May 19, 2018 • 37 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. Join Annney and Bridget as they talk about why this episode is one of their faves.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Bridget and you're listening the stuff Bomb
never told you. And quick trigger warning for y'all. This
episode is about alcohol. So if that is something that
is tough for you or that you're struggling with, just no,
(00:27):
that's what we're talking about today. My good friend Andie
and I are taking a look back on some of
the episodes that we really liked, one of which with
women and Whiskey. I loved this one, Bridget. It was
so fun to hear you and Emily let loose a
little bit with your rottum rye which I and there's
a half a bottle in my apartment as we speak.
(00:48):
We can go have some. I you're gonna regret asking me.
I will be there. I am a big whiskey connoisseur,
but probably not really. I enjoy a lot of whiskey,
is what I'm trying to say. And I was really
interested in the history of it, and this episode did
not disappoint. Yeah. I had no idea that that whiskey
(01:11):
had such an amazing feminist history, so that was really
interesting to learn about. I also didn't know about the
history of whiskey and sex work, which was a complete surprise.
To me, that was really really interesting research. I also
just really liked drinking whiskey on the microphone that I
think it's okay to tell the listeners that you and
I are having a little bit of a drink right
now in studio. So if we sound a little lucy goosey,
(01:33):
that might be why I think it's fun. It's fun.
It's fun to go back and listen to that episode.
I feel like I remember it like it was yesterday. Yeah,
and it was such a joy to hear. And also
I love the right now there's Jane Walker. Have you
heard about this? Oh no, okay, Well, Johnny Walker has
(01:55):
introduced Jane Walker and different label, just a different label
on the product because they thought that women are intimidated
by whiskey, so they wanted to be like, hey, ladies, cool,
So it's the same product, it's a different label, just
Jane Walker. Yeah. How dumb? Did they think women are?
(02:15):
Pretty dumb? I would guess. But it's it's fascinating to
me that women were so instrumental in early whiskey, in
the making of and selling of, and transporting of. But
it has become this man's drink. It's seen that way
and I think when women drink whiskey, the perception is, oh,
(02:37):
she's a cool woman. She's a sexy, dark you know,
she's a cool girl. Exactly. They've got these whiskey commercials
on TV now with Mila Kunas, and in these commercials
it's Mila Kunas who is clearly like a sexy, beautiful woman,
and it's at the bar looking very mysterious. Another woman
is at the bar and she's and she looks at
a coaster that has a whiskey brand on it. I
think it's Johnny Walker Black, but I can't remember. And
(02:59):
Mila Kuna says it's not just a coaster, it's an invitation.
And the woman is like, oh, I should order a whiskey,
and then she looks up and Mila Kunas has gone,
was she ever there in the first place? Who knows? Yeah,
it's very again, it's so it's it's clearly clearly meant
to think that women who drink whiskey are mysterious. They're not.
(03:20):
They're not like perhaps they're magical in some way, right,
And that's obviously both. I mean, I drink whiskey, but
I drink all the things. It's like an equal opportunity. Yeah,
acting I enjoy a wide range of liquors, but I
will say that when I drink whiskey, when I order
(03:42):
it at a bar, there's usually at least one guy
that looks my way and gives me an assessing like
up and down, and then maybe a wink or something,
as if I've done some amazing thing by ordering this whiskey.
He's like, oh, you're all right, honey, Like what if
you had ordered a vacasoda? Like, oh, yeah, what a nag.
(04:07):
I don't want to be with her. She's not gonna
be any fun at all. And I personally am fascinated
with those kind of gendered food and drink items, like
women are traditionally associated with lighter, clearer alcohols and men
the darker kind. And when you think about I think
(04:29):
he talked about in the episode like mad Men, they
were drinking whiskey in their office and the women no
not allowed to participate in the claires only please Yeah,
I mean, are you a woman? Are not? And I
like your twenties lady accent. I am glad to hear
that because you'll be getting a lot of a lot
of doses of it, because I love doing it the
(04:50):
Transatlantic accent, is it? But I don't that association with
a woman who orders whiskey or are this darker drink
that women don't normally drink in quotes and then you
put all these kind of assumptions on her, and I
(05:11):
feel like one of them is she must um she'd
be good for for sex and nothing else. Yeah, that
is one of the perceptions that we put on women
who drink who drink whiskey, I think, Yeah, And it's
so kind of strange because, as you talk about in
this episode that you listeners are about to hear, uh,
women were so integral to bringing it to people who
(05:35):
were the women were the backbone of why we drink
whiskey today. Yeah, but it's somehow become lost from from us.
But I do think we are We're claiming it slowly. Yeah,
there are so many red women in whiskey in d C.
The Rotten Ride that we were just talking about wanting
to enjoy is made by a rad woman owned whiskey
(05:55):
distillery in DC called Republic Restoratives, where a proceed of
the whiskey all goes to m only list, which is
very cool. So yeah, you I do think that you
see a resurgence of women reclaiming our rightful spots in
the whiskey empire. Yes, and you're going to hear Emily
and Bridget unpack all of this so beautifully and a
little drunkenly yes, in the upcoming episode. So enjoy, cheers, cheers. Today,
(06:28):
we have the really challenging topic to cover for you
here today. We really went above and beyond just stretcher
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
(06:51):
we're here with a bottle of very nice whiskey and
we're gonna taste a little of it. So just know
that we found extra interesting today. That's why we are
sipping on a phenomenal bottle of Rodham Rye. You might
have heard this make the news. That's rod Him, as
in Hillary Rodham Clinton from the Republic Restoratives, a local
(07:12):
DC distillery that probably gifted us this beautiful bottle because
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
(07:35):
is struggling with alcoholism addiction, who is uh, you know,
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 catch the We'll catch on
(07:55):
the next one. Um. But for those of us who
I'm I'm so I'm biased on the episode. My bias
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 face. Well, okay, let me back up.
So I actually like whiskey. The reason why I don't
love whiskey now, it's because I like it too much.
You know, when you have a bad experience with an
(08:16):
alcohol and I'm like, so, I everyone has one. Yeah,
mine is like, and that's the thing is like when
I go to bars, I love a whiskey shot, Like like, yeah, shot,
I I still I rocket college style. I'm still doing
shots to Jamison. My god, Okay, we have a different
way of appreciating whiskey then, But she has a beer connoisseur,
just so you know, bridges like if we ever do
(08:37):
an episode on beer, it's gonna have me licked. Yea.
So this is a fun episode 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?
(09:01):
Like I think so, I think that we associate, Um,
I certainly associate whiskey with with masculinity. Oh you just
family just made a fade. 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 neat today, but like drinking
(09:23):
a glass of just bourbon, it feels like a Grandpa move. Yeah,
I mean to throw 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 o'clock,
like twelve o'clock. If I had a whiskey at noon
at work, I would need to go home sick. Right, Well,
is that not what we're doing? I mean it alright,
(09:45):
But um, here's the thing. There's a fascinating 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, um, this was a
(10:08):
drink commonly served in gentleman's parlors. What 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 associated with their particular think of like, um,
(10:32):
boardwalk Empire. Right, The women who were in gentlemen's clubs
were professionals, you know what I mean, 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
(10:53):
sin was very 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 gentlemen's only terrain.
(11:16):
That's so 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 Empire because during Prohibition, bootleggers were, like the
(11:39):
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 it the NPR
(12:00):
article I think I wrote, 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
(12:21):
a girl who like dances that thing. 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
(12:43):
three million that they were making four sex. Right. So yeah,
but it's like it's interesting to have a two kind
of like thet 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
(13:04):
ladies who are the actually, you know, socially acceptable ladies
who 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,
(13:26):
somebody needs to mean I don't watch board a show
about lady boot lady bootleggers. I would watch that. Would
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.
(13:47):
It's really quite lovely. It's nice, it's smooth, it's it's
a 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 to you need
something I want, okay, give me, give me peared up up.
I'm doing it. All right, kudos miss uh, miss bridget
(14:09):
hitting the hit miss lust. So the reason lady bootleggers,
it's it's really 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.
(14:33):
That was considered rude for a police officer to search
a lady. And so if you're a lady, you know,
doing something illicit, 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,
(14:56):
you didn't have the right to search their car. Hello,
I would have a whole t team of women who
hall and my, my my boot like liquor. All. Well,
what's interesting is how these women really made a rule
that's like ground that in 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 by searching
because she's alone and they're like, oh cool that anything
(15:19):
that like that, like like uses that in a subversive way,
uses the rules that are meant to keep in their place.
I love that. I think it's fascinating. And Minic, 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.
(15:40):
So like this was a real time 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? While
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
(16:02):
the eighties, right the whiskey drink was reserved for business dealings.
There weren't really a lot of women in the C
suite who were power brokers 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,
(16:22):
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 right now, I think, you guys, I'm
(16:46):
not kidding. I'm such a lightweight like this is not
I can't can't confirm she is. 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 bain or were 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
(17:06):
quite remember. Was Mitch McConnell or him, Probably McConnell because
think 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 drinking that's the 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 it's ingredients
(17:27):
and spelling can change in the word whiskey and some
of its scotch is made with malted 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 were we
talking about? Wish? I think this is where I wanted
(17:48):
to take a quick break anyhow. Anyway, so I think
it's fascinating to know there's this real political and gendered
history of like women and whiskey have this bi polar
relationship over time. During and leading up to prohibition, you know,
only very bad, socially unacceptable women were associated with the lawyer,
(18:10):
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,
it endures. And I think what's cool is um that's
(18:32):
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 our sponsors,
(19:01):
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 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
(19:22):
of Whiskey Women, The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon,
Scotch and Irish whiskey, um, is that in early colonial days,
before industrial distilleries were popular, quote, 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
(19:43):
long time and like it wouldn't be what it is
today with that women. And yet they we still sort
of it's still thought thought of as very masculine. You know. Well,
it just goes to show you how social narrative, public narrative,
the stories we tell about good woman bad women, Um,
those are they are and like shaking that off if
something is associated with like bad women, that is like
(20:05):
that will staying well, it's a reframing of what whiskey means.
So in the Prohibition era, whiskey ment 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,
I was in that musical rendition in my middle school years.
(20:26):
That was my introduction to Prohibition was being I was
like I had one lung. 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 collection.
So here's the deal, right, So during Prohibition and after Prohibition,
(20:46):
that was the association, that was the context that we
gave whiskey. But back in the colonial days, whiskey equaled
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
or a headache, Minnick says, a woman would give you whiskey.
(21:08):
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
feeling sick, whiskey does help. Like if you have like
(21:30):
a hot Toddy, which fy I was a college nickname
of mine because my last name is Todd. I love that.
I'm going to stick around. I have a shirt. I
have a shirt that's it's airbrushed on the back. Does
your how I love it? But yeah, so you know,
if you're if you have a cold, you have a
hot Toddy. I had a toothache recently, really bad toothache,
and someone was like, use a little whiskey. Like they
(21:52):
say that like, um, back in the early days, this
is a bad child ring advice, but like what a
kid is passive iron Yeah, it's now child abuse for
the don't do that. Don't follow that advice. But yeah,
I think that people like I have been a long
proponent of the medicinal and the household uses of whiskey.
There's so many parallels to weed right now that I
(22:12):
want to talk about, but 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 connected to your period really
as like, well, sorry, you're having cramps. Here's a little
bit of whiskey. And it's interesting, how like, how like
that is so feminized, right, like all of these things.
(22:35):
It's like, oh, like a soothing cure, like an eight
for your cramps. Like it's so feminized and yet still
persists this myth of like, well it's changed, isn't that 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 drink whiskey
in the Prohibition era in the late seventeen hundreds, American
(22:56):
women were distilling so much at home that Fredman 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 of them
specified a preference for women who could brew beer or
(23:19):
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.
Y'all put that in your profile on Tinder or on
match or whatever, and see how, see how if it's
still work. So it's funny that, like, whiskey had this
very domestic connotation for a long time until it was reversed,
(23:44):
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 while on the
campaign trail, which, by the way, it was dominated by men,
like mostly mail colleagues. So back in two thousand and eight,
(24:06):
I first started to drink whiskey just straight up on
the rocks or neat and discovered just how broad of
a palette that liquor can have. Right, It's not like
this disgusting medicine to throw back, not that note yourting it,
but like actually there is like if you have you
can sip it. And I think, like I have a
(24:26):
similar kind of take when it comes to a 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 like very very important campaign, came and brought all
(24:47):
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,
(25:07):
bridget guess who's bringing bourbon back? Ladies? The ladies. 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 US of A. But first
a quick word from our sponsors. So we're back and
(25:37):
we 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
(25:57):
that 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 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 I
(26:19):
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
(26:41):
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 it's increased. Yeah, well, back
in the nineties only about fifteen percent of whiskey drinkers
were female. Now that represents about we are thirty seven percent,
So that's a huge spike. You, I know, are we
(27:02):
alone in this? I hope not so. Tell us if
you're a whiskey drinker out there, tell me what your
favorite is. I remember when I was consulting in a
political environment. Um, it's so funny. This wasve Now. I
would on occasion have the so terribly difficult work of
receiving gifts from some of my biggest clients, like some
(27:27):
of my biggest I know, it was so hard. So
the trend in d C was cupcakes. How many boxes
of sprinkles cupcakes can can I gal eat before you're
like enough with the cupcakes and you're talking to someone
who's got the biggest sweet tooth in the world. But
I remember I was at an event with some of
(27:49):
my vendors and clients so 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 the next week in the office
shows up a beautiful globe glass of lanterns, which to
(28:10):
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.
(28:31):
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,
(28:53):
you know, talking about and people think she's like the
people think she's like a foxy babe. She's starting after
her um. Hillary also has man to sling it back,
which is part of the reason I think the rattam
Rye whiskey got its name. Of course, it also came
out 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
(29:16):
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 other girl. I'm not like other ladies. Keep
your keep your like Gin and Tonic ladies. That's for
that's for girly girls or tee. Yeah. In the nineties
when like Cosmopolitics, what was that show? Sex Cosma is
(29:39):
so big and now this is like the anti cos
it's so true. I'm just hitting women against women. I
I always hate that. And also I'm someone like I
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 just enjoy going at drinking and
I'm someone who like I'm I know a lot about
(30:02):
beer and a lot of that's like Ben quietly sitting
on the sidelines of many a beer conversation 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 teami, Like I'm not above that. Like I
just I don't like the idea of like I don't
(30:22):
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 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? And they were like, oh,
(30:44):
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 beatin so I
was a little judge. So then making fun of these
girls all night, we were like ordering this dream to
be funny. And then later we realize we're ordering them
because we like them. We're not We're not like it's
(31:05):
being started as like mocking with then we were like, oh,
these girls are like and I 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 a red bull belongs in the trash, Like your
heart does not want to play that game. But yes,
you no, I think it's I think it's interesting as
much as it is problematic to say, like there's this
(31:25):
Elite Daily article which Elite Daily, I mean, gag, I'm sorry,
it's 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, saying and how it's
(31:49):
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 it's a connotation, it's a reputation.
(32:11):
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
broker that is the most DC thing. But who want
(32:34):
to get into whiskey but might be a little intimidated
because it is kind of a bold drink choice. Um,
They've got meet up 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
(32:54):
whiskey more than ever before. Is the fact that women
are also still being into leadership positions distilleries and from
an entrepreneurial standpoint. So we've got Becky Harriet Harris, the
co founder of Catoctin 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
(33:16):
of like is like fueled by whiskey. I believe right.
We've got Mayor Meridity 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 top spots with
(33:40):
women like Maryann barnes Um, the master taster now at
Brown Brown Foreman's Bourbon Whiskey Brands. Nicole Austin has found
her Niche Has 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 store it which makes the delicious whiskey that
(34:02):
we're enjoying today, rodom 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 DT Distiller names
whiskey after Hillary Clinton. And it's not just after Hillary
Clinton notably, it's about it's her. It's named after her
(34:24):
maiden name, Rottom, which I think is a powermiut definitely.
Um So, they had already been known to Hillary also
lis 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've been trying
to get my hands on this, by the way, for
a long time. Good thing you have a podcast now.
(34:44):
Um 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 the best part is a five
(35:09):
percent of their proceeds from the bottles go to Emily's list.
I love it. So by buying a bottle It's 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'm
(35:33):
saying that, like I'm able to drink this and not
think of the nights that I ended my night vomiting
because of too much whiskey. That means I really 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 like fascinating historical relationship with whiskey.
(35:56):
And know that this renaissance of bourbon and with ski
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 coming full circle when it comes to
like women were at the at the starting block in
(36:19):
terms of whiskey here in the US 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 ladies on TV? You want to know
all of this and more? Snap us a pick off
you drinking your favorite whiskey or your favorite bottle whiskey?
(36:42):
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 there in mom stuff at how stuff works dot
com and as all always of course, just like Bridget
and I, we want to encourage you to drink responsibly.
(37:04):
Oh yeah, I should say that. Um, but drink boldly,
my friends. So cheers to all the women who love whiskey.
Hey, this is Bridget and you're listening the stuff Bomb
never told you. And quick trigger warning for y'all. This
episode is about alcohol. So if that is something that
is tough for you or that you're struggling with, just no,
(00:27):
that's what we're talking about today. My good friend Andie
and I are taking a look back on some of
the episodes that we really liked, one of which with
women and Whiskey. I loved this one, Bridget. It was
so fun to hear you and Emily let loose a
little bit with your rottum rye which I and there's
a half a bottle in my apartment as we speak.
(00:48):
We can go have some. I you're gonna regret asking me.
I will be there. I am a big whiskey connoisseur,
but probably not really. I enjoy a lot of whiskey,
is what I'm trying to say. And I was really
interested in the history of it, and this episode did
not disappoint. Yeah. I had no idea that that whiskey
(01:11):
had such an amazing feminist history, so that was really
interesting to learn about. I also didn't know about the
history of whiskey and sex work, which was a complete surprise.
To me, that was really really interesting research. I also
just really liked drinking whiskey on the microphone that I
think it's okay to tell the listeners that you and
I are having a little bit of a drink right
now in studio. So if we sound a little lucy goosey,
(01:33):
that might be why I think it's fun. It's fun.
It's fun to go back and listen to that episode.
I feel like I remember it like it was yesterday. Yeah,
and it was such a joy to hear. And also
I love the right now there's Jane Walker. Have you
heard about this? Oh no, okay, Well, Johnny Walker has
(01:55):
introduced Jane Walker and different label, just a different label
on the product because they thought that women are intimidated
by whiskey, so they wanted to be like, hey, ladies, cool,
So it's the same product, it's a different label, just
Jane Walker. Yeah. How dumb? Did they think women are?
(02:15):
Pretty dumb? I would guess. But it's it's fascinating to
me that women were so instrumental in early whiskey, in
the making of and selling of, and transporting of. But
it has become this man's drink. It's seen that way
and I think when women drink whiskey, the perception is, oh,
(02:37):
she's a cool woman. She's a sexy, dark you know,
she's a cool girl. Exactly. They've got these whiskey commercials
on TV now with Mila Kunas, and in these commercials
it's Mila Kunas who is clearly like a sexy, beautiful woman,
and it's at the bar looking very mysterious. Another woman
is at the bar and she's and she looks at
a coaster that has a whiskey brand on it. I
think it's Johnny Walker Black, but I can't remember. And
(02:59):
Mila Kuna says it's not just a coaster, it's an invitation.
And the woman is like, oh, I should order a whiskey,
and then she looks up and Mila Kunas has gone,
was she ever there in the first place? Who knows? Yeah,
it's very again, it's so it's it's clearly clearly meant
to think that women who drink whiskey are mysterious. They're not.
(03:20):
They're not like perhaps they're magical in some way, right,
And that's obviously both. I mean, I drink whiskey, but
I drink all the things. It's like an equal opportunity. Yeah,
acting I enjoy a wide range of liquors, but I
will say that when I drink whiskey, when I order
(03:42):
it at a bar, there's usually at least one guy
that looks my way and gives me an assessing like
up and down, and then maybe a wink or something,
as if I've done some amazing thing by ordering this whiskey.
He's like, oh, you're all right, honey, Like what if
you had ordered a vacasoda? Like, oh, yeah, what a nag.
(04:07):
I don't want to be with her. She's not gonna
be any fun at all. And I personally am fascinated
with those kind of gendered food and drink items, like
women are traditionally associated with lighter, clearer alcohols and men
the darker kind. And when you think about I think
(04:29):
he talked about in the episode like mad Men, they
were drinking whiskey in their office and the women no
not allowed to participate in the claires only please Yeah,
I mean, are you a woman? Are not? And I
like your twenties lady accent. I am glad to hear
that because you'll be getting a lot of a lot
of doses of it, because I love doing it the
(04:50):
Transatlantic accent, is it? But I don't that association with
a woman who orders whiskey or are this darker drink
that women don't normally drink in quotes and then you
put all these kind of assumptions on her, and I
(05:11):
feel like one of them is she must um she'd
be good for for sex and nothing else. Yeah, that
is one of the perceptions that we put on women
who drink who drink whiskey, I think, Yeah, And it's
so kind of strange because, as you talk about in
this episode that you listeners are about to hear, uh,
women were so integral to bringing it to people who
(05:35):
were the women were the backbone of why we drink
whiskey today. Yeah, but it's somehow become lost from from us.
But I do think we are We're claiming it slowly. Yeah,
there are so many red women in whiskey in d C.
The Rotten Ride that we were just talking about wanting
to enjoy is made by a rad woman owned whiskey
(05:55):
distillery in DC called Republic Restoratives, where a proceed of
the whiskey all goes to m only list, which is
very cool. So yeah, you I do think that you
see a resurgence of women reclaiming our rightful spots in
the whiskey empire. Yes, and you're going to hear Emily
and Bridget unpack all of this so beautifully and a
little drunkenly yes, in the upcoming episode. So enjoy, cheers, cheers. Today,
(06:28):
we have the really challenging topic to cover for you
here today. We really went above and beyond just stretcher
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
(06:51):
we're here with a bottle of very nice whiskey and
we're gonna taste a little of it. So just know
that we found extra interesting today. That's why we are
sipping on a phenomenal bottle of Rodham Rye. You might
have heard this make the news. That's rod Him, as
in Hillary Rodham Clinton from the Republic Restoratives, a local
(07:12):
DC distillery that probably gifted us this beautiful bottle because
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
(07:35):
is struggling with alcoholism addiction, who is uh, you know,
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 catch the We'll catch on
(07:55):
the next one. Um. But for those of us who
I'm I'm so I'm biased on the episode. My bias
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 face. Well, okay, let me back up.
So I actually like whiskey. The reason why I don't
love whiskey now, it's because I like it too much.
You know, when you have a bad experience with an
(08:16):
alcohol and I'm like, so, I everyone has one. Yeah,
mine is like, and that's the thing is like when
I go to bars, I love a whiskey shot, Like like, yeah, shot,
I I still I rocket college style. I'm still doing
shots to Jamison. My god, Okay, we have a different
way of appreciating whiskey then, But she has a beer connoisseur,
just so you know, bridges like if we ever do
(08:37):
an episode on beer, it's gonna have me licked. Yea.
So this is a fun episode 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?
(09:01):
Like I think so, I think that we associate, Um,
I certainly associate whiskey with with masculinity. Oh you just
family just made a fade. 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 neat today, but like drinking
(09:23):
a glass of just bourbon, it feels like a Grandpa move. Yeah,
I mean to throw 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 o'clock,
like twelve o'clock. If I had a whiskey at noon
at work, I would need to go home sick. Right, Well,
is that not what we're doing? I mean it alright,
(09:45):
But um, here's the thing. There's a fascinating 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, um, this was a
(10:08):
drink commonly served in gentleman's parlors. What 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 associated with their particular think of like, um,
(10:32):
boardwalk Empire. Right, The women who were in gentlemen's clubs
were professionals, you know what I mean, 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
(10:53):
sin was very 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 gentlemen's only terrain.
(11:16):
That's so 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 Empire because during Prohibition, bootleggers were, like the
(11:39):
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 it the NPR
(12:00):
article I think I wrote, 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
(12:21):
a girl who like dances that thing. 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
(12:43):
three million that they were making four sex. Right. So yeah,
but it's like it's interesting to have a two kind
of like thet 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
(13:04):
ladies who are the actually, you know, socially acceptable ladies
who 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,
(13:26):
somebody needs to mean I don't watch board a show
about lady boot lady bootleggers. I would watch that. Would
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.
(13:47):
It's really quite lovely. It's nice, it's smooth, it's it's
a 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 to you need
something I want, okay, give me, give me peared up up.
I'm doing it. All right, kudos miss uh, miss bridget
(14:09):
hitting the hit miss lust. So the reason lady bootleggers,
it's it's really 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.
(14:33):
That was considered rude for a police officer to search
a lady. And so if you're a lady, you know,
doing something illicit, 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,
(14:56):
you didn't have the right to search their car. Hello,
I would have a whole t team of women who
hall and my, my my boot like liquor. All. Well,
what's interesting is how these women really made a rule
that's like ground that in 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 by searching
because she's alone and they're like, oh cool that anything
(15:19):
that like that, like like uses that in a subversive way,
uses the rules that are meant to keep in their place.
I love that. I think it's fascinating. And Minic, 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.
(15:40):
So like this was a real time 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? While
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
(16:02):
the eighties, right the whiskey drink was reserved for business dealings.
There weren't really a lot of women in the C
suite who were power brokers 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,
(16:22):
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 right now, I think, you guys, I'm
(16:46):
not kidding. I'm such a lightweight like this is not
I can't can't confirm she is. 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 bain or were 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
(17:06):
quite remember. Was Mitch McConnell or him, Probably McConnell because
think 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 drinking that's the 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 it's ingredients
(17:27):
and spelling can change in the word whiskey and some
of its scotch is made with malted 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 were we
talking about? Wish? I think this is where I wanted
(17:48):
to take a quick break anyhow. Anyway, so I think
it's fascinating to know there's this real political and gendered
history of like women and whiskey have this bi polar
relationship over time. During and leading up to prohibition, you know,
only very bad, socially unacceptable women were associated with the lawyer,
(18:10):
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,
it endures. And I think what's cool is um that's
(18:32):
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 our sponsors,
(19:01):
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 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
(19:22):
of Whiskey Women, The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon,
Scotch and Irish whiskey, um, is that in early colonial days,
before industrial distilleries were popular, quote, 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
(19:43):
long time and like it wouldn't be what it is
today with that women. And yet they we still sort
of it's still thought thought of as very masculine. You know. Well,
it just goes to show you how social narrative, public narrative,
the stories we tell about good woman bad women, Um,
those are they are and like shaking that off if
something is associated with like bad women, that is like
(20:05):
that will staying well, it's a reframing of what whiskey means.
So in the Prohibition era, whiskey ment 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,
I was in that musical rendition in my middle school years.
(20:26):
That was my introduction to Prohibition was being I was
like I had one lung. 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 collection.
So here's the deal, right, So during Prohibition and after Prohibition,
(20:46):
that was the association, that was the context that we
gave whiskey. But back in the colonial days, whiskey equaled
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
or a headache, Minnick says, a woman would give you whiskey.
(21:08):
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
feeling sick, whiskey does help. Like if you have like
(21:30):
a hot Toddy, which fy I was a college nickname
of mine because my last name is Todd. I love that.
I'm going to stick around. I have a shirt. I
have a shirt that's it's airbrushed on the back. Does
your how I love it? But yeah, so you know,
if you're if you have a cold, you have a
hot Toddy. I had a toothache recently, really bad toothache,
and someone was like, use a little whiskey. Like they
(21:52):
say that like, um, back in the early days, this
is a bad child ring advice, but like what a
kid is passive iron Yeah, it's now child abuse for
the don't do that. Don't follow that advice. But yeah,
I think that people like I have been a long
proponent of the medicinal and the household uses of whiskey.
There's so many parallels to weed right now that I
(22:12):
want to talk about, but 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 connected to your period really
as like, well, sorry, you're having cramps. Here's a little
bit of whiskey. And it's interesting, how like, how like
that is so feminized, right, like all of these things.
(22:35):
It's like, oh, like a soothing cure, like an eight
for your cramps. Like it's so feminized and yet still
persists this myth of like, well it's changed, isn't that 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 drink whiskey
in the Prohibition era in the late seventeen hundreds, American
(22:56):
women were distilling so much at home that Fredman 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 of them
specified a preference for women who could brew beer or
(23:19):
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.
Y'all put that in your profile on Tinder or on
match or whatever, and see how, see how if it's
still work. So it's funny that, like, whiskey had this
very domestic connotation for a long time until it was reversed,
(23:44):
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 while on the
campaign trail, which, by the way, it was dominated by men,
like mostly mail colleagues. So back in two thousand and eight,
(24:06):
I first started to drink whiskey just straight up on
the rocks or neat and discovered just how broad of
a palette that liquor can have. Right, It's not like
this disgusting medicine to throw back, not that note yourting it,
but like actually there is like if you have you
can sip it. And I think, like I have a
(24:26):
similar kind of take when it comes to a 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 like very very important campaign, came and brought all
(24:47):
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,
(25:07):
bridget guess who's bringing bourbon back? Ladies? The ladies. 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 US of A. But first
a quick word from our sponsors. So we're back and
(25:37):
we 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
(25:57):
that 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 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 I
(26:19):
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
(26:41):
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 it's increased. Yeah, well, back
in the nineties only about fifteen percent of whiskey drinkers
were female. Now that represents about we are thirty seven percent,
So that's a huge spike. You, I know, are we
(27:02):
alone in this? I hope not so. Tell us if
you're a whiskey drinker out there, tell me what your
favorite is. I remember when I was consulting in a
political environment. Um, it's so funny. This wasve Now. I
would on occasion have the so terribly difficult work of
receiving gifts from some of my biggest clients, like some
(27:27):
of my biggest I know, it was so hard. So
the trend in d C was cupcakes. How many boxes
of sprinkles cupcakes can can I gal eat before you're
like enough with the cupcakes and you're talking to someone
who's got the biggest sweet tooth in the world. But
I remember I was at an event with some of
(27:49):
my vendors and clients so 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 the next week in the office
shows up a beautiful globe glass of lanterns, which to
(28:10):
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.
(28:31):
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,
(28:53):
you know, talking about and people think she's like the
people think she's like a foxy babe. She's starting after
her um. Hillary also has man to sling it back,
which is part of the reason I think the rattam
Rye whiskey got its name. Of course, it also came
out 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
(29:16):
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 other girl. I'm not like other ladies. Keep
your keep your like Gin and Tonic ladies. That's for
that's for girly girls or tee. Yeah. In the nineties
when like Cosmopolitics, what was that show? Sex Cosma is
(29:39):
so big and now this is like the anti cos
it's so true. I'm just hitting women against women. I
I always hate that. And also I'm someone like I
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 just enjoy going at drinking and
I'm someone who like I'm I know a lot about
(30:02):
beer and a lot of that's like Ben quietly sitting
on the sidelines of many a beer conversation 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 teami, Like I'm not above that. Like I
just I don't like the idea of like I don't
(30:22):
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 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? And they were like, oh,
(30:44):
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 beatin so I
was a little judge. So then making fun of these
girls all night, we were like ordering this dream to
be funny. And then later we realize we're ordering them
because we like them. We're not We're not like it's
(31:05):
being started as like mocking with then we were like, oh,
these girls are like and I 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 a red bull belongs in the trash, Like your
heart does not want to play that game. But yes,
you no, I think it's I think it's interesting as
much as it is problematic to say, like there's this
(31:25):
Elite Daily article which Elite Daily, I mean, gag, I'm sorry,
it's 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, saying and how it's
(31:49):
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 it's a connotation, it's a reputation.
(32:11):
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
broker that is the most DC thing. But who want
(32:34):
to get into whiskey but might be a little intimidated
because it is kind of a bold drink choice. Um,
They've got meet up 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
(32:54):
whiskey more than ever before. Is the fact that women
are also still being into leadership positions distilleries and from
an entrepreneurial standpoint. So we've got Becky Harriet Harris, the
co founder of Catoctin 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
(33:16):
of like is like fueled by whiskey. I believe right.
We've got Mayor Meridity 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 top spots with
(33:40):
women like Maryann barnes Um, the master taster now at
Brown Brown Foreman's Bourbon Whiskey Brands. Nicole Austin has found
her Niche Has 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 store it which makes the delicious whiskey that
(34:02):
we're enjoying today, rodom 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 DT Distiller names
whiskey after Hillary Clinton. And it's not just after Hillary
Clinton notably, it's about it's her. It's named after her
(34:24):
maiden name, Rottom, which I think is a powermiut definitely.
Um So, they had already been known to Hillary also
lis 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've been trying
to get my hands on this, by the way, for
a long time. Good thing you have a podcast now.
(34:44):
Um 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 the best part is a five
(35:09):
percent of their proceeds from the bottles go to Emily's list.
I love it. So by buying a bottle It's 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'm
(35:33):
saying that, like I'm able to drink this and not
think of the nights that I ended my night vomiting
because of too much whiskey. That means I really 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 like fascinating historical relationship with whiskey.
(35:56):
And know that this renaissance of bourbon and with ski
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 coming full circle when it comes to
like women were at the at the starting block in
(36:19):
terms of whiskey here in the US 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 ladies on TV? You want to know
all of this and more? Snap us a pick off
you drinking your favorite whiskey or your favorite bottle whiskey?
(36:42):
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 there in mom stuff at how stuff works dot
com and as all always of course, just like Bridget
and I, we want to encourage you to drink responsibly.
(37:04):
Oh yeah, I should say that. Um, but drink boldly,
my friends. So cheers to all the women who love whiskey.
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