NOLADrinks Show – 10-15-18 – Lisa Wicker of Widow Jane Distillery

On this edition of The NOLADrinks Show with Bryan Dias, we welcome Lisa Wicker of Widow Jane Distillery. We discuss their whiskey operation located in Brooklyn. We also discuss her interesting path to becoming the distiller, their bourbon, and the importance of her role as a woman in the industry.

Pictured above – Widow Jane Distillery in Brooklyn, New York.

The NOLADrinks Show – 10-15-18 – Lisa Wicker of Widow Jane Distillery

We start things off teeing-up this week’s show and a bit of discussion on the change in weather her in New Orleans.

Then, we move into our featured interview with Lisa Wicker who is the distiller with Widow Jane Distillery located in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. We discuss a wide-range of topics, including their production, the story of the distillery (including their sister business, a chocolatier, located on the same premises), and more.

We also talk about Lisa’s interesting background and path to becoming the distiller. She started in the wine business and then began crossing over into the world of bourbon while living in Kentucky. She took on the challenge of her new role at Widow Jane less than 2 years ago and helped revive the distillery, which had not been producing for several months.

Of course, we taste some bourbon – in this case, their 10-year single barrel aged bourbon. We talk about their use of heirloom corn in the mash, how they are working towards using all locally produced grains in their products, and their interesting water source.

In our podcast-only portion of the show – Another Shot with NOLADrinks – we talk further about the bourbon including more on their stills, a unique hybrid system. We also discuss Lisa’s views and experiences working as a woman in the distilling and whiskey world.

Pictured at left from left – Lisa Wicker, Distiller; Jillian Twyford Lanza, Director of Operations and Compliance; Michele Clark, VP of Operations; and Sienna Jevremov, Distiller (top) of Widow Jane Distillery.

We close out the show with our Parting Shot talking about some incredibly high-priced Scotches and wines recently sold at auction. You can subscribe to, stream, and download the podcast of The NOLADrinks Show using the player at the top of the post.

Cheers, You All!

~ Bryan