Jane Walker – Walking Back. A Huge Leap Forward

The popular Scotch brand Johnnie Walker is rolling out a female version of its iconic logo: Jane Walker. A limited U.S. edition of the whisky will feature a striding woman on the label.  Keshav Prakash of 'The Vault' writes how it was the women who brewed, distilled and created recipes in their backyard, using kitchen ingredients, till men snatched the supremacy, banning women from alcohol post the industrial revolution.

Women were the first brewer-distillers. Whether it is the Mesopotamian tablets from 4000 BC that mentions Sumerian women making beer (and we know that this is a crucial step in whisky making), or the records from the 1700s to 1950s which speak of women distillery owners, it was the women who brewed, distilled and created recipes in their backyard, using kitchen ingredients. But with the beginning of witch panic, followed by the Industrial Revolution, men snatched supremacy, banning women from alcohol. The spirits industry soon became 'male-dominated’.

With more and more women taking on the mantle of distillation and reclaiming their space, the journey of the industry is certainly beginning to feel right again.

When I am therefore asked to write what I think of 'Women & Whisky’, I want to say both 'thank you, and welcome back’. Thank you for being so talented and experimental with the recipes, and Welcome Back to one of the places you rightly belong as well. Further, here is an extract from the must-read book by Fred Minnick, Whiskey Women – The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch and Irish Whiskey.

‘Laphroaig, Dalmore, Bushmills, and Johnnie Walker might not be here today without a woman owner in the brand’s history…’

In keeping with this, I certainly applaud Johnnie Walker for deciding to walk back to their history, to acknowledge the role of women in whisky, by launching `Jane Walker’. With more and more women taking on the mantle of distillation and reclaiming their space, the journey of the industry is certainly beginning to feel right again.

Picture Credit: reasonwhy.es

Having co-founded The Vault with my wife Anjan, to import the finest spirits from across the world, and The Oak League (a whisky tasting fellowship) which has two women founder members, the dimension they bring to each tasting experience, probably goes back to the fact that as women they were always good at it. Ask Carissa Hickling, the founder of Whisky Ladies of Mumbai and a prolific whisky blogger, and I bet she would agree.

With Jane Walker set to be launched in the USA to coincide with International Women’s Day, it is time that all men raised a toast to the real founders. I certainly will.

Keshav Prakash is the founder-curator of The Vault, a fine spirits collective based in Mumbai. The views expressed are author's own.

Also Read:Johnnie Walker Introduces Jane Walker Edition for Ladies