to COVID causing supply chain disruptions at every turn, Lost Irish didn’t have this debut target set. In fact, it didn’t even have a ballpark figure. “We didn’t know when the whiskey was going to get here,” Stewart said. “We all just accepted that the date was ever-changing.”

Despite this uncertainty, Stewart said that they didn’t want the spirit’s marketing campaign to also lag. To promote this brand with a question mark for a market entry, they turned their campaign strategy into a slow burn. Their Instagram account launched before the web page, and elements of the brand’s story methodically dropped on the social media format over a controlled measure of time, deliberately revealing details about the distillation process and the casks’ countries of origins. They also sprinkled in images promoting global exploration, a tactic that, according to Stewart, allowed the target audience to understand the essence of the spirit yet to come. “We didn’t want to just do bottle shot after bottle shot,” she said. “People value experience, so we knew our campaign wanted to build on that principle.”

Lost Irish finally launched in November 2021. Early returns indicate that the spirit was worth the wait. Herlihy is pleased about the reception his globally infused take on Irish whiskey has had thus far, but he is also optimistic that its use of international casks will prompt imbibers to engage in more expanded liquid adventures. “I hope people see the casks we’re using and get inspired to keep exploring other spirits,” Herlihy said. “So they can get further and further lost.”

For more information visit www.lostirish.com.