3: Lisa Wicker, Itinerant Distiller, Considers Lessons From Her Past While Looking to the Future

Master distiller Lisa Wicker may have taken an unconventional path through her career, shifting from wine to distilled spirits, but that’s hardly the only decision she’s made that some might deem unusual. For Wicker, spreading out and exploring adjacent but interesting fields has improved her approach to distilling and blending much more than intense focus could. Now, she pulls on all that background to hone fermentations with atypical grains, tighten distillations, and blend with identifiable character in mind.
In this episode’s conversation with Sydney Jones, Wicker discusses:
- Cold mashing corn for more characterful distillation
- Using malted rye and barley
- Testing heirloom corn varieties for distilling potential
- Lessons learned from winemaking
- Building through notes in whiskey brands for flavor identities
- Blending with partial barrels to achieve flavor balance
- Blending strategies to soften the edges of younger, wilder whiskies
And more.
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