By Georgina Safe
Whisky – once reserved for old men and even older gentlemen's clubs – is finding fresh popularity among females fed up with being patronised with colourful cocktails and pre-mixed drinks in pretty bottles.
"Women are tired of being infantilised when it comes to their drinks," said Daniela Walker, food and drink specialist at trend forecasting company The Future Laboratory.
Rebecca Victoria, left, and Ellie Hayes-O'Brien enjoy a whisky at Earls Juke Joint on King Street, in Newtown. Credit: Dallas Kilponen
"What we are actually finding is that women want their palettes to be tested just as much as men. Millennial women in their late 20s and early 30s are embracing whisky as their drink of choice."
Women now make up 37 per cent of whisky customers in the US and nearly a third of whisky drinkers in the UK are now female, according to Future Laboratory research. The trend is also noticeable in Australia, where consumption rates of whisky have increased by more than 50 per cent in younger people in the past five years, according to Roy Morgan research.
"When I first started working it was rare that a woman would ask for a whisky," said Grace West, bartender at Pocket Bar in Darlinghurst. "But now one in 10 women who come in will order whisky, whether it's neat, on ice or as part of a classic cocktail like an old fashioned or a whisky sour."
At Earl's Juke Joint in Newtown, Rebecca Victoria and Ellie Hayes O'Brien regularly meet friends for a whisky at the bar.
"I usually have it neat or my favourite drink is a Rob Roy or a Bobby Burns," said Victoria. "I like a lot of strong flavours and deeper flavours, so whisky is a different kind of drinking that I find very soothing."
For Hayes O'Brien it was love at first sip when she tried a whisky several years ago.
"It's been my drink of choice ever since," she said. "I like that it has a bit of character and history, and that everyone has their own preference when it comes to smokiness and the amount of ice cubes."
She will usually order a single malt scotch such as Glenmorangie or Laphroaig but has recently been dabbling in Japanese whiskies for something different.
"It's not an unusual drink any more, so there are more whiskies and better whiskies available in many bars," she said.
Among the factors driving younger women to whisky drinking are the classic cocktail movement, the increase in quality small bars and the example of female celebrity whisky drinkers such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Mad Men's Christina Hendricks.
Earl's Juke Joint owner Pasan Wijesena said embracing the traditionally masculine beverage was a statement of empowerment for female drinkers, who were shunning girly cosmopolitans a la Sex and the City in favour of the more grown-up example of Christina Hendricks drinking whisky in Mad Men.
"Women are on equal footing with men in terms of jobs and status, so it makes sense their taste in alcohol would be too," said Wijesena. "Female drinkers have really articulated, nuanced palates and they are drinking these really intense whiskies that even guys find hard to palate sometimes."
Women usually begin with a whisky-based cocktail as a gateway to drinking the spirit neat as a true connoisseur.
"Women are drinking and tasting whisky almost like wine," Wijesena said. "It's not just the traditionally feminine styles of whisky, it's everything from the Glenmorangie fruity and creamy-style whiskies through to salty, meaty whiskies like Ardbeg."