Once a world dominated by beard-stroking, tweed-wearing gents, the whiskey industry is now home to a squad of powerhouse women distilling, blending, and bonding their way to greatness. Let’s meet three legends proving that whiskey isn’t just for the boys.
June O’Connell
From Courtrooms to Casks
June O’Connell didn’t just dip a toe into the whiskey business; she did a full cannonball. After 25 years of legal jargon and court battles, she called time on her career as a corporate lawyer and took a leap of faith into the world of spirits. In 2019 she founded SkelligSix18 alongside her husband, a micro-distillery nestled in Cahersiveen, County Kerry (aka the dramatic, rain-soaked paradise of the Wild Atlantic Way).
SkelligSix18 pays homage to the 618 stone steps leading up to Skellig Michael, that epic UNESCO World Heritage Site featured in Star Wars (no, sadly, June is not distilling whiskey with Jedi mind tricks.) But she is crafting high-quality spirits infused with the Kerry landscape, using pure mountain water and local botanicals to bring her gin and whiskey to life. Her secret weapon? A healthy dose of muinín – an Irish word for that calm, collected confidence that makes you get stuff done. And June? She absolutely gets stuff done.
Alex Thomas
The Blend Queen of Bushmills
Growing up just a stone’s throw from the legendary Old Bushmills Distillery, Alex Thomas probably had whiskey in her DNA before she even knew it. These days, she’s the Master Blender at Bushmills, which is kind of a big deal when you’re working for the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery. That’s right, Bushmills has been legally making whiskey since 1608. What have you been doing?
Alex created The Sexton Single Malt, an international bestseller that’s been making waves across the whiskey world. But she’s not just about past glories – she’s constantly dreaming up new blends, sniffing, swirling, and sipping (it’s research, okay?) to create the next big thing.
One day she’s tinkering with formulas in the lab, the next she’s off sourcing casks or sampling whiskey straight from the barrel. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it. And if you ask her what her favourite part of the job is, she’ll tell you it’s seeing a bottle of her whiskey make its way into the wild, ready to be savoured by enthusiasts everywhere.
Louise McGuane
The Whiskey Bonder Extraordinaire
If there was ever a woman determined to bring a forgotten whiskey tradition back from the dead, it’s Louise McGuane. After globetrotting for years working with some of the world’s biggest drinks brands, she decided to shake things up and revive the lost art of whiskey bonding. Think of it as matchmaking for whiskey: sourcing spirits, aging them in just the right casks, and blending them into liquid gold.
In 2015, she launched J.J. Corry Irish Whiskey on her family’s farm in County Clare, single-handedly bringing back a centuries-old practice that had all but disappeared. As the only solo female founder in the Irish whiskey industry, she’s proving that whiskey bonding isn’t just an old boys’ club tradition, it’s an art, and she’s the artist.
Her blends are now shipping worldwide, and she’s at the forefront of the Irish whiskey renaissance. As she puts it, “It’s an honour to be part of the rebirth of any industry, especially one that lets you drink on the job.” Well said.
So, next time someone tries to tell you whiskey is a ‘man’s drink,’ pour yourself a generous glass of something Irish, raise it high, and toast to the women rewriting history one bottle at a time.
Sláinte!
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