Liev Schreiber launched Sláinte Irish Whiskey last September as a way to raise money for his charity, BlueCheck Ukraine.
Schreiber's Sláinte Irish Whiskey will now be available for purchase in California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.
BlueCheck Ukraine offers humanitarian assistance to citizens in the war-torn country, where Schreiber's maternal grandmother was born.
Schreiber's Irish whiskey is $37.99 a bottle, and an 18-year single malt limited edition is available for a pretty steep $499.99, with all proceeds going to his charity. (A buck from every sale of the lower-priced stuff goes to Ukraine.)
“We are elated to expand the footprint of Sláinte Irish Whiskey in these key territories in the United States,” Schreiber said in a statement.
”Bringing Sláinte to even more people nationwide will help us raise additional money and awareness for BlueCheck Ukraine, which is our ultimate goal.”
View this post on Instagram
Schreiber is a fantastic Tony Award-winning actor who has starred in a multitude of films and TV shows, most notably "Ray Donovan" on Showtime in which he played Ray, a fixer for stars in trouble. Ray, fans of the long-running show will know, liked his whiskey and regularly used the Irish cheers “sláinte,” which means good health.
His love of Irish whiskey goes way back, far before he starred in "Ray Donovan." Schreiber gave an interview with Forbes last October in which he talked about it.
“I have a deep relationship with Irish whiskey. It’s always been that spirit for me. It has to do with emotional stuff. It’s my go-to when something hurts a lot. And it’s also my go-to when I want to feel close to somebody,” he said.
“I’m (a child of) an acrimonious divorce and I never really knew my father until I was in college. And then my father came to Hampshire College and it was my first time getting to hang out with him as a grownup. He brought a bottle of Irish whiskey and the two of us drank almost that entire bottle throughout the course of the night and had some pretty amazing conversations.”
Sláinte Irish Whiskey is made in Co Louth, and Liev took his first trip to Ireland last year to learn about the process.
“I visited Dublin to meet the whiskey people. Because this stuff is really hard to source. I visited Great Northern Distillery. I watched a bunch of casks getting opened and I watched some blending,” he said.
“We spent time at the pubs, sipping a bunch of whiskey — probably too much whiskey. On top of that, since I had never been to Ireland I had never had a Guinness (at its source) and that was pretty f***ing fantastic.”
And also, much better than the black stuff sold outside of Ireland, Schreiber reckons.
“It’s so different there. I had never thought of stout as thirst-quenching. But it’s insanely thirst-quenching and creamy at the same time. It just flies down your throat.”
View this post on Instagram
*A version of this column first appeared in the February 15 edition of the weekly Irish Voice newspaper, sister publication to IrishCentral.
Comments