BABE #318: MARIANNE EAVES - Kentucky’s First Female Master Bourbon Distiller
We sat down with Marianne at Bourbon and Beyond in Louisville, KY last month to chat about this very exciting time in her incredible career as a distiller. Having recently hung her hat at the distillery she helped open four years ago, she’s currently moving in a different direction—freelance distilling—where she now focuses solely on being her own boss and building her own brand. With the prestigious title of Kentucky’s very first ever female master distiller and many other accolades under her belt, it’s safe to say this hustlin’ babe is a trusted source in the world of bourbon (and beyond!) We look forward to following along as she continues to reinvent her hustle—and help others do the same.
The Basics:
Hometown: I was born in Tennessee but I claim Louisville, Kentucky, as home
Current city: Louisville, Kentucky
Alma mater: University of Louisville
Degree: Chemical Engineering
Very first job: Taco Bell (for which I handwrote my resume—so official).
Hustle: Freelance Distiller
The Interests:
Babe you admire and why?
My mom; she has been an incredible role model for me. She was mostly a stay-at-home mom for my entire childhood. After parents went through their divorce, she went back to school and reinvented herself, and that's when she really started teaching me that you need to make your own way; you have to be able to take care of yourself and always invest in yourself and ensure your future.
How do you spend your free time?
Well, I've had a lot of free time recently, so I've been traveling quite a bit. I’m dating the ringmaster of a circus, and he travels constantly. I say I've been chasing him around the country for the past year and I just last week moved in with him. I’m on the road with the circus now!
If you could have coffee with anyone in the world, who would it be?
Stephen Colbert. I think that man is hilarious and so intelligent.
The Hustle:
Tell us about your hustle.
I'm reinventing what my hustle is. Four months ago, I was working for a Louisville distillery day-in, day-out on the stills and also doing marketing for brands I was really passionate about in gin and vodka while the bourbon and rye were resting. I came to the realization it was no longer the right environment for me. I wanted to be my own boss, to be able to stick to my convictions and be my own brand, so I decided to take the freelance route. The thing I’m most excited about is focusing on consulting—working with people who are passionate about spirits but don’t have the experience or education to get started. I’m excited to help people with their dreams. Distilling is a skill and trade that can be taught, so I’m excited to get out there and spread the Kentucky love. I’m also finding ways to support women, from being outspoken about my position in the industry, to inspiring women to focus on STEM, and to be visible as a woman in stem STEM so other women know it’s possible.
What does your typical workday look like?
Nowadays, it’s a lot of fielding emails, writing proposals, and getting into the consulting life. For my client right now, I’ll go out to her vineyard, do wine sampling, and set up distillation kits in what is essentially her kitchen. Right now I’m pretty nomadic, so finding spaces to be able to do the experimentation I used to is a bit more difficult. But I’m doing it through maintaining lots of relationships, doing lots of networking and growing new relationships, too.
What got you into bourbon (and what’s kept you in the industry since)?
I have a chemical engineering degree, and I never ever thought bourbon would be what I did with it. I was really going in thinking biodiesel and renewable energy—something like that. And then I just got lucky to get an internship with Brown-Forman, which became my first big girl job. I started working in research and development and figured if nothing else, it would be a great resume builder. I learned a lot about filtration and heat exchange and distillation and all of the unit operations you learn in chemical engineering, and I just fell in love with the whole industry. The spirits industry is so much fun; it's so congenial. Eventually, I worked my way up the ranks, becoming their master taster, working under the master distiller for six years, and then got the opportunity to jump ship and try something completely new, which was rehabilitating a 150-year-old distillery and building my own products from scratch. I raised my hand for that opportunity, and took my own career by the horns. When distillers with decades of experience were passing the opportunity by, I was like, I can totally do that. So, I did.
How have your past professional and academic experiences prepared you for the work you do today?
I like to joke that when I first got out of college, I could have designed a distillery, and it would have been highly efficient—but it would have tasted like crap. I’m happy I really took the time to learn from the senior research engineers and master distillers at Brown-Forman to be able to know what parts of the distilling process you have to make some compromises in: the efficiency and yielding the trade for the flavor, the mouth feel. I had a pretty good start, but it was really Brown-Forman that developed me in my formative years.
What’s been your biggest career milestone to date?
I think leaving Brown-Forman and moving to Castle & Key—and then, taking the title of Kentucky's first female distiller is that big milestone.
How has being a woman affected your professional experience?
The bourbon industry, traditionally, is male-dominated, but I really do believe the landscape is changing because the consumers are changing. I think it’s important to bring visibility to it, raise our hands, and speak up (which is sometimes the hardest thing to do); to tell people about our accomplishments—even though it feels so unnatural—is so important. I have young women reach out to me via social media and I always take the opportunity to reply. The least I can do is encourage them to keep going.
Who are some women in your field you look to for inspiration?
Anne Brock, of Bombay Sapphire, is someone I really look up to. She's around my age, but her career path has been pretty incredible as a young woman master distiller in a huge global gin brand—there’s not many female master distillers in gin.
Career and/or life advice for other babes?
I think risk always seem scariest when you can’t see the reward beyond it. But if we have a little bit of faith and trust that we are capable, we can absolutely learn new things. If you want it bad enough, and put in the work, the doors are going to open up for you.
Sponsored by: Bourbon and Beyond
Bourbon and Beyond is a Louisville, KY-based festival featuring a perfect blend of bourbon, food, and music. Learn more about the fest here and keep an eye out for 2020 dates soon!
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