Why Glenn Howerton Thinks Whiskey Will Save Your Social Life

Glenn Howerton has spent two decades playing a man who believes, with terrifying sincerity, that he is the most intelligent person in any given room. As Dennis Reynolds—the vain, predatory, oddly magnetic anchor of “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia”—he’s always wrong about himself in ways that are always someone else's problem.

Akin to Reynolds, Howerton loves good whiskey; that penchant dovetails into his belief that modern people need more opportunities to socialize, and what better backdrop than the local watering hole? In contrast, though, Howerton is thoughtful, deliberate, and focused on the long game. For evidence, consider Four Walls Irish American Whiskey, which Howerton co-founded with his Sunny co-conspirators Rob Mac and Charlie Day.

Four Walls, a wink to the show’s fictional Paddy’s Pub, is a marriage of Irish grain and malt whiskeys from Great Northern Distillery in Dundalk and American rye from Cedar Ridge Distillery. It’s bottled at 80 proof, unfashionable for an era when so many whiskies come at a higher ABV, yet Howerton will tell you approachability is entirely the point.

With season 18 of “It’s Always Sunny” currently in production, The Gang and its inane schemes will soon be back. Howerton took a break between filming scenes in Los Angeles to chat with us about St. Patrick’s Day habits, how Four Walls is built for mass consumption, why he’s a rye fiend, and which of the comedian’s co-stars used his 30 year old scotch for shots.

Whisky Advocate: St. Patrick's Day is the one day a year everyone decides they're Irish. As someone who actually created an Irish American whiskey, what's your message to the amateurs?

Howerton: Be safe. [Laughs] It should be a celebration, about love and togetherness. Not drunk fighting, which is what I remember it as when I was younger. St. Patrick's Day always made me nervous. Is there going to be an agro guy, we bump into each other, and now it's a whole thing, and I have to do karate on him? Do I have to teach this guy a lesson? That's more of a high school thing, thankfully.

Irish whiskey often gets written off as the lighter, friendlier cousin of scotch or bourbon. Unfair characterization or exactly the point?

Totally fair. That’s an accurate description. And precisely the purpose. We’ve been on the road a lot, Rob, Charlie, and I, pouring Four Walls for fans, and this is a common thing: pour a shot for non-whiskey drinkers and get this surprised reaction. Like, ‘I didn't think I liked this, but it's good.’ That's exactly what we were going for: a whiskey for those types of folks. But it also needs to be complex for the experienced whiskey drinker, which is why we decided to add rye; we didn't want it so smooth that it was uninteresting. The pot still component is heavier, can take over a little more, but the rye sits in there nicely. Gives it a little button at the end, some spice and dimension. Four Walls blends beautifully in cocktails, too—and I'm not even a cocktail guy.

If you’re doing a whiskey cocktail, what would it be?

A Paper Plane. I never thought I'd like something like that, but the citrus and the whiskey do beautiful things together.

Walk us through your ideal St. Patrick's Day drink progression. What are you starting with, what are you moving to, and what's the closer?

I'm older now. I can't hit it quite as hard as I used to, and I shouldn't, so therefore I don't. Because I like straight booze, I’m starting with a little whiskey, neat or on ice. Then I switch to water. I toggle back and forth. For every whiskey, I drink an entire bottle of water. Once I feel the buzz dip, I go back to the whiskey. If I want to mix it up, I’ll move to a whiskey soda. A Highball with a little squeeze of lemon for electrolytes. A little fizzy. That's how you survive.

Dennis Reynolds would absolutely have strong opinions about the correct way to drink whiskey on St. Patrick's Day. What are his views, and where do you disagree with him?

Of all the Sunny characters, Dennis would actually be the one smart enough to pace himself, the way I do. [Laughs] We'd be more aligned than you'd think. He'd want to have his wits about him. If you drink too much, you can't scheme.

The show has always had a complicated relationship with alcohol. How did that inform how you think about actually selling it?

That's the heart of what the ethos of the brand should be. Less about drinking and more about an excuse to get together with your friends. Whether that's at a bar or a party, with alcohol or without. Getting together for a drink after work, on the weekends, we're losing a bit of that in our society right now. I don’t want to say you need to drink more because it helps you be social. You need to be smart about it, but light lubricating can make things happen for you socially. We’ve got to get out more.

Your Pledge to Hang campaign speaks to some of the headwinds the alcohol industry is facing—slower growth, younger generations drinking less. What do you attribute these to?

The pandemic exacerbated things, but we were already headed that way. The growth of all things screens and social media really changed everything. People are finding ways to feel social without actually being social. Social media is a safer proxy for leaving the house and talking to someone. And that's why people are depressed and anxious. We're meant to live in tribes. Eating and drinking together. If we don't do that, we're not really living.

How often do you, Rob, and Charlie actually drink whiskey together?

We spend a lot of time together, writing, shooting, and editing. But we’re all married with kids, and somewhere along the way, we lost that thing where we just hang out and talk and laugh, like we used to with less responsibilities. Creating Four Walls kind of brought that back. We go on trips [to bars in various sales markets] together, and those have been fun for that reason. It's tough now for us to even go to a bar together. That’s where our target audience hangs out so we end up getting mobbed.

Who has the better palate between the three of you?

Me. No doubt about it.

What would Rob and Charlie say about that?

Oh, they would agree. Rob loves his Manhattans. Charlie used to be cocktails all the way. Now Charlie drinks it the way I drink it. I converted him. I was the most opinionated about the final blend. They deferred to me, not just because of my palate, but because I'd been drinking whiskey for decades before we ever started this thing. I was the most equipped for this.

Who has the better whisky collection?

Again, me. So much so that my wife is getting concerned about it. There are probably 60 different whiskies in my house. I’m constantly trying new things because I enjoy it, but also because I’m trying to increase my knowledge and better my own opinions on what’s good or why. I love rye. I was deep into rye without much Irish experience before we started Four Walls. Then I went deep on Irish. I’ll latch on to a category and go all in until I get burned out on it or want something new. Except bourbons. I didn’t really explore bourbon because I had bad experiences with cheap bourbons. Which isn’t fair to beautifully blended bourbons. [Laughs] For a while, I was worried I just had an aversion to any liquor with corn, but apparently not, because even with our blend, there’s corn in there, and I like it.

When you, Rob, and Charlie go to each other's houses, is there anything you aren’t allowed to or won’t open?

Nope. Everything I own is all fair game. So long as you enjoy it. I mean, I wouldn’t be stoked if people were doing shots of my [WhistlePig] Boss Hog, though. Years ago, when I was living with Rob, someone gave me a really nice bottle of 30 year old scotch. I came home one night and Rob had people over and they’re all doing shots of this 30 year, like it’s Jack Daniel’s. I was like ‘are you kidding me?!” and lost it a little.

Best whiskey that's not your own?

I love rye, and if I want a really strong cask-strength rye, I go WhistlePig 15 or Michter's. Both are great.

Some overserved bro is telling you high proof is the only way to drink whisky. Walk me through how you'd bring him around to Four Walls at 80 proof.

I'd say to each his own. If you need a high-proof thing, you might not be changeable. And honestly? Fine. You do you. With high-proof whiskey, you have one and you're done. Our whiskey is meant for socializing, for hanging with your buddies all night. That's the whole point. But you do what you like, even if that’s taking shots of 30 year scotch. Just don’t do it to my bottle!