With our recurring Wine of the Week feature, we’ve promised to bring you kickass women in the industry—sommeliers, beverage directors, critics, or just generally awesome wine connoisseurs—and this week we have something a little different, but just as awesome.
A trailblazer in a different type of beverage industry, Rachel Barrie holds the title of the world’s first female master whisky blender. And while it may seem unusual to have a whisky woman give wine recommendations, Rachel says there are many comparisons between the two. “Single malt Scotch is very much like fine wine,” she explains. “It has varying degrees and types of fruit, tastes between sweet and dry, and textures from mouth-watering and crisp to mouth-coating and velvety.”
Getting Scotch to taste like a ‘fine wine’ is part of Rachel’s job as a Master Blender. She’s long had a passion for malt whisky, but she first got her start on this path as a research scientist for the Scotch Whisky Research Institute. She then went on to work in production, whisky-making and quality management. In 2003 she became a Master Blender, where she works with the finest single malts in the world. She’s sampled over 150,000 casks!
Read the full profile and get the recommendations at groknation.com.