Whiskey Without Mansplaining: The Story Behind Women Who Whiskey (S4 E5)

Episode Title: Whiskey Without Mansplaining: The Story Behind Women Who Whiskey

00:46.22
Kerry
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever time it is that you are catching the show today. 

01:26.43
Kerry
Today on the show, we have the wonderful ladies who are part of and founded the Women Who Whiskey. So with no further ado, I'm going to introduce the founder, Julia Tuffley, and our local ah chapter head, Kim Ohanneson, who is the head of the local Los Angeles chapter, which I am a part of. um So ladies, welcome to the show.

02:00.68
Kim Ohanneson
me

02:03.44
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Thanks for having us.

02:03.89
Kim Ohanneson
but thanks for having me

02:04.92
Kerry
Yes. um Well, as we always start out on the show, I always ask about your whiskey journey. So I think I will start off with Julia, just because I don't know anything about your whiskey journey. And you also are the founder of Women Who Whiskey. So let's start off with you, Julia. Give us a little background on your whiskey journey.

02:21.68
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah, happy to. um Well, first of all, again, thank you for having me. It's great to be here with you and always great to see you, Kim. um I would say, yeah My whiskey journey is probably not the one you would expect from someone who started a whiskey club.

02:36.53
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um i It wasn't something that was around in my home very much growing up. My parents are from France and Italy, so there was a lot of wine, but there was almost no whiskey ever.

02:47.41
Julia Ritz Toffoli
So I don't have that fond memory of sitting on my grandfather's lap while he sipped a scotch by the fireplace that so many people talk about that is not the beginning of my whiskey journey. ah The beginning of my whiskey journey starts in Canada, actually. I went to undergrad in Montreal um and rye and ginger was a delicious and affordable drink that a young whippersnapper like me with not a lot of disposable income could afford at the bar, which I was legally allowed to go to at the age of 18.

03:19.71
Julia Ritz Toffoli
So I discovered whiskey through just, you know, your two for one rail mixed drinks at the bar. um And very quickly discovered that it was actually a spirit that I enjoyed at least a lot more than the other rail liquors that were available, such as gin or vodka.

03:38.55
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And as I got a little older and a little more discerning, I started to look into different kinds of whiskey that were available in Canada and sort of started to build a taste for it.

03:50.89
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um I didn't actually consider myself a whiskey drinker until I moved to Europe after school and had a hard time finding whiskey over there, at least beyond couple of brands.

04:00.60
Kerry
Really? OK.

04:02.18
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I was in Rome 15 years. 20 years ago. So it wasn't, you know, there wasn't a lot of whiskey. You could find Jack Daniels at a bar or something like that, but ah the variety that I think I had become used to in Montreal wasn't available anymore. And so when I moved to New York in 2010, it was like being a kid in a candy store. There were, it was the sort of peak of the cocktail revival. The prohibition era bar was just booming everywhere.

04:32.67
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Classic whiskey cocktails were on every single menu. And that is sort of when I got into drinking whiskey um with a passion, i would say, rather and an intentionality.

04:44.08
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And that is also when I discovered that I was not the typical whiskey drinker. And I will stop there because that sort of starts to bleed into how we started Women Who Whiskeyed.

04:54.45
Kerry
All right. Well, let's hear Kim's journey and then we will get on to the organization's journey.

05:00.52
Kim Ohanneson
ah Well, ah interestingly, ah i didn't even realize, Julia, that you didn't come from a whiskey drinking family. I didn't either. i grew up on a farm, which I'm sure I've mentioned to both of you. And so it was mainly beer and wine.

05:15.28
Kim Ohanneson
ah No, no whiskey to be even seen or discussed. um And when I started drinking, i mean, interestingly, when I was in college, I was drinking um ah Johnny Walker just because, you know, just I don't even know how that happened. And then I kind of went into mixed drinks.

05:35.12
Kim Ohanneson
But my whiskey journey really began when I became friends with a guy who is Scottish, ah kind of didn't like to go out. So he would buy really, really good Scotches and Scotch whiskeys, single malts, and just invite me and my husband over. It was like a one block walk. So and I, you know, was really kind of self-education.

05:57.56
Kim Ohanneson
I started ah another club called Whiskey and Poetry Salon and, you know, kind of got to a point where, you know, okay, I've done this, taken this as far as I can. And somebody um mentioned Women Who Whiskey and said, you know, first she said, oh, do you want to start a club? And then, you know, chapter it together and then she decided she didn't. I contacted Julia and ah we just kind of launched off on the journey and it's been so fabulous ever since.

06:24.25
Kerry
Okay, well, Julia, tell me, like, when what year, first of all, did you start the organization? And what was the what was the launching point for you? Like, what said what was the deciding factor saying, you know, what I'm going to make this club?

06:36.31
Kerry
And then did you think right away, you were going to make it national? Or was it supposed to be just like a little local thing?

06:42.01
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah, so great question. I like to say that if you had told me then that it would be what it is now, there's a very good chance I would have never started it because the the amount amount of growth that it's had, i think, has been really encouraging and wonderful, but it also would have seemed very daunting looking forward at it.

06:50.11
Kim Ohanneson
Thank you.

06:58.07
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um So right, picking up where I left off, I moved to New York in 2010 for graduate school, and i started visiting the city whiskey bars, all of the ones that I could find,

07:10.18
Julia Ritz Toffoli
and You know, I was really excited to be in a space where I could be drinking Manhattans again and and discovering all of the whiskeys behind the bar. And I quickly realized that not everybody felt as inclusive or expansive about who should be a whiskey drinker as I thought um should be.

07:28.34
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And I got a lot of pushback, strangely, whether it was from bartenders who were, you know, surprised to see me there. And, you know, you can't see this on the podcast, but I'm on good and a good day um

07:41.85
Kim Ohanneson
Thank you.

07:42.55
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I'm pretty petite and I 25, you know, at the age of 25, I looked pretty young. And so I think people were a little surprised to see this like tiny little thing show up at a bar and ordering these strong drinks. And so, you know, I from men 99.9% of the time I would get comments like,

08:01.29
Julia Ritz Toffoli
oh, you know, that's really strong, right? Or are you sure you can handle that? Or um one guy said, wouldn't he rather see the wine list? So that's just from bartenders. And then from other patrons, I'd get comments like, oh, I didn't know women drink brown liquor or like, that's really sexy. Or um are you sure you even like that?

08:20.86
Julia Ritz Toffoli
So anyway, after enough of that, I got really frustrated and I started having conversations with friends of mine that I realized we're having the same experience. and so I was new in school. I would you know see somebody ordering an old fashioned and say, hey, I also like whiskey. It was a way to get to know people.

08:37.54
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um And really, as a joke, we said we should start a thing where we're just women going around drinking whiskey and showing all these bartenders that we're whiskey drinkers, too.

08:49.49
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And it really wasn't an official thing. i think, you know, our first we did actually have a first official Women Who Whiskey outing, i think it was in March of 2011.

09:01.38
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um And, but at the time it was really just kind of like a meetup amongst friends. We would say, okay, every month or so, you know, we also were in grad school, we didn't have any money. So we had to be really discerning about where are we gonna go? Where are we gonna spend our, like,

09:14.73
Julia Ritz Toffoli
hard earned like student loan dollars on.

09:17.31
Kim Ohanneson
Thank you.

09:17.45
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And so we would go out every, you know, four to six weeks and pick a bar and, and go. And eventually we gave it a name and eventually it just sort of started snowballing into a thing where friends would bring friends. And, you know, this was,

09:32.33
Julia Ritz Toffoli
A long time ago, it was at the very beginning sort of a social media. I think we had a blog in the very early days, very early days of Instagram. um And slowly people that I had never met started coming or being interested in coming.

09:46.66
Kerry
So on those first couple of outings, how many of their, how many, how many ladies were there?

09:51.44
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I think our very first outing, we had seven women and I actually have a photo of it.

09:51.61
Kerry
Like two, five, 10. Okay. okay

09:56.15
Julia Ritz Toffoli
So it is a treasured memory of mine. um and then, yeah, we were usually around, I would say, you know, from half a dozen to a dozen ladies going out for drinks.

09:58.71
Kerry
um

10:05.13
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um And it was very informal. We would just show up at a bar and have some drinks. We just gave ourselves a name and it got official. um Slowly we started, there was a bar that is unfortunately closed called Ward 3 that would do these events called Whiskey Mondays.

10:20.16
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And they would have a brand ambassador come from ah whiskey brand. And they did this also because Mondays are a notoriously slow night in the hospitality industry.

10:27.96
Kerry
Right.

10:28.59
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And this is a way to get people in the door. So they would have a brand ambassador come in, do ah you know a free tasting of the thing. They would have a cocktail special with the drink. So we started going to these Whiskey Mondays and that's how we started developing relationships with the brands individually. um And so that's sort of how eventually we started doing events that were a little bit more educational, eventually sponsored.

10:51.44
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um But early on, it was really just a meetup and it was just in New York for a long time.

10:58.07
Kerry
Okay. And then um as your New York chapter grew, what what was the impetus to say, hey, let's make this national? Or did somebody come to you and say, hey, can we make a chapter? how did that all start?

11:09.98
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah. so again, it really wasn't anything that I came up with. they The first chapter that we launched, I think was in Portland, Oregon, because a friend of mine who had been part of the New York chapter was moving back there.

11:18.32
Kerry
Oh, wow.

11:22.33
Julia Ritz Toffoli
She was from Portland originally. And she was lamenting to me how sad she would be to leave the club behind. And as a joke, I said, well, why don't you just start a chapter over there? And she did. So she started a chapter in Portland. So that's how we get started the first one. I think our second chapter was in Nairobi for a very similar reason. My friend

11:39.66
Kerry
Wow.

11:40.59
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Tim moved to Nairobi. we We went to public policy school, international development. So we had a lot of friends who moved to different countries. And we started a chapter in London, in Geneva, and in Nairobi.

11:52.24
Julia Ritz Toffoli
We had one in Toronto that is not ah operational anymore. But a lot of the early chapters started because New York members moved elsewhere and brought it with them. And then as our presence on social media grew, people like Kim heard about us in other cities and said, wow, I've always really wanted to start a whiskey club.

12:01.21
Kerry
wow

12:11.05
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Wouldn't it be great if I could do it under the umbrella of something that already existed and had sort of a chapter model? So I started getting inbound requests from people in cities I'd never been to, from people I'd never met to say, hey, I love what you're doing. Can i do it here?

12:26.56
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um And we grew pretty quickly. I think we had in the first... four or five years, maybe 10 chapters. um

12:33.53
Kerry
wow

12:34.67
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And the first year and a half or two, we were really just in New York. So that growth happened quite quickly.

12:40.81
Kerry
Wow. Okay. And so Kim, what year was it that you reached out to Julia and said, Hey, let me, cause I remember i went to seven grand once. Um, and you, and it was, I was doing something, I don't know why I went, but that there you were having one of your ah poetry salons.

12:48.64
Kim Ohanneson
Mm-hmm.

12:55.67
Kerry
And I was like, what is this?

12:56.14
Kim Ohanneson
Mm-hmm.

12:56.99
Kerry
And and Johnny De Scott was there and you were there. And I was like, well, this is very interesting. But then after that, the next time I saw you, it was with women of whiskey. And i was like, wait, I thought she did the poetry thing. Wait, what's going on?

13:08.73
Kerry
So confused.

13:09.39
Kim Ohanneson
Confusing everybody. So, um well, yeah, I mean, so... so ah Johnny, ah Scott Mundell, Johnny Mundell, I actually founded Whiskey and Poetry Salon with. So that's how I kind of made some of my, you know, whiskey contacts.

13:27.63
Kim Ohanneson
ah And, you know, we just would go to things. And he was... um ah Do you know, I don't know if you know him, Julia, but he's, the he was the, yeah for a long time, he was the ah brand ambassador ah for Beam Suntory and he would be traveling back and forth to Japan.

13:42.69
Kerry
Yep.

13:44.88
Kim Ohanneson
So anyway, um that was one of the reasons actually that I thought, well, we, maybe we should branch out because, you know, some it was too hard for him to, you know, kind of keep coming in. So I kind of felt like I needed to expand it.

13:57.95
Kim Ohanneson
um And I remember, um so trying to march my thoughts. It's been, night it was a nine-year anniversary. I think our anniversary of both the club and the chapter are both in March.

14:10.04
Kim Ohanneson
So, and I just had my nine-year anniversary and your, ah

14:13.73
Julia Ritz Toffoli
i think you I think it's going to be 10 years this year because I think we launched the LA chapter in 2015.

14:19.97
Kim Ohanneson
was it? Okay.

14:21.29
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I think so.

14:21.45
Kim Ohanneson
Hmm.

14:22.21
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I'll have to go back and check. It was either 2015 2016, but

14:23.60
Kim Ohanneson
All right. it's Yes, it's either ninth or 10th anniversary.

14:27.38
Julia Ritz Toffoli
yeah

14:28.32
Kim Ohanneson
So, ah And, you know, when I approached Julia, um you know, she'd be, of course, very welcoming. And I put out a little press release.

14:40.15
Kim Ohanneson
and And, you know, wasn't any, I mean, I think I just sent it to like, you know, I don't know, just not infatuation because they didn't have that then. But, um and it kind of took off.

14:53.07
Kim Ohanneson
And I think the town was really ready for it. poor Julia was having, there's like, we've got 2000 members, I think, like in the first two weeks or something.

15:02.99
Julia Ritz Toffoli
LA is still bigger than New York.

15:05.30
Kerry
wow

15:06.58
Kim Ohanneson
I think, um yeah, I think we, and poor Julia was like, I can't, but you know, she, you were having to input everybody.

15:06.97
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah.

15:12.78
Kim Ohanneson
There was no real anything set up. And you kept calling me and they're, you know, getting emailing me and saying, I, there's, so I can't keep up with this. I can't keep up with this. So, um you know, there's obviously a lot of enthusiasm.

15:25.01
Kim Ohanneson
It was just the, you know, the time was right. And, you know, as I mentioned, because of the Whiskey Poetry Salon, I, you know, kind of knew some, you know, brand ambassadors, and I just kind of started calling people up.

15:36.61
Kim Ohanneson
But it's interesting that you remember Seven Grand, which for those who are listening and not in LA, it's, you know, one of the premier whiskey bars and in, you know, the city in

15:45.85
Kerry
ye

15:48.44
Kim Ohanneson
maybe the state. So, um but our, our very first chapter meeting was at seven grand with Brooke Lottie. So, it was, you know, and it was packed. I, you know, it was packed. So it was great.

16:01.31
Kim Ohanneson
And it kind of just went on from there.

16:04.66
Kerry
2,000 members in like five minutes.

16:05.95
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah. Yeah. Well, not five minutes.

16:08.33
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah, was it was weeks. It was in a matter of weeks.

16:11.65
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah.

16:11.63
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I mean, we've we have 2,000 members in New York now after 15 years almost. Yeah. um

16:16.63
Kerry
Wow.

16:16.69
Kim Ohanneson
Mm-hmm. And Nairobi is actually very large. I mean, I think at one point they were close to 3,000. You know, everything has kind of shifted a little bit since, you know, the pandemic, the you know, the writer's strike here, the fires, you know, it's just been one thing after another in Los Angeles.

16:24.82
Kerry
Oh, wow.

16:36.05
Kim Ohanneson
So people are a little more subdued. But anyway.

16:41.83
Kerry
Yeah. But still, we still have members and they still

16:44.87
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Thank

16:45.76
Kerry
Everyone still talks. And I mean, I still go as as often as I can to as many events as we can.

16:49.46
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah. And we've done, we've done events with you. So, ah not and more, I hope.

16:52.40
Kerry
Yes, yes, you have. um Which were fun, really fun. I hope so, too. i I've got another one coming up we need to discuss.

16:59.40
Kim Ohanneson
Okay, great.

16:59.55
Kerry
um Okay, so whiskey journeys. that are Okay, so overall, what is like the, ah what is the mantra? What is the What is the goal of Women Who Whiskey? And like what?

17:18.72
Kerry
Not the motto. um Like, i mean, what is there like a specific guideline of what the chapters are supposed to do in order to stay like within brand or how does that work?

17:30.36
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Well, yeah, so I guess we have our our unofficial motto is sort of, you know, whiskey without mansplaining. um

17:36.89
Kim Ohanneson
Oh,

17:37.88
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Because so many of our members, I think that's the thing that has united us is just getting mansplained to so many times and often wrongly, like mansplainers are not always correct.

17:47.83
Kerry
Right?

17:47.82
Julia Ritz Toffoli
They're actually wrong.

17:47.99
Kerry
Yeah.

17:48.07
Kim Ohanneson
oh mostly wrong, mostly wrong.

17:51.29
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And so that's sort of the I think that that's the the quippy.

17:52.03
Kim Ohanneson
yeah

17:55.91
Julia Ritz Toffoli
the quippy version, ah the longer version is really to create a space for people to explore a passion with without fear of judgment, right? to In a space of vulnerability, in a space of community, in a space where not knowing is just as fine as knowing and in a way that's fun and sort of takes away a lot of the traditional stigmas or rules around something that's seen as very, um you know,

18:23.30
Julia Ritz Toffoli
narrow for a narrow group of people. um And so, yeah, we really try to take a playful attitude first, a playful attitude that also is very communal and interactive and fun.

18:36.81
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um You know, we'll usually do something that involves food pairing. we almost always have a cocktail element because the idea is like whiskey is not this pure thing that you have to like worship at the altar of no ice, no nothing, no water.

18:50.77
Julia Ritz Toffoli
You put juice in it. Who cares? You know, like it should be delicious. You should have it however you want. And so generally we try to work with brands who are first of all open to that. Second of all, who are willing to showcase this their spirits in different and creative ways.

19:05.16
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Um, If we can, we'll try to do events that focus around that. Well, every event has an educational component. Our members are so nerdy. We are nerdy as hell. So if you can do something that's like but we've done events on yeast, we've done events on you know the ins and outs of specifics of like different types of grain in wood maturation. So you know we're not just Whiskey 101 people. We really want to get in the weeds.

19:30.24
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um And so if there's an opportunity to do something that involves, you know, hands on experimentation, um I remember we did an event here in New York with an Irish whiskey where we actually had the three different components, the pot still, the grain whiskey, and the single malt separate.

19:47.45
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And people were able to mix their own, um try to mix the three components to try to match the original blend.

19:51.19
Kerry
great

19:54.46
Kerry
Very cool.

19:54.52
Julia Ritz Toffoli
So that was really fun. Anytime we can get, you know, some chemistry equipment up in here, and we will definitely take that opportunity.

19:59.89
Kerry
Yeah.

20:01.07
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um And so really, yeah, I think that's

20:02.34
Kim Ohanneson
Hopefully Bunsen burners.

20:04.38
Julia Ritz Toffoli
no No, no open claims.

20:04.60
Kerry
yeah

20:04.79
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah. I'm going to...

20:06.96
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um But yeah, I think you know the the it's really a space for nerds to be able to nerd out, for novices to be able to learn and to ask questions in a safe space with people who are passionate and are there to yes and, not no but.

20:21.35
Kerry
Well, like that. Yes. And not no, but I like that.

20:24.22
Kim Ohanneson
yeah um' like i'm mean like

20:24.86
Kerry
I mean, it's nice to have a, but it looks nice, but Sherry, but right.

20:26.48
Kim Ohanneson
yeah

20:27.56
Julia Ritz Toffoli
yeah A sherry but. We only want sherry but.

20:31.97
Kerry
um Okay. So if it's, well, how many chapters do you have now worldwide?

20:36.77
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Oh, that's a good question. kind of comes and goes. Like Kim said, you know, the we at at our peak, we had between 25 and 30. You know, I think I would say leading up to 2020, the pandemic was pretty rough. A lot of the cities that had, you know, a a staple set of brand ambassadors were able to stay alive. But a lot of the chapters that were in sort of smaller second tier markets just did not have the same amount of marketing budget available to them at the brand level. And so it was difficult to stay afloat.

21:09.13
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um I think right now we probably have, but it kind of varies because we're, like we're, so we're, not really launching a lot of new chapters right now because I don't want to get too much into the operational stuff, but we're trying to get our house in order before we start to scale even more.

21:26.33
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I like to use the analogy that, you know, we were kind of like a log cabin where somebody built a lean-to and somebody added an out like an outhouse and a second floor, but like we don't have central plumbing.

21:33.21
Kerry
ah

21:35.78
Julia Ritz Toffoli
We don't have a stairwell. We like, we need to do some like

21:37.80
Kerry
It's the Winchester Mystery House.

21:39.69
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah, right.

21:39.65
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yes, yes. i think We need to do some vet renovations before we can keep adding floors. So i've I've tried to hold back on so um scaling, although we do have a lot of requests in the wings. um So that was a long-winded way of saying, I think, you know, now we probably have about 15 like active chapters and then ah another five or so that are sort of maybe meeting quarterly or something in um in a more informal way.

22:02.91
Kerry
Okay. And then, um so does that mean if somebody watching wanted to start a chapter, they'd have to wait in line? Or is that something and they can call you up and say, hey, we've we've got a lot of interest here. How do we start one?

22:14.08
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah, so I'm hoping that soon we, and I'm going to say this out loud, ah by day I'm a behavioral scientist, so I understand the power of saying a goal out loud and holding yourself accountable to it.

22:26.40
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I'm going to say that hopefully by the end of this year we'll have a system where scaling chapters will be sort of plugged, like click and go. So I think...

22:33.65
Kerry
Plug and play, yeah.

22:34.89
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah, we do have a ah we do have an application. People can fill it out. um and And then you will be sort of in the waiting in the wings. And then when we're ready to scale, we hopefully won't have to go one by one waiting for people waiting in line and you have to wait your turn. We'll sort of reach out to everybody who's applied and said, are you still interested? If so, you know here's how we're going to sort of do the application process and get you set up and ready to go.

22:58.86
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um But I'm just, I'm waiting on a little bit more internal, you know, sort of setting up operational systems, setting up, you know, like we don't have a ah handbook yet, but Kim and and all of her other chapter presidents were such good sports about sort of launching this totally blind and with just a bunch of emails back and forth. us Now we'd like to be a little bit more systematic about growth.

23:21.40
Kim Ohanneson
Well, i you know, you were so supportive, Julia.

23:21.66
Kerry
Fantastic.

23:23.48
Kim Ohanneson
I mean, really, it was, I never felt like I was dangling in the wind or why, you know, why what is happening? So you you were really, really supportive. And I think after, not long after me, there was a big rush of chapters, is I think we've discussed, you know, so, um and, you know, I think

23:39.06
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I'm glad.

23:42.92
Kim Ohanneson
Also, you know, as you say, Julia, there's been so many people who are wanting to do different kinds of chapters. You know, some people, it seems like, just want to get together and have cocktails, which is totally great.

23:54.62
Kim Ohanneson
And some people, you know, want to get more in the weeds. But so, yeah, I, i anyway, again, I felt totally supported by you.

24:01.42
Julia Ritz Toffoli
yeah

24:04.08
Kim Ohanneson
So.

24:05.27
Kerry
Well, Kim, there's something else I wanted to ask you.

24:05.52
Julia Ritz Toffoli
i'm glad

24:07.36
Kerry
um i know that you guys have had a collaboration with some other um whiskeys in the past.

24:07.96
Kim Ohanneson
Mm-hmm.

24:14.01
Kerry
I i idea know i was it' going to bring that bottle in to look at it, but I'll have to show it up later. But I know that you've done bottle collaborations before. and Now you have one coming up with Impex.

24:25.62
Kerry
What is this particular bottle and how can people get hold of it?

24:31.53
Kim Ohanneson
Ah, well, um actually, ah impacts we've had, you know, over the years, and I think, you know, ah New York chapter as well, but, um you know, very specifically,

24:42.76
Kim Ohanneson
l LA chapter because Chris Udy, who, ah you know, is the VP, I believe, or partner ah with Impact's Beverages, which is an importing company, um you know, we've become good friends.

24:53.93
Kim Ohanneson
He approached us about a um doing a collaboration with Fukano, Japanese whiskey. This is kind of the big thing that we did. ah And it was to celebrate Chizuru Fukano, who is like one of the first ladies of Japanese whiskey.

25:09.95
Kim Ohanneson
ah And she was about to retire. And ah so Chris wanted to do a special ah bottle for her. And it was, you know, was, It was kind of fraught because, you know, it was it was during the pandemic, if I'm remembering it, you know there's a couple of collaborations and, you know, ah shipments were being delayed.

25:31.48
Kim Ohanneson
Do you have that memory?

25:32.25
Kerry
Mm-hmm.

25:32.52
Kim Ohanneson
And, you know, was like, is it going to get here in time? And, you know, do we have to move it back? And, um you know, Chris set up an international, you know, Zoom meeting with Chizuru and people were crying.

25:45.97
Kim Ohanneson
Remember that, Julia? I mean, I was crying, but I always cry when I get very emotional.

25:47.36
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah, I mean, it was for, yeah, it was for our 10th anniversary. So it was supposed to be and in 2021, but because of the pandemic, like shipping, the shipping container, like delays, we ended up doing the event, I think in February of 2022, think when I was in LA, yeah, it was almost a year after, and I was in LA, I came to Kim's house and we did the Zoom together.

25:53.81
Kim Ohanneson
That's right. Okay.

25:58.32
Kim Ohanneson
um

26:02.46
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah, it was. Yes.

26:08.79
Kim Ohanneson
Hmm. Is it that long? Yeah.

26:17.43
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah.

26:17.37
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um from her.

26:18.21
Kim Ohanneson
I and remember there was like a lot of light coming through and you said, I'm getting raptured.

26:23.61
Kerry
Yeah.

26:24.53
Julia Ritz Toffoli
yeah

26:24.71
Kim Ohanneson
But, and, you know, Lynn Doe, who now works for Scotchmalt Whiskey Society, but she's an artist and this is one of her paintings up here. but i don't know if you can see it.

26:37.22
Kim Ohanneson
but she designed a beautiful label for it. ah You know, of it was taken from a picture of Chisiro holding her child, but then Lynn put in like shape ah sheaves of wheat.

26:49.38
Kim Ohanneson
And it was very, very beautiful. um I was very honored to be able to, Chris said, We need somebody to do the tasting notes right away. I was like, okay. And then I tasted and, you know, it was very honored to do the tasting notes under duress. um But so the big lead up is that, you know, it's sold out very quickly, right, Julia? I mean, there was, you know, almost immediately all of, there wasn't that many, it was 3000 bottles, I think total.

27:17.30
Kim Ohanneson
And ah they just found in a warehouse somewhere in the Midwest, like a, ah like, you know, ah ah finite number of cases, but ah i mean, it's, this is like discovering gold.

27:31.27
Kim Ohanneson
I mean, it's just hasn't even been, you know, in available for years now.

27:32.10
Kerry
Yep.

27:37.25
Kim Ohanneson
um So there, and there, the ah organization, not Women Who Whiskey, but the warehouse or the organization that where the whiskey was found will ship it out anywhere in the United States. And I do not have the link.

27:55.96
Kim Ohanneson
Can we add that later?

27:56.81
Julia Ritz Toffoli
We'll get it to you.

27:57.13
Kerry
ye yep

27:58.00
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah. Okay. So, and it's also $30 off. So, which is, so it was 90 and now it's 60.

28:03.16
Kerry
wow

28:05.62
Kim Ohanneson
And ah Julia ah posted in her Women Who Whiskey. And as she said, it's the perfect way to celebrate upcoming anniversary of women who whiskey. And, you know, it's also a great spring ah whiskey.

28:18.72
Kim Ohanneson
i've I found I've done tastings with people and they're like, this is spring in a bottle. So ah beautiful bottle and, you know, and celebrating women. So it's so.

28:28.04
Kerry
And do you know how many bottles are in that finite number of cases?

28:33.95
Kim Ohanneson
I think it's um I want to say it's nine cases with nine cases. but nine, nine but cases of six bottles each.

28:46.67
Kim Ohanneson
So does that sound right, Julia?

28:46.90
Kerry
Okay.

28:48.15
Kim Ohanneson
Or

28:48.10
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah, nine cases. Yeah, i'm not I can never remember if a case is six or 12. I think it's six.

28:52.70
Kerry
Right.

28:53.56
Kim Ohanneson
i think these are six.

28:55.38
Kerry
Six, huh?

28:55.82
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah.

28:56.09
Julia Ritz Toffoli
It's somewhere between 50 100 bottles.

28:56.41
Kim Ohanneson
It's not. Yeah. So very, very limited.

28:59.41
Kerry
Okay, so not very many.

29:00.12
Kim Ohanneson
So, uh, and yeah, it's an amazing price and it's never going to you know, you'll never be able to get it again.

29:01.07
Kerry
Wow.

29:06.74
Kim Ohanneson
So, um, yeah, very exciting.

29:09.61
Kerry
That's very cool. It's like ah when people find, um you know, from the Prohibition era, when they find whiskey and walls and floors and old houses, it's kind of, I love those stories.

29:18.22
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah.

29:19.75
Kim Ohanneson
yeah i think it yeah i think Yeah, I think that's exactly what happened.

29:20.66
Kerry
I mean, it's only been a couple years, but still, it's nice.

29:24.98
Kim Ohanneson
I mean, you know, it just somehow got overlooked in a warehouse or else it would already be gone. So do you know, has everything's, oh yeah, it's just the original bottles that somehow, you know, the warehouse got tucked away.

29:32.17
Kerry
So these are already labeled and everything. They were just original. And it just

29:40.31
Kerry
got lost in the mix.

29:42.14
Kim Ohanneson
And so do you know if anybody has bought bottles in your chapter, Julia?

29:48.85
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I don't know. I haven't talked to Chris. I think a couple, but we'll we keep putting it in our newsletter.

29:50.93
Kim Ohanneson
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

29:56.36
Kerry
And is it only going to be available um through you guys?

29:56.46
Kim Ohanneson
Thank

29:59.04
Kerry
Or are they selling it anywhere else?

30:01.40
Kim Ohanneson
you.

30:01.54
Julia Ritz Toffoli
It's just through this.

30:01.94
Kim Ohanneson
Oh, 69.

30:02.58
Julia Ritz Toffoli
It's Potomac Wines and Spirits. I just put the link in the chat.

30:06.23
Kerry
Okay.

30:06.23
Kim Ohanneson
Thank you.

30:07.25
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And it's on sale. The normal price was $99.99 and it's on sale for it's like,

30:12.36
Kim Ohanneson
oh fifteen nine thank you

30:13.66
Julia Ritz Toffoli
yeah it's thirty dollars off and it's now we're never

30:17.01
Kim Ohanneson
yeah Yeah, and they ship everywhere. So it wouldn't be through us.

30:20.02
Julia Ritz Toffoli
$30 off. Yeah.

30:20.75
Kim Ohanneson
I mean, you could, I guess if somebody wanted to get in touch with us, but well we would just be directing them towards Potomac.

30:22.49
Julia Ritz Toffoli
yes

30:26.81
Kerry
Oh, that label is gorgeous. I'm gonna have to stick out a picture of that up.

30:29.89
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah, yeah, it's really beautiful.

30:29.99
Kerry
Good job, Lynn. Good job. um i have ah I have a couple pieces of Lynn's artwork also.

30:31.69
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Mm-hmm.

30:34.61
Kerry
um I have ah distillery. I think it was Ardbeg. I can't remember. I'd have to go look at it. um And then I also have something where she did like these Mickey Mouse characters that were ah also Star Wars characters.

30:44.48
Kim Ohanneson
Tell her you have.

30:48.73
Kerry
um That's really cool too. I have, she's, she's very diverse with her artwork. I love it. And this is definitely a different style than I have seen her do before, but I love it. Um,

30:56.97
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah, i I went on a Lindo buying spree ah for a little while there and then ran out of wall room.

31:05.82
Kerry
Yeah, yeah. I still have to get, um I think I have three of hers and I still have to get them all framed because they deserve frames.

31:13.14
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah, same.

31:15.54
Kerry
and So um I actually, fun story, when I went to Scotland, it's 10 years ago now, it was in 2015.

31:15.66
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah.

31:22.24
Kerry
um I went on a trip and her and Binno were both going to the Isla Festival. And when we were in Isla, we were coinciding at the same time. And I said, oh, we have to go Ardbeg right now because my friends are there.

31:34.58
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

31:35.24
Kerry
And so everyone's like, oh, well that wasn't on our list. I said, I don't care. We have to go. so

31:40.24
Kim Ohanneson
Let's go now.

31:41.18
Kerry
ah so we went and um I got to hang out with Lynn for a little bit. And then I couldn't hang out with Bino because he was in the middle of making a big deal on some $3,000 bottle of something or other.

31:51.28
Kerry
And so he just, i have to talk to you later.

31:51.31
Kim Ohanneson
Oh yeah, that's been a, yeah.

31:54.03
Kerry
i'm like, okay. So

31:55.82
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah, he's a member of, i think, every whiskey club, you know, ah in the state. So he's, yeah.

32:01.12
Kerry
Yeah. Yeah. I found him up in San Francisco last year at Fog City Social. I'm sure he'll be there again this year. um I'm going again this year. So if you if you can get to Fog City Social, it's great. It's ah ah April 26th this year.

32:15.95
Kerry
So anyone out there wants to go.

32:17.90
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah, I don't, I'm going to be able to make that, but I'm promoting it. So.

32:21.38
Kerry
Good, good, good, good. Yes, me too. um And then also the Nth is coming up. um That's the same weekend. So um I'll be going out there on the 25th for that.

32:32.80
Kerry
And then straight to San Francisco for the next thing. It's very busy week. And Jonathan Pogash is out here. So we're doing some cocktail guru things.

32:40.14
Kim Ohanneson
Have fun.

32:40.46
Kerry
um yeah Yeah, I've been requesting days off like one at a time, two at a time.

32:41.33
Kim Ohanneson
That's going to be a busy week for you.

32:47.49
Kerry
And I was like, well, now I could have just for requested the whole week if these people told me all these things were happening before.

32:51.51
Kim Ohanneson
Thank you.

32:53.11
Kerry
Anyway, I digress. these This is all going to be cut out. But okay. So if anybody wanted to get involved with the current chapters, is there a main Women Who Whiskey website that they can go to? Or um how would they know what cities are currently available?

33:08.81
Kerry
And then if they wanted to throw their hat in and say, I'm ready to start a chapter, what would they do?

33:15.20
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Great question. So we do have a website. It's womenwhowiskey.club, C-L-U-B. c l u b um And you can find all the information on there. There's a join page, which links to all of the different chapters and each chapter has its own signup ah list. It's currently free to join Women Who Whiskey. And then most of the events and most chapters are ticketed.

33:37.79
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um They are heavily subsidized compared to how much it would cost you to get the equivalent of what you get at an event

33:44.84
Kerry
Right.

33:46.68
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um But so, yeah, the events are ticketed. you can go to the ones that you're available for. um And each like I said, each chapter kind of has its own cadence of events and style.

33:59.73
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And then on that same on that page, I don't know exactly where it is on the website, but there is a way to apply to start a new chapter in your city. And there's also a signup sheet where you can sign up to for other cities and we will let you know if a chapter launches in your city.

34:17.75
Julia Ritz Toffoli
So you can say, i don't want to start one, but I want to know when you, yeah, I want to be in one when it opens here.

34:20.28
Kerry
But I want to be in one Nice.

34:23.28
Julia Ritz Toffoli
So you can sign for that list and we'll keep you posted.

34:23.61
Kim Ohanneson
i

34:26.72
Kerry
Sounds good. All right, ladies.

34:28.06
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah. People don't realize how much work it is to start a chapter.

34:28.45
Kerry
well

34:31.14
Kerry
Oh, yeah.

34:31.94
Kim Ohanneson
you know, it's, it's, yeah.

34:32.28
Kerry
and so it's It's a lot. And my hat's off to both of you ladies because it's it's a lot of work.

34:36.76
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah.

34:38.14
Kerry
um

34:38.33
Kim Ohanneson
That's a lot of fun.

34:39.65
Kerry
It is a lot of fun.

34:39.80
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I think it's worth it.

34:41.07
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah.

34:41.19
Julia Ritz Toffoli
but I've gained so much from running this organization and the whiskey's not even the top 10.

34:47.40
Kim Ohanneson
ah hu

34:47.50
Julia Ritz Toffoli
So, yeah.

34:48.24
Kerry
Oh, wow.

34:48.23
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah.

34:50.14
Kerry
That's pretty good. Impressive. Because I would say the whiskey is number one.

34:51.29
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah.

34:53.90
Julia Ritz Toffoli
You know, the women, it's the women. I've met so many amazing women all over the world and just made so many friendships.

34:57.09
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah.

34:57.60
Kerry
Oh, that too. That too.

35:01.36
Julia Ritz Toffoli
I've learned so much from so many people. And yeah, I mean, um okay, the whiskey's in the top 10, maybe not the top five.

35:08.57
Kerry
Okay. That's little better. ah But yeah, no, getting to know all the women.

35:10.89
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah.

35:12.05
Kerry
I mean, that's that's fantastic. I love going, and my same experience when I first started drinking whiskey was you know, the bartender's like, what are you talking about? and then people look at me like, you know, that's a man's drink, right? I'm like, or, hey, you know, that's grandpa's drink, right?

35:21.42
Julia Ritz Toffoli
yeah

35:22.69
Kerry
i'm like, hey, maybe you should check what's going on in the world today because no, it's not.

35:26.40
Kim Ohanneson
there

35:27.81
Kerry
um And I remember quite often in the beginning, I was the only girl in the room for many things whiskey related. So I love going to Kim's events because there's usually only one man in the room.

35:39.33
Kerry
And then I'm like, now it's opposite.

35:39.41
Kim Ohanneson
yeah

35:41.51
Kerry
It's crazy.

35:41.81
Kim Ohanneson
is Yeah, it's funny.

35:43.22
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And

35:43.70
Kim Ohanneson
We, yeah you know, ah we have, I mean, just so people know, um you know, I mean, I would like to, you know, invite men in anyway, just because, you know, we've talked about this, Julia, you know, it's kind of different when the club started, there was more of like, as you say, well, it's a big drink for a little lady, you know, kind of thing.

36:01.87
Kim Ohanneson
Now there's a much more enlightened, you know, attitude. ah But legally, we can't bar men from that. We can't make it women only or we could be sued.

36:11.94
Kim Ohanneson
So um because there's because it's stupid, you know, litigious guys.

36:12.69
Kerry
Right. right.

36:18.14
Kim Ohanneson
So anyway, but I think it adds to, you know, i mean, as long as somebody doesn't mansplain and or.

36:25.55
Kerry
right

36:26.17
Kim Ohanneson
very loudly. Well, you know, um but generally speaking, everybody is very polite, but it's very funny that my chapter, there's like, you know, 2000 something women and like 153 men.

36:41.07
Kim Ohanneson
So and that's kind of how it's reflected.

36:41.46
Kerry
Wow. I didn't realize there was that many men. That's crazy.

36:45.86
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

36:46.58
Kerry
Okay. I thought it was just David.

36:47.63
Kim Ohanneson
They don't all show up, you know, so yeah.

36:50.50
Kerry
It was just David.

36:52.14
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah.

36:52.73
Kim Ohanneson
but Anyway.

36:52.94
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Well, and inclusivity is sort of our partner, you know, founding ethos. So it it does make sense to include anybody who wants to be involved. we we In New York, we still sometimes do events that are, um' I would say, quote unquote, women only, because we are very inclusive.

37:03.29
Kerry
Right.

37:11.83
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Like if you consider yourself to be you know fitting that description in any way, shape or form, then this is open for you. So it's more about if you identify a gentleman, we would ask you to sit this one out, essentially, is how we be phrase it.

37:25.73
Kim Ohanneson
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

37:26.64
Julia Ritz Toffoli
um But we still do some, it's less and less year over year. But you know i think one of the things I realized was If we're only hanging out together, whose minds are we changing about who a whiskey drinker is?

37:38.91
Julia Ritz Toffoli
And right part of, you know, trying to shift the narrative around who whiskey is for and who drinks it is about normalizing it for people who might not normally have, you know, a lot of exposure to women drinking whiskey or women being experts about whiskey, which is also so important.

37:39.06
Kerry
True.

37:54.69
Kim Ohanneson
hu

37:54.77
Kerry
Right, right. Okay. Well, ladies, thank you so much for your time today. This has been fabulous. I finally get to know how this all started because I've been wondering that for years now um and how Kim ah met you. And so I didn't know that she was ah told about the organization and then pursued it.

38:13.24
Kim Ohanneson
It was a cold call.

38:13.30
Kerry
It was like, hey, I'm in LA.

38:14.51
Kim Ohanneson
Yay. Yay.

38:16.51
Kerry
You want me to start a chapter?

38:16.74
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Thank you.

38:18.34
Kim Ohanneson
yeah

38:18.81
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yes, please.

38:20.96
Kim Ohanneson
yeah

38:22.15
Kerry
so

38:22.13
Kim Ohanneson
Well, thank you for having us, Carrie.

38:24.42
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yes, what a treat.

38:24.53
Kim Ohanneson
Really appreciate it.

38:25.51
Kerry
Yes. And ah for those out there on social media, what would be the handles that they can look for to find ah you guys besides your website?

38:34.28
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Yeah, so the the main Women Who Whiskey handle is just at Women Who Whiskey across all platforms. um And we have a different one for Los Angeles and all the different chapters.

38:46.10
Kim Ohanneson
And, ah you know, Yeah, we're just basically Women Who Whiskey Los Angeles, at Women Who Whiskey Los Angeles. um I think Facebook might have, there might be a hyphen in there somewhere, but, you know, it comes up.

38:58.84
Julia Ritz Toffoli
We're pretty easy to find.

39:00.30
Kim Ohanneson
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

39:02.73
Kerry
Great. All right, ladies.

39:03.86
Kim Ohanneson
so

39:04.09
Kerry
Well, thanks again for being on the show. And I look forward to more events.

39:08.45
Kim Ohanneson
Yay, thank you.

39:09.04
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Thanks.

39:09.65
Kim Ohanneson
Yes, you'll have to come out for some of them.

39:09.85
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Thanks for having us.

39:11.01
Kim Ohanneson
I'm sorry we couldn't have it have ah an event when you were out here last, Julia. So next time.

39:16.43
Julia Ritz Toffoli
A quick highlight, yes. But let me know next time either of you are in New York. I'd love to see you.

39:20.65
Kim Ohanneson
I hope definitely, probably soon.

39:20.85
Kerry
Will do.

39:22.71
Kim Ohanneson
So sooner rather than the later, I hope. Thank you.

39:26.01
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Great.

39:26.41
Kim Ohanneson
Thank you, Carrie.

39:26.83
Kerry
Thanks.

39:28.21
Kim Ohanneson
Thank you, Julie.

39:28.29
Kerry
Thanks.

39:28.26
Julia Ritz Toffoli
Thank you.

39:28.73
Kim Ohanneson
Good to see you. Bye-bye.