{"id":2413,"date":"2023-03-16T02:20:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T02:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.campariacademy.com\/en-us\/?p=2413"},"modified":"2024-03-14T21:10:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T21:10:29","slug":"history-women-brewers-distillers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.campariacademy.com\/en-us\/inspiration\/history-women-brewers-distillers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look at Women\u2019s Roles as Brewers and Distillers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Women have historically been overlooked for their contributions and innovations in the liquor industry – but things are changing.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Women make up a vibrant part of today\u2019s alcoholic beverage industry. But to understand where we are now, it\u2019s important to look back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alcohol industry is no different from other industries in this, as several historians have uncovered. Several recent books, \u201cGirly Drinks\u201d<\/a> by Mallory O\u2019Meara<\/a>, \u201cEvery Home a Distillery: Alcohol, Gender, and Technology in the Colonial Chesapeake\u201d<\/a> by Sarah Hand Meacham and \u201cDrinking Like Ladies\u201d<\/a> by Kirsten Amann and Misty Kalkofen<\/a>, uncover women\u2019s accomplishments and place them front and center. On the one hand, the authors say it\u2019s shocking that women\u2019s involvement in liquor winds back to the earliest eras in civilization. And yet, historians found patterns where women\u2019s roles were consistently diminished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Kirsten and I were researching for our book, time and time again we encountered women who had accomplished great things in their industry but their accomplishments had been lost over the course of history or, even worse (and quite frequently) their male colleagues had taken credit for their accomplishments,\u201d author Misty Kalkofen says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historian Mallory O\u2019Meara had the same experience. \u201cI was stunned at how much information there was about women in distilling,\u201d she says. \u201cThis wasn’t just small bits \u2013 it was massive changes, massive innovations.\u201d When starting her research, O\u2019Meara assumed her book would start sometime in medieval Europe, but her research kept pointing to the beginning of civilization itself. And yet, the history books O\u2019Meara consulted didn\u2019t mention the role of women. \u201cThey almost have to be trying to leave these women out,\u201d she notes. \u201cThis is bonkers to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

London\u2019s gin craze is a textbook example. The invention of gin (the new, trendy spirit of its day) \u201cwasn\u2019t imbued with masculine tradition, so women got in on the ground floor,\u201d O\u2019Meara says. \u201cThere were a ton of female distillers, as well as female gin drinkers.\u201d The dawn of the Industrial Revolution introduced a new demographic of young, single women who were going to work and wanted to drink, but the taverns were masculine spaces where men might sit and drink for hours at a time. Recognizing an opportunity, female shopkeepers opened up dramshops where women could come in, swing back some gin, and then head back out. \u201cDramshops were the first place in London\u2019s history where it was okay for a woman to drink in public without a risk to her reputation,\u201d O\u2019Meara writes. \u201cIt was a female-centric public <\/em>space, an entirely new idea for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money and Power Dynamics<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Despite the fact that many alcohol innovations happened in early kitchens, once products were commodified (sold, transported and exported at large scale), men would pass gate-keeping regulations, such as requiring producers to be part of a guild or to purchase expensive licenses. \u201cFor centuries, it was moms who were making beer,\u201d O\u2019Meara says. \u201cAll of a sudden, they were pushed out. Every single time period, whether it was fermenting or distilling, it\u2019s systemic. It\u2019s a pretty salient pattern throughout history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cEvery Home a Distillery,\u201d Meacham notes that for many generations, women in colonial Chesapeake (modern day Virginia and Maryland) were the primary producers of raw fruit alcohols, such as cider. This was in contrast to their counterparts in Europe, which turned beer making into a male-dominated alcohol industry. Meacham notes that eventually, men in colonial America began to take over household alcoholic production once demand surged and there were serious profits to be made, just as they had done in Europe. In the case of the Chesapeake colonists, it was \u201cthe requirements of supplying the Continental Army with liquor during the American Revolution that led to the re-gendering of alcohol production during the late eighteenth century,\u201d Meacham writes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Comes Next<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While the work is far from over, women have made substantial strides in the alcohol industry, notably Dr. Joy Spence, who has over four decades of experience at Appleton Estates, and became the first-ever female master blender in the spirits industry when she stepped into her current role. Throughout her career she concedes she\u2019s hit hurdles. \u201cI had to work harder to gain recognition and experienced chauvinism in certain areas,\u201d she says. \u201cFor some time, I was carrying the weight for other females, so I had to make sure I was successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see the industry promote [the fact] that there are [fewer] barriers in the world of blending and universities could do more to encourage more women into the field,\u201d Dr. Spence adds. \u201cThis is how we step into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have made significant strides towards raising the visibility of women, but I still think we have a ways to go,\u201d Misty Kalkofen says. \u201cThe gender pay gap still exists. Women make between 78% to 82% of what men make depending on the source quoted, but sadly that number changes drastically in the wrong direction when you break down the statistics by race.  Organizing to raise awareness is still very important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope to see more men involved in these conversations,\u201d Kalkofen says. \u201cWomen should not be carrying the full weight of making change. We need allies and we need them now.\u201d Women\u2019s roles in the industry are now more visible than ever: from executives to brand founders and distillers to bar owners and influential mixologists. As the new generation of female leaders steps forward, it is apparent that this one will finally break from tradition \u2013\u00a0 by celebrating women\u2019s contributions at all levels.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women’s role in brewing and distilling goes back to the dawn of civilization. A new generation records the histories and looks forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23624,"featured_media":2415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"global-tags":[],"theme":[],"class_list":["post-2413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Look at Women\u2019s Roles as Brewers and Distillers - Campari Academy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Women's role in brewing and distilling goes back to the dawn of civilization. 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