Casey McGrath is leading Four Walls Whiskey to capture the neighborhood spirit

Four Walls whiskey enjoys quite a bit of celebrity star power. It was founded by “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” cast members Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton, who appear in ads and marketing materials, using their comedic chops to pitch the brand as a tribute to bars and their “four walls that hold our good times in and keep our troubles out.” But the person calling all the right shots behind the scenes is CEO Casey McGrath, an ad and production veteran whose marketing and innovation instincts have keyed the brand’s healthy start after debuting in late 2023. See Ad Age’s 2024 Breakout Brand Leaders and Work here McGrath began learning the liquor business more than 10 years ago while working for Phear Creative (later rebranded to Night After Night). With clients such as Jameson Irish Whiskey, the agency excelled at bringing notoriety to brands via celebrity and music pairings, using what McGrath describes as a “production mentality.” “If there’s a small budget and there’s a big dream, that’s what production is built on,” said McGrath, who runs an agency called The Tavern in addition to his Four Walls role. The Four Walls dream began when McGrath met Howerton via a shared connection with Kings of Leon—McGrath is the creative director for the rock band, which once appeared on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” The actors and the ad veteran built the brand using product innovation—it is a blend of American and Irish whiskey—and a distinctive voice that pays homage to neighborhood bars. McGrath describes them as a “third place” (beyond home and work) that has played a role in “shaping and shifting culture,” including on serious matters such as civil rights and gay rights. But the brand uses comedy to stake that positioning. A recent ad starring Day, for instance, paid tribute to day drinking. In June, Four Walls promoted its availability at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia with an ad starring former Phillies and Dodgers star Chase Utley that had some fun with his failure to make the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. The brand’s newest ad promotes its innovative blend by poking fun at the marketing industry’s obsession with the word innovation. The marketing has helped Four Walls gain awareness, with distribution now including New York, New Jersey, San Diego, Miami, Philadelphia, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C. But McGrath is careful about growing too fast, too soon: “We have a strategy that is about very healthy growth—slow, healthy growth.” See Ad Age’s 2024 Breakout Brand Leaders and Work here Which entrepreneur do you admire the most and why? It’s hard for me to think of anyone other than Rob [McElhenney] at the moment. To have a front-row seat to what he’s building is inspiring. I feel like he can’t get out of bed in the morning unless he has positioned himself as an underdog on some new challenge. It’s one of the reasons I know Four Walls will win. What’s currently on your bedside reading list? These days, a mountain of children’s books I read to my son Dean. Although “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” is one I find myself reading as much to myself these days. It is a good, weekly, perspective-filled pep talk. What is the best career advice you’ve gotten? The pessimist criticizes, the optimist creates. In the brand and ad worlds, there is a lot of fear, second-guessing and groupthink. The first reaction is to say “no” until you can prove otherwise. I come from production, where everything starts with a huge idea that no one knows how to do, and the first reaction is, “Yes, we can figure that out.” The advice to bring that production mentality to the work I do now has made a huge difference. Name one brand, other than the one you work for, that you admire. I admire anyone trying to build something new and go against the challenges in this crazy beer, wine and spirits biz. Lake Hour is one I’m loving right now. I don’t know much about their business story, but every time I see what they are doing, I smile, and I want to be a part of the world they live in. I feel like we are related in many ways, and I can’t help rooting for them even though I don’t know them and even though RTD (ready-to-drink) growth is cutting into the space we are competing in. What is your secret weapon for business success? It is always crazy to me how many long-standing brands are continually working on, debating and defining who they are and what they stand for. That’s what we do. The businesses we build start there—brand before product, product as an embodiment of the brand. We will always hit the ground running and feel familiar, like a brand that has been around for a while. This translates into faster adoption and a shorter path to advocacy.

Casey McGrath is leading Four Walls Whiskey to capture the neighborhood spirit

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