Input Stories

Elizabeth McCall didn’t know the difference between bourbon and other whiskeys before she started working for Brown-Forman, the parent company of Woodford Reserve (Men’s Journal).

An unlikely pairing: Today, McCall is a master distiller at the spirit maker, where she leads limited-edition releases and spends her days “protecting the character of the whiskey.”

• After graduating with a master’s degree in counseling psychology, she heard Woodford Reserve was hiring for a role in “sensory science”—and the company often hired people with backgrounds like hers.
• “She learned quickly. Working in quality control, she tasted everything the company produced—bourbon, tequila, flavored spirits, pre‑mixed cocktails—while traveling to global facilities to train teams on standards.”

Tradition, not trends: After catching the attention of a master distiller, McCall was invited to train a master distiller herself, a position she’s held since 2023.

• In her role, McCall focuses on tradition, not trends, and she seeks
  natural ways to infuse whiskies with new flavors—“through grain, fermentation, distillation and finishing. ‘There’s always an authentic way to do it.’”

Led by the nose: Even when she’s not working, McCall’s sense of smell is on the job.

• “She smells her Coca‑Cola without thinking. She dissects cocktails at lunch. She encourages people to build their own flavor memory bank: ‘You have to know what a true red apple tastes like versus a green apple or a Honeycrisp.’”

All about the taste: Ultimately, McCall wants to have made good products.

• “I hope that by the time I’m retiring, people will think I made some really delicious whiskey,” she said.