Whiskey, a drink typically perceived to be masculine, is the drink of choice among the ladies of Women Who Whiskey; a social club run by Stacey Smith-Clark, president of the club and a Long Beach native. This year will mark 5 years since the club’s beginning in Long Beach and Smith-Clarks’ role as president.
When Smith-Clark’s daughter left home for college, she found she had more time to herself. As a result, her and her husband would go out on date nights, where a newfound interest in cocktails was born.
“I got really into learning about cocktails and talking to bartenders and then saying, ‘what happens if you take this out of a drink?’ ‘Then what does it become,’” Smith-Clark said. “And pretty rapidly, I found out what I liked about the cocktail was the base spirit, which was pretty much always whiskey.”
Smith-Clark had begun studying whiskey when Women Who Whiskey Los Angeles launched their chapter. Women Who Whiskey is a national organization, with 25 chapters in the country created by Julia Ritz Toffoli, who is the president of the main chapter in New York City.
Being a consistent attendee to the Los Angeles chapter’s events, Smith-Clark was offered the role as vice president. As vice president, she would host events in her hometown, Long Beach.
However, the Los Angeles members didn’t like making the drive down. As a result, Smith-Clark launched the Long Beach chapter in October of 2019.
More than just enjoying drinking whiskey, Women Who Whiskey focuses on learning about the drink; how it’s made, who makes it and where it’s made.
“I have found all of these other people that are also super into that [whiskey],” Smith-Clark said.
Events are inconsistent, with updates being shared on their social media. However, they consistently meet at The Hawk, a bar in Long Beach, on the second Monday of every month for a no-host happy hour from six to eight in the evening.
The no-host happy hour is a drop in event so members can come and go as they please. The theme for no-host happy hour changes every month and the bar will have flights and cocktails to match.
“Sometimes we have a theme event, we work with different bars and restaurants and venues, we typically favor small businesses, and also we always give favor to women owned brands and businesses, but we switch it up.”
The goal of Women Who Whiskey is not only to connect women with others who share their interest, but also strengthen their confidence behind their drink of choice. A shared experience among women and one that pushed founder Ritz Toffoli to create Women Who Whiskey is the comments made by men.
“When the founder would go out to get a drink and she would order whiskey, undoubtedly somebody would say, ‘Are you sure you want that?’ ‘Are you very sure you can handle that?’ ‘That’s a really strong drink,’” Smith-Clark said.
“That still happens to a lot of people. And I mean, just this year, I think three times I’ve had different men go, ‘But do you even like it?’ Which you know, would you ever say that to another man?”
Smith-Clark hopes that people who go to events hosted by Women Who Whiskey find their drinking buddies, learn something new about whiskey and feel confident in sharing their drink choice with others. Smith-Clark herself has enjoyed meeting new people, creating a tight knit community, and feels she still learns something new about whiskey every time she goes to a brand tasting or event.
Joining a new social space, especially one with drinking involved can be nerve racking, but Smith-Clark does her best to create a welcoming environment. People range from having never drank any alcohol to people who drink more often, and some people believe they can’t handle whiskey at all.
“Typically when they were young in college, they drank some really strong bourbon or some really heated scotch, and then got sick and then thought, Oh, I can’t drink whiskey,” Smith-Clark said. “There’s whiskey for everyone. It’s just finding what that is for you.”
Women Who Whiskey is truly open to everyone, including men. Something special about the Long Beach chapter is that anyone regardless of gender is welcome to join because “we’re Long Beach and we’re super chill,” Smith-Clark said.
Even those who don’t want to drink whiskey and just want cocktails or don’t want to drink at all are welcome to Women Who Whiskey.
“Everybody is welcome. There’s no judgment about anything,” Smith-Clark said.
Women Who Whiskey have three events coming up this next week. For more details follow their Instagram, @womenwhowhiskeylbc.
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