July 5, 2017 • 31 mins
Despite its uber-masculine connotation, it's women who are behind the renaissance of this delightful drink, and women who were instrumental to its American origin story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Emily and this is Bridges, and you're
listening to stuff mom never told you. Today we have
the really challenging topic to cover for you here today.
(00:25):
We really went above and beyond to stretch our researching
skills when it comes to the fascinating history of and
future of whiskey and women. Yeah, don't ever say that
we never you know, did hard work and service of
our podcast, because we're telling you right now we're here
with a bottle of very nice whiskey and we're gonna
(00:47):
taste a little of it. So just know that we
sound extra interesting today. That's why, because we are sipping
on a phenomenal bottle of rottum rye. You might have
heard this make the news. That's rot him as in
Hillary Rodham Clinton Uh from the Republic Restoratives, a local
DC distillery that probably gifted us this beautiful bottle because
(01:10):
they know knew we would be sipping on it on air. Um.
But we are thrilled to be tasting this throughout today's episode,
you know, for research for research. But I also in
on a serious note before we go any further, I
do want to make a little bit of an announcement
just as a trigger warning for anyone out there who
is struggling with alcoholism addiction who is uh, you know,
(01:32):
really committed to sobriety, this is probably an episode you
want to skip right. I mean, you're not going to
miss anything earth shattering, and we want to make sure
that you protect your sobriety. So if that sounds like you,
this would be a good time to say, do you,
and hopefully we'll hear you and we'll catch you on
the next one. Um. But for those of us who
I'm I'm so I'm biased on this episode. My bias
(01:53):
that I'm bringing to this that I'm a big whiskey
drinker and I'm looking at bridget here who's making a
bit of a faith It's well, okay, let me back up.
I actually like whiskey. The reason why I don't love
whiskey now is because I like it too much. You know,
when you have a bad experience with alcohol and like,
so I everyone has one, Yeah, mine is like and
(02:13):
that's the thing, is like, when I go to bars,
I love a whiskey shot, like like, yeah, shot. I
I still I lock at college style. I'm still doing
shots to Jamison. Oh my god. Okay, we have a
different way of appreciating whisky then, but she has a
beer connoisseur, and so just so you know, Bridges, like,
if we ever do an episode on beer, it's gonna
have me licked. Yea. So this is a fun episode
(02:36):
because I'm already feeling more fun right now. I'm having
a bit of fun here. But um, I want to
break down what can sometimes be a little bit of
an intimidating liqueur for women especially. There is a traditional
masculinity to this drink, don't you agree? Like I think so,
I think that we associate Um, I certainly associate whiskey
(02:58):
with with masculinity. You Emily just made a fade. I
needed to breathe. I inhaled in my glass for a second. No,
but it's true, like there has been a traditional male association.
This feels like a power brokers. Um, I like to
drink mine on the rocks. We're drinking it neat today,
but like drinking a glass of just bourbon, it feels
(03:18):
like a Grandpa move. Yeah, I mean to go back
to me have Like if you ever watched the show
mad Men, like how executives are like drinking a whiskey
at like four o'clock like twelve o'clock. If I got
a whiskey at noon at work, I would need to
go home sick. Right, Well, is that not what we're doing?
I mean, But Um, here's the thing. There's a fascinating
(03:41):
history behind women and whiskey and the genderization of this beverage.
It's really really interesting. And I want to start um
by talking through prohibition. I think that's a good area
to pick up this story. Lord knows the story goes
back further, which we will. But during Prohibition in Um,
(04:01):
this was a drink commonly served in gentleman's parlors. Well,
I shouldn't say during I should say before prohibition. This
was a drink served in gentleman's parlors and women pretty
much didn't weren't allowed in there. We're not showing their
face especially ladies. Ladies didn't show their face there. So
what kind of ladies were there were? There were a
(04:23):
particular think of like um Boardwalk Empire. Right. The women
who were in gentlemen's clubs were professionals, you know what
I mean? Girls, They were working girls. So these were
there was a very strong association between a whiskey drink,
which is pretty much exclusively served in bars and gentleman's
parlors and prostitution. So the connection of sin was very
(04:47):
easy for people to make during Prohibition because it was
easy to say, you know, this is the liquor of
the devil, and this is associated with loose women, and
if you wanted to be a nice lady, this wasn't
the kind of drink that you would ever be around, um,
which I think is a big part of the reason
that it was associated for gentleman's only terrain. That's so
(05:10):
interesting because I hear a lot of like even today,
I hear a lot of women say things like, oh,
dark liquors, like the idea of like a drink like
vodka gin being like a drink for yeah, it's like
more more yeah. And this I love board rock Empire,
so I'm biased on that front too. I keep thinking
of boardo empower because during Prohibition, bootleggers were like the
(05:32):
black market was big because no one really stopped drinking,
or very few people actually stopped drinking. It just became
illegal um, which we should talk about legalization and another
department at some point about that too. But so what's
interesting here is and this is a quote, um from
is it the and pr article? I think I wrote,
(05:54):
I didn't write, I read. Um. Prostitutes were, in fact
some of the biggest powerhouse saleswomen in the United States. Right.
So John's as they call them, would come in and
the prostitutes would start getting them liquored up in these gentlemen's,
which makes sense if you're trying to make money and like,
you know, if you're a girl who like dances that thing.
(06:17):
During this time, prostitutes legally sold whiskey and earned significant
commissions for their brothels that they worked in at the time.
So in New York City in the eighteen fifties, for instance,
women made more than two million a year in liquor sales,
just close close, but not quite as big as the
three million that they were making four sex. Right. So yeah,
(06:40):
but it's like it's interesting to have a two kind
of like they would go hand in hand exactly. And
so this comes right out of this fascinating Atlantic article
about women making whiskey. And you know, back in the day,
this of course caught the attention of the temperance movement ladies,
who are the actually you know, social acceptable ladies who
(07:02):
played a key role in prohibition from thirty three. Um
and during this time, you know, bootleggers also made a
ton of cash from the selling of whiskey. Many of
the leading bootleggers were, in fact women. I love that. Okay,
somebody needs to. I don't watch board up a show
(07:23):
about lady lady bootleggers. I would watch that. Mu, you're
really appreciating this whiskey. It's really good. It's rye whiskey,
which is not usually my bag. I'm more of a
bourbon girl. But I have to you know, I have
to expand my horizons. I have to expand my palette.
It's really quite lovely. It's nice, it's smooth. It's a
(07:44):
blend of two different kinds of whiskey, which we'll talk
about more. But uh, what I found fascinating here to
go back to the bootlegging component. Did you need something? Okay,
give me, give me it up. Up, I'm doing it
all right, kudos miss uh miss bridget hitting the hitting
the sluss. So the reason lady bootleggers, it's it's really
(08:12):
I don't smooth. Yeah, definitely. Um. The reason lady bootleggers
were so instrumental in that very illicit enterprise was because
police officers could not search them, right. That was considered
rude for a police officer to search a lady. And
so if you're a lady, you know, doing something illicit,
(08:32):
you know, you might not get searched, right. And I
think at some point they even said it was illegal. Yeah,
so searching a woman who was driving a car alone
was actually illegal. So it was like a social mora
was it was a taboo thing to do to begin with,
but especially if they were driving alone, you didn't have
the right to search their cars. Hello, I would have
a whole team of women for hal and my my,
(08:54):
my bootleg liquor. All. Well, what's interesting is how these
women really made a rule that's like grounded benevolent sexism
work for them, Right, This idea that like like you
can't like you can't like you know, offend this woman's
delicates and because she's alone, and they're like, oh cool
that anything that like that like like uses that in
(09:15):
a subversive way, uses the rules that are meant to
keep in their place. I love that. I think it's fascinating.
And Minick, who wrote this great book, like one of
the leading and most recent books on women in Whiskey
says that at one point, female bootleggers out sold men
five to one. So like this was a real time
(09:35):
for wealth creation for women in this tawdry, illicit, illegal industry. Yeah.
So if that's the case, then like, why do you
think that we associate it so much with masculinity today. Well,
those were women who were breaking the norm, who were
taboo and were other you know, for their industry for sure.
But I also think that over the years, especially in
(09:55):
the eighties, right, the whiskey drink was reserved for business dealing.
I weren't really a lot of women in the C
suite who were powerbrokers slinging whiskey around. That started to
change in the nineties and beyond, when more women were
in positions of power. We think of the Whiskey Summit,
(10:15):
the President Obama, McConnell, McConnell, No, it was the supertan
one good Nord what's his name. He retired because he cried. Bainner,
he retired because he cried. He retired and he cried.
I thought it was really right now, I think, guys,
(10:38):
I'm not kidding. I'm such a lightweight, Like this is
not can't can't confirm. I may or may not be
at least half drunk by now. I've had like three
steps of whiskey. Um, that's good stuff. Yeah, yeah, no, No,
not to hate on Bainner for crying. I thought that
was actually one of the coolest things he's ever done,
is crying public often, which he did frequently. I can't
(10:59):
quite remember if it was ch McConnell or him. Probably
McConnell because it's from Kentucky. He's from Kentucky, which, by
the way, is where bourbon comes from. Bourbon is the
American whiskey that's directly American, so you know you're drinking
American if you're drink that's a difference between bourbon whiskey,
which I did not know. I've been I've been sort
of lost on that for a while, right, And it's
(11:19):
it's ingredients and spelling can change in the word whiskey,
and some of its Scotch is made with malten barley,
while bourbon is actually distilled from corn also, so it's
not scotch we're talking about whiskey, But in terms of bourbon,
it's especially in the US of A. Um, what are
you talking about? Oh, I think this is where I
(11:40):
wanted to take a quick break anyhoo. Anyway, so I
think it's fascinating to know there's this real political and
gendered history of like women and whiskey have this bipolar
relationship over time. During and leading up to prohibition, you know,
only very bad, socially unacceptable women were associated with the layer.
(12:03):
And after prohibition it took like a long time for
women to be in positions of power and then become
more and more um, you know, freely associated with whiskey.
But it's still like that connotation of masculinity or bad
women in it injures. And I think what's cool is
(12:24):
um that's changing now, which we're going to talk about
in a second. But also that's not where whiskey originated from,
when women were hugely involved in the original um whiskey
story in the United States. And we're going to talk
about that when we come back from a quick water break.
But in the meantime, let's hear a few words from
(12:44):
our sponsors, and we're back from a little whiskey ber
I mean water, um, And what I think is fascinating
is that even though during and after Prohibition, this sort
(13:06):
of masculine reputation and connotation has stuck around when it
comes to whiskey. What's important to note that Fred Minnick,
who is the author of Whiskey Women, The Untold Story
of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch and Irish whiskey, um
is that in early colonial days, before industrial distillers were popular, quote,
(13:28):
women were the first distillers. And again that's so interesting
because you know, women of an integral in the in
the whiskey business for a long time, and like it
wouldn't be what it is today with that women, and
yet they be still sort of it's still thought of
as very masculine, you know. Well, it just goes to
show you how social narrative, like public narrative, the stories
we tell about good woman, bad women, um thore and
(13:53):
like shaking that off if something is associated with but
like bad women, that is like that will has staying. Well,
it's a reframing of what whiskey means. So in the
Prohibition era whiskey mint, prostitute, whiskey, ment bar, gentleman salon,
whatever you want to call it, whiskey whiskey was associated
with sin. And if anyone's ever seen guys and dolls.
(14:14):
I was in that musical rendition in my middle school years.
That was my introduction to prohibition. I was like I
had one lunch, okay, I was like one of the
girls that followed out a later round um Man. That
was a fun production. Though shout out to Southland High
schools or not even high school, Timothy Edwards Middle School collection.
(14:36):
So here's the deal, right, So during Prohibition and after Prohibition,
that was the association. That was a context that we
gave whiskey. But back in the colonial days, whiskey equalled
pain killer, Like whiskey was a medicine, so women distilled
in their kitchens used whiskey as a basic household pain killer.
So if you had a scratch or a sore ear
(14:58):
or a headache, Mini say is a woman would give
you whiskey. It was the title little or the ivory
profen of the day. And this is really how one
of the ways that I'm really familiar with Sissy because
I have I even though I'm not a huge whiskey drinker,
I always keep a little like Maker's mark in the
house because I do, yeah, I do think, And there's
like people are going to write it and be like, oh,
there's no scientific evidence. I do think that if you're
(15:20):
feeling sick, whiskey does help, Like if you have like
a hot toddy, which f I I was a college
nickname of mine because my last name is Todd. I
love that. I'm gonna stick around. I have a shirt.
I have a shirt that's it's airbrushed on the back.
But yeah, so you know if you're if you have
a cold, you have a hot toddy. I had a
(15:41):
toothache recently, really bad toothache, and someone was like, you'se
a little whiskey, Like they say that like, um, back
in the early days, this is a bad child ring advice,
but like when a kid is yeah, it's no child abuse.
Don't do that. Don't don't follow that advice. But yeah,
I think that people like I have been a long
per of the medicinal and the household uses of whiskey.
(16:03):
There's so many parallels to weed right now, this is
a different episode. My mom, the registered nurse UM used
to be given by her mother and recommend for me,
like whiskey as a cramp aide. So was it connected
to your period? Really? As like so sorry you're having cramps.
Here's a little bit of whiskey. And it's interesting, how like,
(16:24):
how like that is so feminized, right, like all of
these things. It's like, oh, like a soothing cure, like
a eight your cramps, Like it's so feminized, and yet
still persists this myth of like, well it's changed, isn't
it fascinating? How how like totally bipolar? Our relationship with
women and whiskey has been over the years. So even
though like you were considered basically a whore if you
(16:45):
drink whiskey in the Prohibition era, in the late seventeen hundreds,
American women were distilling so much at home that Fred
Minnick is convinced he found the earliest form of dating
site in old newspaper ads, in which men would literally
put out an ad for their wife. They will be
like searching for a wife, looking the classifieds, and some
(17:07):
of them specified a preference for women who could brew
beer or distill spirits, of course, in addition to being
able to make clothes and churned butter and all that
gets I love it, like hilarious if you're a woman
who makes good whiskey, get ammy, right, Like, I love that.
It's hilarious. Yeah, put that in your profile on Tinder
or on match or whatever, and see how, see how
if it still work. So it's funny that like whiskey
(17:30):
had this very domestic connotation for a long time until
it was reversed and we have been coming back from
the Prohibition era reputation that whiskey had of being reserved
for gentlemen only for a long time. I think that's
sort of fascinating to say that that's the moment we're
in right now. For me, I personally got into whiskey
(17:52):
while on the campaign trail, which by the way, it
was dominated by men, like mostly male colleagues. So back
in two thousand and eight, I first started to drink
whiskey just straight up on the rocks or meat and
discovered just how broad of a palette that liquor can have.
It's not like this disgusting medicine to throwback, not that
note you rating it, but like actually there is like
(18:16):
if you have you can sip it. And I think,
like I have a similar kind of take when it
comes to whiskey and sort of the role that it's
played in politics. Like I have this memory of um
when I was working at the New Organizing Institute putting
on a boot camp for activists and organizers on the left.
One of our trainers, who was just like high up,
like ran this very very important campaign, came and brought
(18:39):
all the stuff to make like, um, Manhattan's that's whiskey, right,
yeah yeah, and so like it's like whiskey and vermouth. Yeah.
So like was like chaking out these like really fancy Manhattans.
These people were like cranking out there like activist emails.
And I call it like a Grandpa cocktail because it
totally has an old, leathery masculine reputation. Um, but guess what, bridget,
(19:01):
guess who's bringing bourbon back? Ladies? The ladies. So we're
gonna take a quick break, but when we come back,
we'll tell you just how powerful the female demographic has
been in the remarketing of and the renaissance behind whiskey
here in the U s of A. But first a
quick word from our sponsors. So we're back, and we
(19:30):
are doing our research as diligently as we can here
to try and understand why and how whiskey has become
just as popular as it has amongst women in particular. So,
in an article from NPR from so the renaissance really
started to take off around Uh, it was reported that
(19:50):
worldwide sales of American made whiskey grew faster than any
other distilled spirit in the past year, at a rate
of about seven percent, which is huge. It is according
to people in the BIZ um in the Bourbon biz
and Americans in general are sapping it up. We drink
four million cases of domestically produced whiskey. Again, this is
(20:12):
I have a feeling the numbers are even bigger now, um,
which is nearly a thirty percent increase from a decade ago.
But notably, remember when we said earlier in this episode,
like people in positions in which they're brokering power agreements
tend to drink this beverage. And therefore it would make
sense that in the nineties and eighties and before, there
(20:34):
weren't that many women represented at those that like the
women women working women have been and like other ranks
of power and so like. Yeah, well back in the
nineties only about fifteen percent of whiskey drinkers were female. Now, uh,
that represents about we are thirty seven percent, So that's
a huge spike. I know, are we alone in this?
(20:55):
I hope not so. Tell us if you're a whiskey
drinker out there, tell me what your favorite is. Remember
when I was consulting in a political environment, Um, it's
so funny. This was now. I would, on occasion have
the so terribly difficult work of receiving gifts from some
(21:17):
of my biggest clients. Like I know, it was so hard.
So the trend in d C was cupcakes. How many
boxes of sprinkles? Cupcakes? Canna can I gal eat before?
You're like enough with the cupcakes and you're talking to
someone who's got the biggest feet tooth in the world.
(21:39):
But I remember I was at an event with some
of my vendors and clients I was working with, and
I kind of gave them grief for sending me another
box of cupcakes. I was like, yeah, you gotta cool
with the cupcakes. So what do they do? They say,
what do you like? And I said, I'm really into
bourbon right now, And that next week in the office
shows up a beautiful glow glass of lanterns, which to
(22:03):
date is one of my faves. They could have done.
They could have like really like double cross to you
and made you cupcakes with whiskey in them because you
can do that drunken cupcake. What a cool combination of
things like you can't go wrong, you can't go wrong,
and it's sort of I find it fascinating how much
um whiskey has become now this like cool girl drink.
(22:24):
It isn't annoyingly meta for me to say that, am
I calling you? You're basically complimenting yourself. I mean I
can dive into this a little bit, like certainly, like
you know, you think of women like Christina Hendrix from Madman.
Mila Kunas has a very like like like sensual Jim
Beam honey whatever. It's got a very sensual ad where
she's talking about like the Devil's cut, like you know,
(22:46):
you know, talking about and people think she's like the
people think she's like a foxy babe. Yeah, she's starting
after her Hillary. Also, I'm going to spling it back,
which is part of the reason I think the rattam
Rye Whiskey got its name. Of course it also can
man after the elections, so I think it was someone's
way of making the world just a little better, a
little bit brighter for all of us whiskey love and
gals out there and Lady Gaga and even Duchess Kate
(23:09):
is known to like whiskey. So there's this connotation of
high powered women everywhere savoring their whiskey. But isn't it
a little bit of like cool girl where it's like, oh, like,
she's not. I'm not like other ladies. Keep your keep
your like Gin and Tonic ladies. That's for that's for
girly girls. Or I'll have a teenie. Yeah. In the
nineties when like como cosmopolitics, what was that? Sex? Cosma
(23:31):
is so big and now this is like the anti cop.
It's so true. I'm hitting women against women and I
I always hate that. And also I'm someone like I
The first of all, I'm a big drinker. I love
to drink, like, not not like in a problematic way,
I although like but no, so I I just enjoy
going at drinking. And I'm someone who like I'm I
(23:53):
know a lot about beer and a beer. I've like
Ben quietly sitting on the sidelines of many a beer converzation,
and I'm like, uh huh, I know a lot of
that beer. Um. But also like I so like, I like,
I enjoy a fancy beer. I enjoy a fancy like cocktail,
but I'm also like I could get down with like
you know and Apple team, Like I'm not above that,
Like I just I don't like the idea of like
(24:14):
I don't like that either. Um. I have a funny
story about that. Once I was in Vegas with friends
and there was there was this group of like very
like Vegas style like girls, like you know, like we
girls like girls, like a large group of girls like
out on the town. And they went up to the
bartender and they were like, can we get a was
it um RBC? And the bartender was like, what's an RBC?
(24:36):
And they were like, oh, you don't know, it's Red
Bull Cranberry vodka. And so we were like, oh, it's
like I found this interaction so hilarious and so to
kind of like and this is like me not being
a great either, so I was a little judge. So
then making fun of these girls all night, we were
like ordering this drink to be funny. And then later
we realized we're ordering them because we like them. We're
(24:56):
not We're not like it's we started as like mocking.
Then we were like, oh, these girls are like back
and on bored with Red bullet mixed with any kind
of alcohol because that is an upper and a downer.
And then my heart does not like like red Bull
belongs in the trash, like your heart does not want
to play that game. But yes, no, I think it's
I think it's interesting as much as it is problematic
(25:17):
to say, Like there's this Elite Daily article, which Elite Daily,
I mean, gag, I'm sorry, Like I want to roll
my eyes pretty much every time I click on a link,
but I did it for the podcast. And they have
an article called ten reasons to always go out with
a girl who drinks whiskey, and like, whiskey drinking girls
are so cool because they're not like other girls. And
then they like sort of talk up the tomboys thing
(25:40):
and how it's sexy and mysterious and all of these
like bizarre connotations, which is basically saying, ladies, whiskey is
associated with power, which is fair to say because that
is historically true. So women who drink whiskey tend to
be more powerful, but I think the better way or
tend to like do so because there's this powerful connotation,
but that doesn't mean anything. Actually, that's that's a connotation
(26:03):
it's a reputation, it might not be at all factual.
The better way to do it is what Women Who
Whiskey is doing, like clubs, social clubs for women. These
social clubs for women who want to explore the um,
you know, the medium. I don't know, like who want
to get into whiskey describe whiskey as a medium as
a medium for power. That is the most DC thing.
(26:27):
But who want to get into whiskey but might be
a little intimidated because it is kind of a bold
drink choice. Um, They've got meetup groups, They've got a
cool Instagram account, They've got like a whole community cropping
up around with women and whiskey. And my favorite part
of the whiskey renaissance that's being led in great part
to women drinking whiskey more than ever before, is the
(26:50):
fact that women are also stepping into leadership position distilleries
and from an entrepreneurial standpoint. So we've got Becky Harriet Harris,
the co founder of Catactin Creek Distillery in Virginia. Also,
it's very much around the d C here. I have
to say, like that is pretty cool, I mean decent
politics kind of like is like Fueled by Whiskey. I
(27:11):
believe right, We've got Mayor Meriditi Marettiti Grelli of Wigel
or Wiggle whiskey. Is it called wiggle whiskey? I would
totally drink that. She's from Pittsburgh, um w I g
l e just to get that straight whiskey in Pittsburgh.
And we've got big name spirits. Companies are also filling
(27:32):
top spots with women like Maryann barnes Um, the master
taster now at Brown Brown Foreman's Bourbon Whiskey Brands. Nicole
Austin has found her niche is whiskey consultant. She's also
the master blender at King's County Distillery in Brooklyn. And
we've got to give a shout out to the two
female co founders of Republic Restoratives, which makes the delicious
(27:54):
whiskey that we're enjoying today, Rod and Rye Right, which
is run and owned by Pia and Rachel So Pierre
Carusone and Rachel Gardner. And I love this article in
the Washingtonian um that came out I think in March
saying d S Distiller names whiskey after Hillary Clinton. And
it's not just after Hillary Clinton. Notably it's about it's her.
(28:15):
It's named after her maiden name, Rottom, which I think
is a powerman definitely. Um. So they had already been
known to Hillary also lives been known to throw back
the occasional whiskey. So they came up with this idea
for Rottom Rye, which they launched it around the inauguration.
And I have been trying to get my hands on this,
by the way, for a long time. Good Now, um
(28:37):
my bias here is that Like, I've been trying to
find a bottle, but it's been really hard to find
because it flew off the shelves. Um. And it's not
just named well, it's also blended. Well. It's a cool
like the combination of one year old Rye and three
and a half year old Rye from Tennessee. So it's
the tagline is a selection of whiskeys that are stronger
together than and And the best part is a five
(29:02):
percent of their proceeds from the bottles go to Emily's List.
I love it. So by buying a bottle this whiskey,
you're actually going to support um pro choice democratic women
in politicis is my favorite way to support any women. Yeah,
like I will gladly, um get behind rotten rye so
and I can't know a test, but it tastes delicious,
very smooth. If you's put us up to this, I
(29:25):
think I'm saying that, like I'm able to drink this
and not think of the night that I ended my
night vomiting because whiskey enjoying it profusely. Um. Well, I
think we've arrived at the end here. I hope you've
left with a greater appreciation I certainly have with women's
(29:45):
like fascinating historical relationship with whiskey. And know that this
renaissance of bourbon and of whiskey drinks here in the US,
you know, or it is in no small part due
to women. So women as consumers, women as distillers, women
as leaders in large spirits companies. More power to you.
Um and really, in so many ways, this is us
(30:07):
coming full circle when it comes to like women were
at the at the starting block in terms of whiskey
here in the U s of A. And we're back.
We're just being good patriots. We're back, are being good patriots.
I love it. We would love to hear about your
experiences with whiskey, have you you know, have you been
judged by drinking it? Like? Do you feel more powerful
when you drink it? Who are your favorite whiskey drinking
(30:28):
ladies on TV? If you want to know all of
this and more, snap us a pick off you drinking
your favorite whiskey or your favorite bottle whiskey. You can
tag us on Instagram at stuff mom Never Told You, UM,
Tweet us about your whiskey habits at mom stuff podcast,
or send us an email just you know, with your
favorite If you're distiller, your favorite whiskey recipe or any combination,
(30:49):
They're in mom stuff at how stuff works dot com.
And as always, of course, just like Bridget and I,
we want to encourage you to drink responsibly. Oh yeah
we should say that, um, but drink boldly, my friends.
So cheers to all the women who love whiskey. H
Hey, this is Emily and this is Bridges, and you're
listening to stuff mom never told you. Today we have
the really challenging topic to cover for you here today.
(00:25):
We really went above and beyond to stretch our researching
skills when it comes to the fascinating history of and
future of whiskey and women. Yeah, don't ever say that
we never you know, did hard work and service of
our podcast, because we're telling you right now we're here
with a bottle of very nice whiskey and we're gonna
(00:47):
taste a little of it. So just know that we
sound extra interesting today. That's why, because we are sipping
on a phenomenal bottle of rottum rye. You might have
heard this make the news. That's rot him as in
Hillary Rodham Clinton Uh from the Republic Restoratives, a local
DC distillery that probably gifted us this beautiful bottle because
(01:10):
they know knew we would be sipping on it on air. Um.
But we are thrilled to be tasting this throughout today's episode,
you know, for research for research. But I also in
on a serious note before we go any further, I
do want to make a little bit of an announcement
just as a trigger warning for anyone out there who
is struggling with alcoholism addiction who is uh, you know,
(01:32):
really committed to sobriety, this is probably an episode you
want to skip right. I mean, you're not going to
miss anything earth shattering, and we want to make sure
that you protect your sobriety. So if that sounds like you,
this would be a good time to say, do you,
and hopefully we'll hear you and we'll catch you on
the next one. Um. But for those of us who
I'm I'm so I'm biased on this episode. My bias
(01:53):
that I'm bringing to this that I'm a big whiskey
drinker and I'm looking at bridget here who's making a
bit of a faith It's well, okay, let me back up.
I actually like whiskey. The reason why I don't love
whiskey now is because I like it too much. You know,
when you have a bad experience with alcohol and like,
so I everyone has one, Yeah, mine is like and
(02:13):
that's the thing, is like, when I go to bars,
I love a whiskey shot, like like, yeah, shot. I
I still I lock at college style. I'm still doing
shots to Jamison. Oh my god. Okay, we have a
different way of appreciating whisky then, but she has a
beer connoisseur, and so just so you know, Bridges, like,
if we ever do an episode on beer, it's gonna
have me licked. Yea. So this is a fun episode
(02:36):
because I'm already feeling more fun right now. I'm having
a bit of fun here. But um, I want to
break down what can sometimes be a little bit of
an intimidating liqueur for women especially. There is a traditional
masculinity to this drink, don't you agree? Like I think so,
I think that we associate Um, I certainly associate whiskey
(02:58):
with with masculinity. You Emily just made a fade. I
needed to breathe. I inhaled in my glass for a second. No,
but it's true, like there has been a traditional male association.
This feels like a power brokers. Um, I like to
drink mine on the rocks. We're drinking it neat today,
but like drinking a glass of just bourbon, it feels
(03:18):
like a Grandpa move. Yeah, I mean to go back
to me have Like if you ever watched the show
mad Men, like how executives are like drinking a whiskey
at like four o'clock like twelve o'clock. If I got
a whiskey at noon at work, I would need to
go home sick. Right, Well, is that not what we're doing?
I mean, But Um, here's the thing. There's a fascinating
(03:41):
history behind women and whiskey and the genderization of this beverage.
It's really really interesting. And I want to start um
by talking through prohibition. I think that's a good area
to pick up this story. Lord knows the story goes
back further, which we will. But during Prohibition in Um,
(04:01):
this was a drink commonly served in gentleman's parlors. Well,
I shouldn't say during I should say before prohibition. This
was a drink served in gentleman's parlors and women pretty
much didn't weren't allowed in there. We're not showing their
face especially ladies. Ladies didn't show their face there. So
what kind of ladies were there were? There were a
(04:23):
particular think of like um Boardwalk Empire. Right. The women
who were in gentlemen's clubs were professionals, you know what
I mean? Girls, They were working girls. So these were
there was a very strong association between a whiskey drink,
which is pretty much exclusively served in bars and gentleman's
parlors and prostitution. So the connection of sin was very
(04:47):
easy for people to make during Prohibition because it was
easy to say, you know, this is the liquor of
the devil, and this is associated with loose women, and
if you wanted to be a nice lady, this wasn't
the kind of drink that you would ever be around, um,
which I think is a big part of the reason
that it was associated for gentleman's only terrain. That's so
(05:10):
interesting because I hear a lot of like even today,
I hear a lot of women say things like, oh,
dark liquors, like the idea of like a drink like
vodka gin being like a drink for yeah, it's like
more more yeah. And this I love board rock Empire,
so I'm biased on that front too. I keep thinking
of boardo empower because during Prohibition, bootleggers were like the
(05:32):
black market was big because no one really stopped drinking,
or very few people actually stopped drinking. It just became
illegal um, which we should talk about legalization and another
department at some point about that too. But so what's
interesting here is and this is a quote, um from
is it the and pr article? I think I wrote,
(05:54):
I didn't write, I read. Um. Prostitutes were, in fact
some of the biggest powerhouse saleswomen in the United States. Right.
So John's as they call them, would come in and
the prostitutes would start getting them liquored up in these gentlemen's,
which makes sense if you're trying to make money and like,
you know, if you're a girl who like dances that thing.
(06:17):
During this time, prostitutes legally sold whiskey and earned significant
commissions for their brothels that they worked in at the time.
So in New York City in the eighteen fifties, for instance,
women made more than two million a year in liquor sales,
just close close, but not quite as big as the
three million that they were making four sex. Right. So yeah,
(06:40):
but it's like it's interesting to have a two kind
of like they would go hand in hand exactly. And
so this comes right out of this fascinating Atlantic article
about women making whiskey. And you know, back in the day,
this of course caught the attention of the temperance movement ladies,
who are the actually you know, social acceptable ladies who
(07:02):
played a key role in prohibition from thirty three. Um
and during this time, you know, bootleggers also made a
ton of cash from the selling of whiskey. Many of
the leading bootleggers were, in fact women. I love that. Okay,
somebody needs to. I don't watch board up a show
(07:23):
about lady lady bootleggers. I would watch that. Mu, you're
really appreciating this whiskey. It's really good. It's rye whiskey,
which is not usually my bag. I'm more of a
bourbon girl. But I have to you know, I have
to expand my horizons. I have to expand my palette.
It's really quite lovely. It's nice, it's smooth. It's a
(07:44):
blend of two different kinds of whiskey, which we'll talk
about more. But uh, what I found fascinating here to
go back to the bootlegging component. Did you need something? Okay,
give me, give me it up. Up, I'm doing it
all right, kudos miss uh miss bridget hitting the hitting
the sluss. So the reason lady bootleggers, it's it's really
(08:12):
I don't smooth. Yeah, definitely. Um. The reason lady bootleggers
were so instrumental in that very illicit enterprise was because
police officers could not search them, right. That was considered
rude for a police officer to search a lady. And
so if you're a lady, you know, doing something illicit,
(08:32):
you know, you might not get searched, right. And I
think at some point they even said it was illegal. Yeah,
so searching a woman who was driving a car alone
was actually illegal. So it was like a social mora
was it was a taboo thing to do to begin with,
but especially if they were driving alone, you didn't have
the right to search their cars. Hello, I would have
a whole team of women for hal and my my,
(08:54):
my bootleg liquor. All. Well, what's interesting is how these
women really made a rule that's like grounded benevolent sexism
work for them, Right, This idea that like like you
can't like you can't like you know, offend this woman's
delicates and because she's alone, and they're like, oh cool
that anything that like that like like uses that in
(09:15):
a subversive way, uses the rules that are meant to
keep in their place. I love that. I think it's fascinating.
And Minick, who wrote this great book, like one of
the leading and most recent books on women in Whiskey
says that at one point, female bootleggers out sold men
five to one. So like this was a real time
(09:35):
for wealth creation for women in this tawdry, illicit, illegal industry. Yeah.
So if that's the case, then like, why do you
think that we associate it so much with masculinity today. Well,
those were women who were breaking the norm, who were
taboo and were other you know, for their industry for sure.
But I also think that over the years, especially in
(09:55):
the eighties, right, the whiskey drink was reserved for business dealing.
I weren't really a lot of women in the C
suite who were powerbrokers slinging whiskey around. That started to
change in the nineties and beyond, when more women were
in positions of power. We think of the Whiskey Summit,
(10:15):
the President Obama, McConnell, McConnell, No, it was the supertan
one good Nord what's his name. He retired because he cried. Bainner,
he retired because he cried. He retired and he cried.
I thought it was really right now, I think, guys,
(10:38):
I'm not kidding. I'm such a lightweight, Like this is
not can't can't confirm. I may or may not be
at least half drunk by now. I've had like three
steps of whiskey. Um, that's good stuff. Yeah, yeah, no, No,
not to hate on Bainner for crying. I thought that
was actually one of the coolest things he's ever done,
is crying public often, which he did frequently. I can't
(10:59):
quite remember if it was ch McConnell or him. Probably
McConnell because it's from Kentucky. He's from Kentucky, which, by
the way, is where bourbon comes from. Bourbon is the
American whiskey that's directly American, so you know you're drinking
American if you're drink that's a difference between bourbon whiskey,
which I did not know. I've been I've been sort
of lost on that for a while, right, And it's
(11:19):
it's ingredients and spelling can change in the word whiskey,
and some of its Scotch is made with malten barley,
while bourbon is actually distilled from corn also, so it's
not scotch we're talking about whiskey, But in terms of bourbon,
it's especially in the US of A. Um, what are
you talking about? Oh, I think this is where I
(11:40):
wanted to take a quick break anyhoo. Anyway, so I
think it's fascinating to know there's this real political and
gendered history of like women and whiskey have this bipolar
relationship over time. During and leading up to prohibition, you know,
only very bad, socially unacceptable women were associated with the layer.
(12:03):
And after prohibition it took like a long time for
women to be in positions of power and then become
more and more um, you know, freely associated with whiskey.
But it's still like that connotation of masculinity or bad
women in it injures. And I think what's cool is
(12:24):
um that's changing now, which we're going to talk about
in a second. But also that's not where whiskey originated from,
when women were hugely involved in the original um whiskey
story in the United States. And we're going to talk
about that when we come back from a quick water break.
But in the meantime, let's hear a few words from
(12:44):
our sponsors, and we're back from a little whiskey ber
I mean water, um, And what I think is fascinating
is that even though during and after Prohibition, this sort
(13:06):
of masculine reputation and connotation has stuck around when it
comes to whiskey. What's important to note that Fred Minnick,
who is the author of Whiskey Women, The Untold Story
of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch and Irish whiskey, um
is that in early colonial days, before industrial distillers were popular, quote,
(13:28):
women were the first distillers. And again that's so interesting
because you know, women of an integral in the in
the whiskey business for a long time, and like it
wouldn't be what it is today with that women, and
yet they be still sort of it's still thought of
as very masculine, you know. Well, it just goes to
show you how social narrative, like public narrative, the stories
we tell about good woman, bad women, um thore and
(13:53):
like shaking that off if something is associated with but
like bad women, that is like that will has staying. Well,
it's a reframing of what whiskey means. So in the
Prohibition era whiskey mint, prostitute, whiskey, ment bar, gentleman salon,
whatever you want to call it, whiskey whiskey was associated
with sin. And if anyone's ever seen guys and dolls.
(14:14):
I was in that musical rendition in my middle school years.
That was my introduction to prohibition. I was like I
had one lunch, okay, I was like one of the
girls that followed out a later round um Man. That
was a fun production. Though shout out to Southland High
schools or not even high school, Timothy Edwards Middle School collection.
(14:36):
So here's the deal, right, So during Prohibition and after Prohibition,
that was the association. That was a context that we
gave whiskey. But back in the colonial days, whiskey equalled
pain killer, Like whiskey was a medicine, so women distilled
in their kitchens used whiskey as a basic household pain killer.
So if you had a scratch or a sore ear
(14:58):
or a headache, Mini say is a woman would give
you whiskey. It was the title little or the ivory
profen of the day. And this is really how one
of the ways that I'm really familiar with Sissy because
I have I even though I'm not a huge whiskey drinker,
I always keep a little like Maker's mark in the
house because I do, yeah, I do think, And there's
like people are going to write it and be like, oh,
there's no scientific evidence. I do think that if you're
(15:20):
feeling sick, whiskey does help, Like if you have like
a hot toddy, which f I I was a college
nickname of mine because my last name is Todd. I
love that. I'm gonna stick around. I have a shirt.
I have a shirt that's it's airbrushed on the back.
But yeah, so you know if you're if you have
a cold, you have a hot toddy. I had a
(15:41):
toothache recently, really bad toothache, and someone was like, you'se
a little whiskey, Like they say that like, um, back
in the early days, this is a bad child ring advice,
but like when a kid is yeah, it's no child abuse.
Don't do that. Don't don't follow that advice. But yeah,
I think that people like I have been a long
per of the medicinal and the household uses of whiskey.
(16:03):
There's so many parallels to weed right now, this is
a different episode. My mom, the registered nurse UM used
to be given by her mother and recommend for me,
like whiskey as a cramp aide. So was it connected
to your period? Really? As like so sorry you're having cramps.
Here's a little bit of whiskey. And it's interesting, how like,
(16:24):
how like that is so feminized, right, like all of
these things. It's like, oh, like a soothing cure, like
a eight your cramps, Like it's so feminized, and yet
still persists this myth of like, well it's changed, isn't
it fascinating? How how like totally bipolar? Our relationship with
women and whiskey has been over the years. So even
though like you were considered basically a whore if you
(16:45):
drink whiskey in the Prohibition era, in the late seventeen hundreds,
American women were distilling so much at home that Fred
Minnick is convinced he found the earliest form of dating
site in old newspaper ads, in which men would literally
put out an ad for their wife. They will be
like searching for a wife, looking the classifieds, and some
(17:07):
of them specified a preference for women who could brew
beer or distill spirits, of course, in addition to being
able to make clothes and churned butter and all that
gets I love it, like hilarious if you're a woman
who makes good whiskey, get ammy, right, Like, I love that.
It's hilarious. Yeah, put that in your profile on Tinder
or on match or whatever, and see how, see how
if it still work. So it's funny that like whiskey
(17:30):
had this very domestic connotation for a long time until
it was reversed and we have been coming back from
the Prohibition era reputation that whiskey had of being reserved
for gentlemen only for a long time. I think that's
sort of fascinating to say that that's the moment we're
in right now. For me, I personally got into whiskey
(17:52):
while on the campaign trail, which by the way, it
was dominated by men, like mostly male colleagues. So back
in two thousand and eight, I first started to drink
whiskey just straight up on the rocks or meat and
discovered just how broad of a palette that liquor can have.
It's not like this disgusting medicine to throwback, not that
note you rating it, but like actually there is like
(18:16):
if you have you can sip it. And I think,
like I have a similar kind of take when it
comes to whiskey and sort of the role that it's
played in politics. Like I have this memory of um
when I was working at the New Organizing Institute putting
on a boot camp for activists and organizers on the left.
One of our trainers, who was just like high up,
like ran this very very important campaign, came and brought
(18:39):
all the stuff to make like, um, Manhattan's that's whiskey, right,
yeah yeah, and so like it's like whiskey and vermouth. Yeah.
So like was like chaking out these like really fancy Manhattans.
These people were like cranking out there like activist emails.
And I call it like a Grandpa cocktail because it
totally has an old, leathery masculine reputation. Um, but guess what, bridget,
(19:01):
guess who's bringing bourbon back? Ladies? The ladies. So we're
gonna take a quick break, but when we come back,
we'll tell you just how powerful the female demographic has
been in the remarketing of and the renaissance behind whiskey
here in the U s of A. But first a
quick word from our sponsors. So we're back, and we
(19:30):
are doing our research as diligently as we can here
to try and understand why and how whiskey has become
just as popular as it has amongst women in particular. So,
in an article from NPR from so the renaissance really
started to take off around Uh, it was reported that
(19:50):
worldwide sales of American made whiskey grew faster than any
other distilled spirit in the past year, at a rate
of about seven percent, which is huge. It is according
to people in the BIZ um in the Bourbon biz
and Americans in general are sapping it up. We drink
four million cases of domestically produced whiskey. Again, this is
(20:12):
I have a feeling the numbers are even bigger now, um,
which is nearly a thirty percent increase from a decade ago.
But notably, remember when we said earlier in this episode,
like people in positions in which they're brokering power agreements
tend to drink this beverage. And therefore it would make
sense that in the nineties and eighties and before, there
(20:34):
weren't that many women represented at those that like the
women women working women have been and like other ranks
of power and so like. Yeah, well back in the
nineties only about fifteen percent of whiskey drinkers were female. Now, uh,
that represents about we are thirty seven percent, So that's
a huge spike. I know, are we alone in this?
(20:55):
I hope not so. Tell us if you're a whiskey
drinker out there, tell me what your favorite is. Remember
when I was consulting in a political environment, Um, it's
so funny. This was now. I would, on occasion have
the so terribly difficult work of receiving gifts from some
(21:17):
of my biggest clients. Like I know, it was so hard.
So the trend in d C was cupcakes. How many
boxes of sprinkles? Cupcakes? Canna can I gal eat before?
You're like enough with the cupcakes and you're talking to
someone who's got the biggest feet tooth in the world.
(21:39):
But I remember I was at an event with some
of my vendors and clients I was working with, and
I kind of gave them grief for sending me another
box of cupcakes. I was like, yeah, you gotta cool
with the cupcakes. So what do they do? They say,
what do you like? And I said, I'm really into
bourbon right now, And that next week in the office
shows up a beautiful glow glass of lanterns, which to
(22:03):
date is one of my faves. They could have done.
They could have like really like double cross to you
and made you cupcakes with whiskey in them because you
can do that drunken cupcake. What a cool combination of
things like you can't go wrong, you can't go wrong,
and it's sort of I find it fascinating how much
um whiskey has become now this like cool girl drink.
(22:24):
It isn't annoyingly meta for me to say that, am
I calling you? You're basically complimenting yourself. I mean I
can dive into this a little bit, like certainly, like
you know, you think of women like Christina Hendrix from Madman.
Mila Kunas has a very like like like sensual Jim
Beam honey whatever. It's got a very sensual ad where
she's talking about like the Devil's cut, like you know,
(22:46):
you know, talking about and people think she's like the
people think she's like a foxy babe. Yeah, she's starting
after her Hillary. Also, I'm going to spling it back,
which is part of the reason I think the rattam
Rye Whiskey got its name. Of course it also can
man after the elections, so I think it was someone's
way of making the world just a little better, a
little bit brighter for all of us whiskey love and
gals out there and Lady Gaga and even Duchess Kate
(23:09):
is known to like whiskey. So there's this connotation of
high powered women everywhere savoring their whiskey. But isn't it
a little bit of like cool girl where it's like, oh, like,
she's not. I'm not like other ladies. Keep your keep
your like Gin and Tonic ladies. That's for that's for
girly girls. Or I'll have a teenie. Yeah. In the
nineties when like como cosmopolitics, what was that? Sex? Cosma
(23:31):
is so big and now this is like the anti cop.
It's so true. I'm hitting women against women and I
I always hate that. And also I'm someone like I
The first of all, I'm a big drinker. I love
to drink, like, not not like in a problematic way,
I although like but no, so I I just enjoy
going at drinking. And I'm someone who like I'm I
(23:53):
know a lot about beer and a beer. I've like
Ben quietly sitting on the sidelines of many a beer converzation,
and I'm like, uh huh, I know a lot of
that beer. Um. But also like I so like, I like,
I enjoy a fancy beer. I enjoy a fancy like cocktail,
but I'm also like I could get down with like
you know and Apple team, Like I'm not above that,
Like I just I don't like the idea of like
(24:14):
I don't like that either. Um. I have a funny
story about that. Once I was in Vegas with friends
and there was there was this group of like very
like Vegas style like girls, like you know, like we
girls like girls, like a large group of girls like
out on the town. And they went up to the
bartender and they were like, can we get a was
it um RBC? And the bartender was like, what's an RBC?
(24:36):
And they were like, oh, you don't know, it's Red
Bull Cranberry vodka. And so we were like, oh, it's
like I found this interaction so hilarious and so to
kind of like and this is like me not being
a great either, so I was a little judge. So
then making fun of these girls all night, we were
like ordering this drink to be funny. And then later
we realized we're ordering them because we like them. We're
(24:56):
not We're not like it's we started as like mocking.
Then we were like, oh, these girls are like back
and on bored with Red bullet mixed with any kind
of alcohol because that is an upper and a downer.
And then my heart does not like like red Bull
belongs in the trash, like your heart does not want
to play that game. But yes, no, I think it's
I think it's interesting as much as it is problematic
(25:17):
to say, Like there's this Elite Daily article, which Elite Daily,
I mean, gag, I'm sorry, Like I want to roll
my eyes pretty much every time I click on a link,
but I did it for the podcast. And they have
an article called ten reasons to always go out with
a girl who drinks whiskey, and like, whiskey drinking girls
are so cool because they're not like other girls. And
then they like sort of talk up the tomboys thing
(25:40):
and how it's sexy and mysterious and all of these
like bizarre connotations, which is basically saying, ladies, whiskey is
associated with power, which is fair to say because that
is historically true. So women who drink whiskey tend to
be more powerful, but I think the better way or
tend to like do so because there's this powerful connotation,
but that doesn't mean anything. Actually, that's that's a connotation
(26:03):
it's a reputation, it might not be at all factual.
The better way to do it is what Women Who
Whiskey is doing, like clubs, social clubs for women. These
social clubs for women who want to explore the um,
you know, the medium. I don't know, like who want
to get into whiskey describe whiskey as a medium as
a medium for power. That is the most DC thing.
(26:27):
But who want to get into whiskey but might be
a little intimidated because it is kind of a bold
drink choice. Um, They've got meetup groups, They've got a
cool Instagram account, They've got like a whole community cropping
up around with women and whiskey. And my favorite part
of the whiskey renaissance that's being led in great part
to women drinking whiskey more than ever before, is the
(26:50):
fact that women are also stepping into leadership position distilleries
and from an entrepreneurial standpoint. So we've got Becky Harriet Harris,
the co founder of Catactin Creek Distillery in Virginia. Also,
it's very much around the d C here. I have
to say, like that is pretty cool, I mean decent
politics kind of like is like Fueled by Whiskey. I
(27:11):
believe right, We've got Mayor Meriditi Marettiti Grelli of Wigel
or Wiggle whiskey. Is it called wiggle whiskey? I would
totally drink that. She's from Pittsburgh, um w I g
l e just to get that straight whiskey in Pittsburgh.
And we've got big name spirits. Companies are also filling
(27:32):
top spots with women like Maryann barnes Um, the master
taster now at Brown Brown Foreman's Bourbon Whiskey Brands. Nicole
Austin has found her niche is whiskey consultant. She's also
the master blender at King's County Distillery in Brooklyn. And
we've got to give a shout out to the two
female co founders of Republic Restoratives, which makes the delicious
(27:54):
whiskey that we're enjoying today, Rod and Rye Right, which
is run and owned by Pia and Rachel So Pierre
Carusone and Rachel Gardner. And I love this article in
the Washingtonian um that came out I think in March
saying d S Distiller names whiskey after Hillary Clinton. And
it's not just after Hillary Clinton. Notably it's about it's her.
(28:15):
It's named after her maiden name, Rottom, which I think
is a powerman definitely. Um. So they had already been
known to Hillary also lives been known to throw back
the occasional whiskey. So they came up with this idea
for Rottom Rye, which they launched it around the inauguration.
And I have been trying to get my hands on this,
by the way, for a long time. Good Now, um
(28:37):
my bias here is that Like, I've been trying to
find a bottle, but it's been really hard to find
because it flew off the shelves. Um. And it's not
just named well, it's also blended. Well. It's a cool
like the combination of one year old Rye and three
and a half year old Rye from Tennessee. So it's
the tagline is a selection of whiskeys that are stronger
together than and And the best part is a five
(29:02):
percent of their proceeds from the bottles go to Emily's List.
I love it. So by buying a bottle this whiskey,
you're actually going to support um pro choice democratic women
in politicis is my favorite way to support any women. Yeah,
like I will gladly, um get behind rotten rye so
and I can't know a test, but it tastes delicious,
very smooth. If you's put us up to this, I
(29:25):
think I'm saying that, like I'm able to drink this
and not think of the night that I ended my
night vomiting because whiskey enjoying it profusely. Um. Well, I
think we've arrived at the end here. I hope you've
left with a greater appreciation I certainly have with women's
(29:45):
like fascinating historical relationship with whiskey. And know that this
renaissance of bourbon and of whiskey drinks here in the US,
you know, or it is in no small part due
to women. So women as consumers, women as distillers, women
as leaders in large spirits companies. More power to you.
Um and really, in so many ways, this is us
(30:07):
coming full circle when it comes to like women were
at the at the starting block in terms of whiskey
here in the U s of A. And we're back.
We're just being good patriots. We're back, are being good patriots.
I love it. We would love to hear about your
experiences with whiskey, have you you know, have you been
judged by drinking it? Like? Do you feel more powerful
when you drink it? Who are your favorite whiskey drinking
(30:28):
ladies on TV? If you want to know all of
this and more, snap us a pick off you drinking
your favorite whiskey or your favorite bottle whiskey. You can
tag us on Instagram at stuff mom Never Told You, UM,
Tweet us about your whiskey habits at mom stuff podcast,
or send us an email just you know, with your
favorite If you're distiller, your favorite whiskey recipe or any combination,
(30:49):
They're in mom stuff at how stuff works dot com.
And as always, of course, just like Bridget and I,
we want to encourage you to drink responsibly. Oh yeah
we should say that, um, but drink boldly, my friends.
So cheers to all the women who love whiskey. H
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