WORTH A DRINK
Whiskey Is No Longer ‘a Man’s Drink’ Four distinguished women in the whiskey and brandy industry discuss how the spirit is attracting a more diverse consumer than ever before—and drawing more women into the industry. BY MICKI WAGNER
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ince the dawn of whiskey-drinking, the beloved brown spirit has been heralded as a “man’s drink.” But the world is changing in more ways than one these days, and the consumption of spirits is a part of that. With women representing almost 30 percent of whiskey drinkers in the U.S. (up from 15 percent in the 1990s) and being responsible for up to 70 percent of alcohol purchasing decisions for the home, I decided to ask some of the industry’s top distillers and executives why this stigma still surrounds whiskey. According to Elizabeth McCall, assistant master distiller at Woodford Reserve, the stereotype has historic roots. “Well, if you go back historically, women weren’t even accepted in bars. If you go back far enough, it’s like women, you don’t drink; if you do drink, you have a light cocktail, but never to get drunk—you should never be any of those things and you certainly shouldn’t go to the bar and you certainly shouldn’t go to a bar by yourself,” McCall says. “And just over time, women, we have evolved. I mean look at where we are just in the workplace. We have come so far. And now, women are ruling the bars, and we are the ones asking for the whiskey and doing all of that. So, it really has deep roots in, I think, just female etiquette and what’s acceptable, and we’re changing that every single day. I mean we have women, not only in this industry, but leading this industry. I’m meeting our distillery director of both the Woodford Reserve distillery and the Old Forester distillery, and it’s a woman, so we’re leading the industry everywhere and it’s just taken time to see that evolve and become more accessible on the social side of things…And then, women’s palates are so exquisite and men’s are really, really fantastic, too, but I do think that there’s something to be said that women do have a very refined pal-
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ate, so [whiskey is] good for that.” Rita Hansen, head distiller at E. & J. Gallo Spirits, says that, in part, this stigma of whiskey and comparable liquors being labeled a “man’s drink” has to do with the way it was and sometimes still is marketed. “For years, the marketing showed a lot of men doing that consumption, and I think that’s changed,” Hansen says. “I think the stereotype really oversimplified the idea that men drink bourbon and brandy, and women drink rosés. But it really is about the consumer, and all consumers want a consistent and quality product regardless of what the category is. And I think everybody has their own specific taste profile and preferences. I also think the growth and explosion of the mixology category, or for mixologists in general, [has] people understand[ing] more about how to mix brown spirits…
“For years, the marketing showed a lot of men doing that consumption, and I think that has changed.” —RITA HANSEN
And I think that it opens the category up and makes it more approachable for both men and women. And I think really that’s one of the opportunities out there, right? Twenty years ago, you didn’t get to Google online how to make a Brandy Crusta or a brandy cocktail. I think it was a little bit intimidating, and I think that really has opened it up. There are so many great brandies, so many great bourbons out there with these different profiles. And as consumers find out what profiles they like, they go back to those brands that offer that consistent quality and that profile for them.” Samantha Leotta, brand director of Americas for The Macallan, echoes this sentiment, adding that for a long time, the brown liquor category wasn’t the most approachable for many women. “The category itself is very intimidating, to be quite honest, probably like wine is. And I think it’s intimidating, not just for women, but also for younger and more diverse audiences,” Leotta says. “And now, I think women make up almost over 30 percent of whiskey drinkers in the U.S alone, and that number continues to grow.” And with more women consuming whiskey, there are also more women entering the industry. “I’ve seen a huge influx of women in the industry,” Hansen told Worth. “And the team that I work on, when I first started, I was not the first woman in the department. There have been a few before. But over the last 10 years, I mean there’s been times in the department where we’ve been made up of 50 percent women, and it changes, as does every department. So, I really see it from our perspective here—there’s a lot of women that really are interested in distillation. I’ve also met a lot of women that own or manage craft distilleries. I know that there’s that image that it is a male-dominated industry, but I’ve found a lot of women partners out there that I maybe wouldn’t have initially expected. So, I don’t know that I see it as a
