Marlene Holmes on swapping large-scale distilling for a start-up
Master distiller Marlene Holmes cut her teeth in whiskey with some of the brightest minds in the business. We learn about her journey from working with a whiskey giant to helping to build a start-up – and how she recently made whiskey history.
Starting in 1990, Holmes learned her craft from legendary whiskey maker Booker Noe.
Today, Holmes is unquestionably a legend in her own right; after nearly three decades at Beam working in whiskey production, she pursued a dream she had to switch the high-volume production of Beam for a small start-up, Milam & Greene Distillery.
Her contributions to the whiskey world, earned her a place in the Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame this year – the first woman distiller in the US to be inducted.
On this week’s episode of The Spirits Business Podcast, Holmes talks at length about her incredible whiskey career, what it takes to be a master distiller, and why newer producers like Milam & Greene are excitingly giving the big players a run for their money.
Speaking about the lessons she’s learned since making the switch from Beam to Milam & Greene Distillery, Holmes said: “You’ve got to wear a lot of different hats, when you’re craft. On the craft side of things, there’s a lot of things that are expected of you other than just making whiskey.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned is on the ageing side. At Beam, even though I worked in the warehouse department and worked in aged whiskey, and what have you, I really had the opportunity with Milam & Greene to really dive into that very much more. Like I said, you know, we taste everything we dump.
“And so to have that opportunity to go into the rick house and pull some samples, and decide which barrels are ready to dump, and which barrels need a little bit more time on them, that would be one of the biggest things that I’ve had the opportunity to get a little more detailed and in depth with.”
Holmes has a lot of respect for larger-scale whiskey makers. But she is excited by the innovation coming from smaller, up-and-coming producers.
“I think the craft folks on the craft side of things for several years now have pushed the bigger guys to look outside their box and do some different things flavour wise,” Holmes added. “We’ve got rye whiskey finished in Tawny Port barrels. We’ve got bottled in bond, we’ve got grain to glass, we’ve got triple cask – our triple-cask Bourbon that is aged in three different states.
“We’re doing some things that I don’t know of anybody else in the business is doing the way that we are, and that’s pretty exciting.
“And once people find out who we are and a little bit about us and how great our products are, they love our whiskey. I’ll put it up against any whiskey out there.”
The full podcast episode with Holmes is available to listen to on all major streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon.
Alternatively, use the Acast link below.
Recent episodes have included Georgie Bell, co-founder of independent whisky bottler The Heart Cut, Dan Szor, founder of English spirits producer the Cotswolds Distillery, and Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey CEO and founder, Fawn Weaver.
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