This Ad Exploits Every Irish Cliche And Stereotype Imaginable - And Is Still Astonishingly Beautiful

A European ad for Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey manages to boil down Ireland into a three minute short film. It's got rolling green hills, a somber mood, a Catholic church, and men singing over drinks. One of the guys even quotes James Joyce!

But it comes off as a love letter to the country rather than a cartoon, because despite the cliches, it's subtle and sweet.

In the ad, four young men travel through the rain to an old church. They've brought glasses and a bottle of Tullamore for the journey. Note that the men are actually the ones singing the folk song "The Parting Glass." Their voices were recorded in the old church in the video, the historic St. Kevin's. It's worth watching the full ad for the revelation at the end:

So whether you're losing your friend to death or marriage, Tullamore's will get you through the pain.

New York agency Opperman Weiss produced the short film with British director Laurence Dunmore, of Ridley Scott's RSA Films.

Paul Opperman, co-founder of Opper Weiss, wanted the ad to feel so authentic that the Irish would embrace its "Irish True" campaign. "We wanted it to be so infallibly 'Irish True' that there was no possible way to question it," he told Fast Company.