There’s an up-and-coming Irish whiskey that we’ve got our pretty little eyes on because instead of trying to draw in the manly crowd, they’re embracing their feminine appeal.
The brand is called 2 Gingers and while it’s less than two years old, it’s recent acquisition by Beam Inc. has quickly made it the second most popular Irish whiskey (just behind Jameson) in many of the upper Midwest states in which it is sold. 2 Gingers is named for founder Kieran Folliard’s mother and aunt, who both had blazing red hair.
2 Gingers is not overly promoting the whiskey as a woman’s brand; check out their website and there’s nothing about it that screams “HEY! We only want women to buy this!” And yet, female consumers make up about 40% of their sales and it has more female customers than competitor brands in the regions in which it is sold.
It’s in the simple small ways that they acknowledge the fact that women are sometimes looking for different things in a drinking experience than men. Folliard says that 2 Gingers begins with a vanilla flavor, finishes with citrus and honey notes and doesn’t have that “tastes like burning” feeling. They also focus on promoting the brand as a great cocktail base, instead of pressuring people to drink it straight-up or on-the-rocks.
Beam has a lot of experience targeting ladies and we love that they are expanding their portfolio with a brand that is not super feminine. News flash: Women don’t necessarily want to drink alcohol that is marketed as super girly. Just because we may like different flavor profiles and sometimes prefer mixing our whiskey into cocktails does not mean we want to feel like we’re taking the easy way out. We feel like we could buy a bottle of 2 Gingers, bring it to a party and everyone there could enjoy it rather than just the guys or just the girls.
You can’t find 2 Gingers just anywhere yet – it is currently available in Minnesota (its home state), Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, North Carolina, New York and Massachusetts. They are planning on expanding distribution to Texas, Pennsylvania and seven other states this year, with even more being added next year.