Women in Whiskey
A toast to the women behind the whiskey
Nashville Whiskey Festival seminar celebrates those making their mark in the industry
By Pam Windsor
It’s an industry long dominated by men, but women have made great strides in the distilling industry in recent years. Today there are more women distillers and more female-owned companies than a decade ago, and this year’s Nashville Whiskey Festival had some of those industry leaders come together to talk about their work and their accomplishments.
“We had our first Women In Whiskey event the third year of our festival,” said Paul Patel, owner of Corkdorks Wine Spirits Beer. “We were way ahead of our time. We stopped it for a few years and then brought it back.”
Allisa Henley, who started at George Dickel two decades ago, is now the distiller and general manager at Sazerac and spent the past seven years working on that company’s first Tennessee whiskey, which should hit the market next year.
“Twenty years ago, when I started, I was the only female in the distillery,” Henley said. “That’s not the case now. I think it’s an industry still behind the times in terms of female/male ratios in the workplace, but it’s getting better. I still don’t think we’re where we should be, I still sit in a room with all men most of the time. But it’s changed a lot over the long time I’ve been working.”
Molly Troupe is a partner and master distiller at Freeland Spirits, a small batch gin and whiskey company based in Portland. It’s female-funded, female-crafted, and Troupe is one of the youngest female distillers in the U.S.
“I was working at a different distiller and was approached about starting a women-owned, women-operated distiller and said of course,” Troupe recalled. “This was an opportunity to start my own program, to make something from scratch. We started quickly working on our gin which is Blue Bottle Gin. And we just released our rye whiskey. I have a lot of creative freedom and really focus on having women in positions in power. We work with grain growers that are women and do that when we can all along the line. I think we have about 98 percent women on staff.”
Nic Christiansen is blender and manager of blending operations at Barrell Craft Spirits, and has been with the company for four years.
“We’re blenders, we source bourbon and whiskey from distillers across the country and create unique blends,” Christiansen explained, adding it’s an exciting time to be in this business. “There’s a lot of room for creativity and experimentation. I think around the country and the world there are so many different small craft and big distilleries doing different things. And we all learn from each other and take note from what other people are doing.”
Beth Buckner is senior manager of innovation at Maker’s Mark. Maker’s Mark is the iconic Kentucky bourbon brand started by Bill Samuels, but it was his wife Margie that handled marketing, branding, and paved the way for what would become the state’s famous Bourbon Trail.
“Bill was the brains behind the whiskey, but Margie was the brain behind the brand,” Buckner said. She came in and said this is what your bottle’s going to look like, this is going to be the name of it, and you’re going to dip it in wax, and this is why. So, you buy your first bottle because of Margie and your second because of Bill Sr. But what I love about Margie is she made it a business. She made the distiller a national historic landmark and really brought tourism to the bourbon industry.
Sherrie Moore started with Jack Daniels in 1975 and became its director of whiskey operations. She retired after 35 years and has helped guide others in the industry, including the female-owned and operated Uncle Nearest Distillery. She said one of the things she’s enjoyed most through the years is tackling new challenges, overcoming obstacles, and that no two days are the same.
“When I was at Jack Daniels, every day was different,” Moore said. “You come in every day and make adjustments. Something happens and you go 'OK, how do we regroup? What are we going to do about this? How do we make quality the same?' Every day is a problem-solving day and you can be overwhelmed with it or energized. And I was lucky I was energized.”
The others agreed, it’s one of the things they love about the industry: not knowing what to expect on a daily basis, but standing ready to handle it.
“You never know what you’re going to walk into, what’s going to go wrong. There’s always something breaking on the production side. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are, you’ve got a mess somewhere, I promise you. You have to get used to it and be willing to think on your feet. And that always makes things interesting.”