One of the few historic photographs of Elizabeth Cumming of Cardhu Distillery

While women are often absent from the history of Scotch whisky, they actually played a key role in the industry from its inception. Before the industrial revolution, distillation (much like beer brewing) usually took place at home, and it was usually women stirring those mashtuns or adjusting the flame under the still. In his recent book, Whiskey Women, historian Fred Minnick even posits that we have women to thank for the invention of the first beer brewing equipment in early Mesopotamia. Read more here