That tradition continued on the early American frontier: Catherine Spears Frye Carpenter, a widowed mother and distiller in early 19th-century Kentucky, was the first to record a recipe for sour-mash whiskey.Īs modern, industrial distilling emerged after the Civil War, and as gender roles became more rigid, women played less of a role in whiskey production, though they left their stamp in other ways. In his book “Whiskey Women,” Fred Minnick writes that women in medieval Europe used their distilling acumen to make medicine, but also were persecuted when those same skills were denounced as black magic. “What’s different today is that they’re getting recognition for the contributions they made through time.”ĭistilling used to be considered women’s work, part of their duties around the hearth and home. “There have always been women in the industry,” said Andrea Wilson, master of maturation at Michter’s, a distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. In the process, they’re not just getting long-deserved credit - they are reshaping what remains a male-dominated profession. in Tennessee and startups like Milam & Greene. In the past few years, though, women have started to take on leadership roles in production - distilling and blending - at corporate operations like the Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. ![]() ![]() Similar stories abound in the American whiskey business, where women have long played a quiet and underappreciated role, often in places like the bottling line or the marketing department. “We just had to dig in and say, ‘We’re here, and we’re one of you guys.’” “It was a total turnaround,” Greene said. And three years after that first, frosty reception, they find themselves not just accepted, but celebrated by other Texas distillers. ![]() Undaunted, the Milam & Greene team persevered, winning competitions and critical acclaim, including an award at the Texas Whiskey Festival in April.
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