Top women who have made spirits history

In celebration of Women’s History Month, SB rounds up some of the female movers and shakers who have shaped the spirits industry.

This is our selection of women from history who have shaped the spirits industry

As our recent Top 10 Female Master Blenders and Distillers round-up showed, excellence in spirits can never be confined to a single gender. And, looking back through the history of spirits, the statement certainly holds true.

With the help of the design team at Purple Creative, join us on a whistle-stop tour through the last 2,000+ years of spirits production, celebrating the women who have worked, invented and campaigned their way into the spirits history books.

Click through to discover this group of pioneers, listed in date order.

Have we missed anyone off the list? Let us know in the comments section below.

Mary Hebraea, 1st century CE

Also known as Mary the Jewess, Maria Hebraea was a first century alchemist often cited in literature as an inventor of early distilling apparatus. Her inventions were crafted from metal, clay and glass, and she is credited with developing an early alembic still. The device is still used in some parts of Europe today for making brandy. In addition to her forays into distillation, Hebraea is also considered by many scientists to have discovered hydrochloric acid.

Helen Cumming, c.1790

Image: HistoryWitch.com

An innovator in terms of both Scotch distillation and sluthing, Helen Cumming and her husband John owned Cardow Farm in the early 1800s. While he was needed in the fields, she took charge of the stills, working illicitly for decades – and always keeping the pesky excise men at bay. She always made sure she had bread baking to disguise the smell of fermentation, and would reportedly invite tax inspectors in for tea and scones. She also developed a flag system for other distillers in the valley, and would always be sure to fly a different colour if HMRC were home. Thanks to her quick thinking, she was able to pass the distillery on to her daughter-in-law Elizabeth, and the now-legal Cardhu distillery developed into the Diageo-owned production site it is today.

In addition to her role in the distillery’s history, she may even have been the pioneer behind the “drive-thru” concept. She set up a window to offer her whisky customers both convenience and protection from the dastardly tax men. Think of her when you next order a burger from the comfort of your vehicle.

Queen Victoria, 1819-1901

Strange choice? The team at Purple don’t think so, for a couple of reasons. 1) Scotch. Queen Victoria did more than many to make Scotch whisky the success it is today. She was a big malt fan, particularly of Islay whiskies, and is said to have mixed whisky with soda, tea and claret (not at the same time). During her reign, whisky became a household drink in England, replacing Cognac. 2) Gin. She is the icon and figurehead of Bombay Sapphire – and appears on the label of every bottle. She represents the old British Empire, and the days of the Raj, so think of her every time you’re sipping your G&T.

Pauline Morton Sabin, 1887-1955

Queen of the gracious back-track, Pauline Morton Sabine was once an outspoken advocate of Prohibition – but changed sides once gaining an understanding how ineffective the law had become. A member of the Republican National Committee, she worked on behalf of Herbert Hoover, a staunch anti-liquor activist, during his presidential campaign. Shortly after, she became disillusioned by the hypocrisy among the political elite – after supporting resolutions for stricter Prohibition enforcement, they would toast their work with a couple of cocktails. But the ineffectiveness of the law which drove drinking underground and the inventiveness of the bootleggers troubled her more. She resigned from the Republican National Committee and founded Women’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform, a group instrumental in bringing about Repeal. She changed the national conversation around alcohol consumption, and even appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

Gertrude ‘Cleo’ Lythgoe, 1888-1974

Gertrude ‘Cleo’ Lythgoe was known as the “Queen of the Bootleggers”. Immediately after Prohibition was announced, she set off from her New York home to found a wholesale liquor business from Nassau in the Bahamas, selling to bootleggers. Renowned for both her intellect and beauty, she prevailed in a male-dominated world. She lived in the Lucerne Hotel, an establishment frequented by criminals and general rogues. More famous than her good looks was her sass: after hearing word that she had been bad-mouthed by a man, she reportedly burst into a barber’s shop, dragged out the offending gentleman and took him to her office where she promised to “put a bullet through him” if he didn’t desist.

Rita Cowan, 1896-1961

Japanese whisky fans are eternally indebted Rita Cowan – without her, the industry may not exist today. Born in East Dumbartonshire, she was introduced to Masataka Taketsuru, a Japanese chemist studying at Glasgow University and they fell in love. Taketsuru shared a long-held ambition with Cowan: he wanted to produce Scotch-style whisky in Japan, and he asked her to help. They were married in Scotland in 1920 before moving to Japan to set up a whisky distillery at Kotobukiya – later known as Suntory. After a time, Cowan and Taketsuru founded independent distillery Dai Nippon Kaju, which would be renamed as the Nikka Whisky Distilling Company. Cowan is often regarded as the “mother of Japanese whisky”, and as the category grows in prominence, so does her legacy.

Elizabeth Leitch ‘Bessie’ Williamson, 1910-1982

Bessie Williamson had intended to become a teacher in Glasgow – until she accepted a summer job on Islay at the Laphroaig distillery. She worked alongside then-owner, Ian Hunter, the last in the founding family line. He sadly suffered a stroke and needed Williamson to take on more business responsibility – by the time the Second World War broke out, she was the Laphroaig distillery manager. With war came a new job role – whisky production was mothballed, and instead the distillery housed over 400 tonnes of ammunition. Williamson ensured its safety, and prevented the looting of stock or equipment, a fate which befell many other distilleries during the war years. Production restarted following the war, but sadly Hunter passed away in 1954. Williamson inherited a controlling interest in the distillery, and continued to build operations. She travelled to the US, both to promote Laphroaig and represent the Scotch Whisky Association in the country, before returning in 1964. She is widely credited with forecasting the interest in single malt whisky, and, despite selling a share of the distillery, continued to serve as managing director until her retirement in 1972.

Margie Samuels, 1912-1985

Margie Samuels had a knack for product design – so much so that she helped shape the development of the Bourbon industry. She was born into Kentucky’s signature business, and her father co-founded the Mattingly & Moore Distillery in Bardstown in the mid-1800s. She studied Chemistry at the University of Louisville, where she met her husband, Bill Samuels Sr. In 1958, the Samuels launched Maker’s Mark Bourbon. But it was she that suggested the name, bottle design and the red wax label for which the brand has become renowned. Samuels passed away in 1985, and was awarded posthumous acceptance into the Bourbon Hall of Fame for her enduring contribution to the world of Bourbon – the first woman directly connected to a distillery to receive the honour.