Ricky Gervais unveils vodka inspired by The Office
Dutch Barn Vodka has released a limited edition bottle inspired by The Office, the show co-created by the brand’s co-owner Ricky Gervais.
“Different drinks for different needs,” Gervais wrote on Instagram, riffing off one of David Brent’s classic quotes, the main character he portrayed from the show that he also co-created.
“We’ve made a special bottle to commemorate 25 years of The Office, the anniversary is actually on 9 July, but you can pre-order this so you can get it in good time,” he said.
“£40, 40% ABV, one-litre, you do the math,” Gervais added, signing off the post with another Brent quote.
The one-litre white bottle, which features a David Brent illustration on its front, can be pre-ordered from the brand’s website. Shipping will commence from 1 July and as a limited release, the bottles will not be available again following the preorder.
The liquid inside contains Dutch Barn’s Orchard Vodka, which is made with British apples and won a Gold medal at The Vodka Masters 2024.
As Gervais mentioned, The Office 25th Anniversary bottle will be available for £40 (US$54).
The mockumentary television sitcom first aired in the UK on 9 July 2001 and the bottle marks 25 years since the show debuted.
“Twenty-five years ago, a paper comedy in Slough became one of the greatest comedies ever made,” the brand added.
Gervais joined Dutch Barn as a co-owner of its producer, North Yorkshire-based Ellers Farm Distillery, in November 2023.
Comedy, Gervais and marketing strategy
The comedian and actor has been hands-on in utilising his signature brand of humour to promote Dutch Barn through various campaigns, and to ‘shake up’ the vodka category since he joined.
Comedy has also become an important part of the brand’s identity.
Speaking to The Spirits Business on the impact Gervais has had on the brand, Bethany Trundle, head of creative strategy at Ellers Farm, notes how the brand’s communications has centred around humour.
“People now are just inherently online and humour is the biggest driver for social sharing that there is,” she says.
“Alongside obviously Ricky, we felt it was a very natural thing for us to align ourselves with, and so we do try and speak to a younger audience through the lens of their online humor, which is the easiest way to capture their attention.”
In terms of bringing in new consumers, Trundle adds that the brand’s market primarily sits in the 28-plus age bracket and in the “Millennial box”, which is “partly down to Ricky’s audience, who he speaks to and also because of just the price point of the product” (the flavoured range retails for £32 a bottle).
The brand also landed in the US in March 2025 in partnership with New Jersey-based Opici Wines & Spirits.
Trundle says the brand is focused in Florida at the moment where it has “quite a big presence”, but the plan for the year will be “to expand out, probably more into New Jersey and New York, while continuing to expand through Europe as well.”
“US consumers are also way more used to seeing celebrity-endorsed spirits and so we find that that doesn’t necessarily help as much as it does over here [in the UK],” she says of the market approach and Gervais’s celebrity status.
“That is [the celebrity] a big part of their culture and it is really a USP. So there is definitely more work for us to do in the US from a brand perspective to really show who we are as a brand, Ricky aside – although this does definitely help.”
“The market in the US is also so saturated with vodka, so it is definitely a more challenging market, but we have seen success in Florida,” she adds. “I think just a gradual, scaled approach should see us do fairly well over there.”
On a final note, Trundle highlights how the brand’s flavoured expressions are its best sellers – with Black Cherry and Ginger Spiced the top two – and how they will play an important role as the UK shifts into summer.
The brand previously highlighted a ‘big opportunity’ for flavoured vodka with natural ingredients.
“Our limited raspberry vodka did incredibly well last summer, so we lean on our natural flavours heavily,” she says. “We might also do shot drops of some interesting flavours where it makes sense. So we definitely see it as very important to the strategy.”
The Ginger Spiced expression, which also supports donkeys, is an example of the brand’s flavoured strategy paying off.
“Originally it was only supposed to be a limited edition but it’s been by far our most popular SKU so it didn’t make sense to get rid of it,” Trundle says.
“It’d be interesting again to see how that does through summer because it also feels very winter adjacent, but it’s really shown us the power of bringing something truly unique and fresh to the market.”
Away from Dutch Barn, Ellers Farm will release its inaugural whisky towards the end of 2026.
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