SHOREHAM, Vt. (AP) — Meghan Ireland always loved chemistry, but as a college freshman studying chemical engineering, she didn’t know she could channel her passion for science into the art of making whiskey.
It took stumbling across an article about a female chemical engineer who became a master whiskey distiller for something to click: Ireland’s fellow students could go into plastics and pharmaceuticals, she was going into whiskey.
“It was kind of like a connection of, ‘hey, I can see someone who looks like me, who has the same exact kind of education and background doing this job,’ and kind of opened it up as an option,” said Ireland, now the chief blender behind Vermont-based whiskey brand WhistlePig.
Ireland is among a growing number of women who have become leaders inside a traditionally male-dominated industry that has not always welcomed outsiders. Increasingly, women are launching their own brands and finding new ways to innovate in distilling and blending at a time when more women are drinking whiskey.
Women are often asked: ‘Do you even like whiskey?’
There is a common, lingering doubt among some male colleagues and consumers that the women gaining expertise in the industry even like whiskey. Becky Paskin, a journalist from the U.K. and founder of OurWhiskey Foundation, recounted being asked that question while serving as a judge at a whiskey tasting event. “It is a drink that comes with certain expectations around which gender drinks it and which gender makes it,” Paskin said, adding: “Barely any other drink or food falls under such scrutiny.”
Paskin says part of her work is creating stock images of women consuming whiskey without reducing them to sex objects. “The only images of women drinking whiskey were depicting them as pregnant, drunk, naked; or pregnant, drunk and naked,” she noted.
There’s a long history of women preserving and advancing whiskey
Historically, whiskey-making has been considered a masculine profession in America, but experts point out that women have always been involved in its history and survival. The first distilling instrument was created by a woman, Maria Hebraea, an alchemist from the 2nd century, as noted by bourbon expert Susan Reigler.
Women managed distilleries in the 1800s in Kentucky, where Catherine Carpenter recorded the first known recipe for sour mash whiskey. During Prohibition, some historians suggest that there were more female bootleggers than men, as women were less likely to be searched by police.
Women advance innovation and creativity in whiskey
In Vermont, Ireland has overseen WhistlePig’s whiskey consistency since 2018, while also conducting experimental batches. Her innovative Boss Hog VII attracted praise for being aged in Spanish oak and Brazilian teakwood barrels.
Judy Hollis Jones, a whiskey entrepreneur and co-founder of Buzzard’s Roost, expresses the growing involvement of women, noting increased attendance of women at tastings eager to participate in the whiskey experience.
“I’ve had people say to me, ‘Oh, well, you don’t wear jeans, boots and a cowboy hat,’” she laughed, “But every bourbon drinker female does not look like that. We are a very diverse group that loves bourbon.”
