In addition to making their mark in the traditionally testosterone-centric world of craft beer, women are chipping away at the old boys club that is whiskey, and Heather Greene is among those leading the charge. As a recent Bon Appetit profile explains, she is the “first American woman to serve on the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Tasting Panel in Scotland [and the] first woman to win Whisky Magazine‘s American Young Ambassador of the Year award.”
Despite earning these titles, Greene is still confronted with deep-seeded stereotypes that position whiskey as a man’s drink. Every event brings at least one comment about her gender. She says it’s this presumptuous attitude that often frustrates or intimidates women. But it shouldn’t, particularly as women have more sensitive palates—based on her experience, she has found that “women outperform men” in nosing whiskey and pinpointing nuance in flavor.
She first fell in love with the brown spirits while touring as a keyboardist in Scotland, which led to a job working at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Edinburgh. Since then, she has gained plenty of experience en route to becoming the first female whiskey sommelier at Flatiron Room in Manhattan.
[via Bon Appetit]