It’s been a hectic year for Woodford Reserve. As well as crowning the winner of The Wonderful Race, in which Singapore bartenders battled each other with their Old Fashioned renditions, it also welcomed a new master distiller—Elizabeth McCall (main picture).
In an industry traditionally dominated by men, McCall’s long blonde locks are a welcome sight. She remembers growing up around spirits. Her mother worked as a quality manager in the whisky industry while she remembers her dad’s fondness for a bourbon after work. But she only fell in love with spirits after joining Woodford Reserve’s parent company, Brown-Forman, in 2009 to work in the sensory lab. “It was here that I learned about all aspects of sensory sciences—and that I had a nose for bourbon.”
In 2018, she became the assistant master distiller for the Kentucky-based bourbon whiskey brand. Under the watchful eyes of mentor and then-master distiller Chris Morris, McCall dived deeper into the craft. She finally took up the mantle this year.
“I have seen the Kentucky bourbon industry at its peak, near extinction, and now in a renaissance. And I have seen us go from being referred to as a ‘Sin Industry’ to being the state’s only ‘Signature Industry’,” says Morris. Now he has front-row tickets to McCall’s ascension as the distillery’s first female master distiller.
McCall is one of several female personalities making their alcoholic mark. Having worked in the industry for over three decades, Rachel Barrie was a forebear. She’s now the master blender at Ben Riach, Glendronach, and Glenglassaugh. Several others have followed in her footsteps.
In Kentucky, even before McCall, chemical engineering graduate Marianne Eaves worked at Brown-Forman, discovered her fascination with flavours, and left the company to become the county’s first master distiller at Castle & Key Distillery.
“It’s great to see the increase in diversity. The more that women are seen working in this industry, the more young women will look to the spirits industry as a career path. It all feeds off each other,” says McCall.
Two Paths Diverged
The onerous weight of tradition can be an ominous spectre, but McCall has too much respect for the brand to change it. “Woodford Reserve is the gold standard of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. I don’t want to do anything to change that… It has something for everyone to enjoy,” she says.
However, she does intend to make her mark on the master collection releases. A limited offering, the range gives the distiller room to innovate and let “its creativity run wild”.
Morris once finished bourbon in chardonnay barrels in 2007. He also created the Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, which spawned a new toasted bourbon segment that has catapulted the spirit into the ultra-premium market.
McCall hasn’t decided on what to do yet. But she’s ready to elevate Woodford Reserve beyond its old-fashioned confines.
