“Never delay kissing a pretty girl or opening a bottle of whiskey.”
Ernest Hemingway
If you know me you know my you have probably heard that my nickname is “brown liquor” which has an friendship origin story while also being rooted in the my love of bourbon.
My favorite cocktail is an old fashioned made with Eagle Rare.
Our household go to recipe is:
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1 teaspoon water
- 2 ounces bourbon (or rye whiskey, if preferred)
- Garnish: orange twist
Steps
- Add the sugar and bitters into a mixing glass, then add the water, and stir until the sugar is nearly dissolved.
- Fill the mixing glass with ice, add the bourbon, and stir until well-chilled.
- Strain into a rocks glass over one large ice cube.
- Express the oil of an orange twist over the glass, then drop into the glass to garnish.
Some of my favorite memories are with my husband sharing cocktails! One of these memories sparked this blog post.
On a 2025 trip we visited Louisville, Kentucky.
On this trip we visited several stops on The Bourbon Trail; Makers Mark, Wild Turkey, Rabbit Hole, & Woodford Reserve.
During the Makers Mark distillery tour our tour guide shared the story of Margie Samuels; “the creative business-woman” (Maker’s Mark website).
HOW COOL! This is considered and has been a considered a man’s drink for such a long time and I found it so fascinating that she was the visionary behind bringing Maker’s Mark to popularity as well as putting the “bourbon trail” literally on the map.
If you know about Maker’s Mark you know they have a distinctive bottle shape & the iconic red wax bottle top. Margie is attributed to turning Bourbon into a tourist business. By creating this bottle top that is so iconic, and the handmade labels.
They have a vintage Letterpress set up in on display and in still in use. While we were visiting a lovely, friendly woman was printing labels for a special bourbon release!
As a printmaker I could go down an entirely different rabbit hole (another distillery we visited) about vintage presses & letterpresses, but alas that is for another time.
I should mention here that Rabbit Hole Distillery also has a woman contributing to their modern model of success. Heather Zamanian, the wife of the major stakeholder, Kaveh Zamanian. In her story she is rooted in Kentucky, South, and bourbon culture which is what led to the namesake of Rabbit Hole and the family started the distillery. She is the heart & emotion behind the brand!
After visiting the gorgeous campus of Maker’s Mark in November, 2025 I started reading more about women in bourbon. I found the Whiskey University website which had more of the story about Margie and her impact on Bourbon culture.
Margie married Bill Samuels in 1937 and moved to Bardstown, Kentucky location (and I should note were neighbors with the Beam’s i.e. Jim Beam). Families were and still do have large plots of land.
I grew up on five acres of land with my grandparents & I thought that was a lot of land. So, after visiting Kentucky and the distilleries I realize that five acres was nothing compared to the amount of space needed to create distilleries of this caliber. Starr Hill farm where Maker’s Mark is 1,100 acres.
I love the idea of having the creative energy to build an empire or brand that comprises beautifully curated land, art, and bourbon. What a beautiful life! & a lot of hard work!
Let’s move into the 21st Century to modern women leaving their mark on the taste of bourbon. In 2024 a Southern Magazine, Garden & Gun published an article highlighting seven women in bourbon; Seven Women Bringing Women into the Future.
Jennifer Stewart Kornegay, writes about these seven women and what they are doing to push boundaries in the whiskey world. She writes, “Women aren’t just drinking more (and more complex) bourbon. Today more women are creating it”.
The women highlighted in this article are representative of how the landscape of bourbon is changing. The article is short but packed with facts about these women and what they are doing in this field.
“The guardrails are coming down. It’s a great time to be a woman in whiskey.”
Elizabeth McCall, Master Distiller Woodford Reserve
Elizabeth McCall is third distiller in the history of Woodford Reserve and the first female. Which if you know bourbon even a little you know Woodford is a major partner of the Kentucky Derby, and that’s a big deal. So, having a women in charge of how the bourbon tastes is an even bigger deal!!
Another lady’s name you should know in bourbon is Peggy Noe Stevens, the first female master distiller & founder of the Bourbon Women Association, 2011. Her website has tutorials, training seminars, registration for upcoming events, and networking opportunities for both women who want to distill or just make friends who like sipping on bourbon.
It is easy to see this is not a man’s world anymore & it really wasn’t before!
More & more women are gaining traction in the bourbon world, but let’s be honest just like so many other areas of invention, art, creativity women have and do so much they just didn’t & don’t get the credit they deserve.
How many of us had or have matriarchs that ran circles around the men in their lives & were Bad Asses doing amazing things! I know I did!
Continue to look for those women & celebrate them!
Until next time!
See you soon – M.E
#lovewins #heartsonwalks #heartmailstudios #raleigh
Instagram – @heartmailstudios & @heartsonwalks
Reading opportunity – The Bourbon Thief, Tiffany Reisz
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