So What About Women and Whisky?

Once upon a time… actually October 24th, 2014, to be exact, in the lush suburbs of New Jersey, an ecstatic 17-year-old girl got accepted into her dream college: The University of St Andrews in Scotland. In celebration that Friday night, her father poured the two of them some scotch with a cube of ice and a drop of water. She took her first ever sip of her first ever scotch and managed to keep it down…. “actually… that’s not too bad” she announced. As you might’ve guessed, that 17-year-old girl was me, Zoe, and that night was the start of my long-term love affair with Scotch whisky. 

I graduated from St Andrews with a degree in French and International Relations. In theory, I’m capable of solving the world’s problems in two languages, but in practice I can accurately identify an Oban by just its smell. In Scotland, when I wasn’t in class, I was visiting distilleries, participating in the Quaich (whisky) Society tastings, and learning everything I could about the art that is scotch whisky making.

While I was tasting whisky in Scotland, back across the pond my mother was dabbling in it herself. As our mutual love of scotch grew, I began to realize how few women I knew who actually enjoyed drinking it. Every time I ordered a dram, I would have friends say to me “I wish I liked scotch” or “I just don’t know where to start.” And thus, the Women’s Whisky Club was born. If you love scotch, loathe it, want to like it, or just want one more community of badass women, this is the place for you. Together, we will end the reputation that whisky has as a stuffy corporate man’s drink!

I’ll end by stating that Scotch has taught me to fight social norms and gender stereotypes; to better respect science and nature; and to appreciate the beautiful things that come out of hard work and perseverance. If you’re not inspired to sit down with a dram yet, you will be if you stick with me on my Scotch Whisky journey.