Eboni Major Rocks The Whiskey Industry
Disrupting a prominently white and male industry was never Eboni Major’s intention. In fact, she mainly took the job at Bulleit in Kentucky because it was closer to home. Rocking the boat was just a bonus.
Whiskey never interested Eboni until she started blending and discovered a passion for the flavors and the nuance of each bottle. The food science student who’d started out working in food quality and safety ultimately made history when she became the first Black blender at a major distillery.
As with any trailblazer, Eboni faced obstacles – some of which have been widely publicized – as she made room for herself and others who looked like her in the industry. Along the way, she’s delivered expertly blended whiskey to a growing audience of diverse whiskey drinkers. But it never would have happened if she hadn’t come across the internship listing online.
Diving Into Spirits
While working on her master’s degree in food science at Alabama A&M University, with a focus on food safety and toxicology, Eboni took an internship with Kettle Chips in Oregon. She supported the food safety and quality assurance efforts for the brand and gained a lot of insight into the field.
As Eboni tells it, “At Kettle, [I was working on] food quality and safety, ingredients – just making sure ingredient selection was natural, working the potato chip line, working innovations if we wanted to remove any artificial colorings or dyes from the product.”
But eventually, she wanted to be across the country, near her home in Alabama. So she started looking around for something else. She found exactly what she wanted on the online job board, Indeed.
“I was just looking for something to get closer to home,” Eboni explains. “But also I'm pretty picky when it comes to jobs, so when I found the blending internship role, I was really excited.”
That’s not to say she was motivated by the opportunity to work with whiskey or for a large company like Diageo.
“When I first took the role, I was fully anticipating taking it and then going back to finish my degree – I’d signed a one-year contract,” Eboni says. “But once I got in the role and [realized] how much I learned and how much more there was to learn, I was banging down the door for them to hire me full-time.”
Riding that Wave
Eboni discovered not only a passion for the art of blending whiskey but also a true skill for it. She rose to the level of blender at Bulleit and broke down barriers and glass ceilings by March 2020, just before the pandemic hit.
But instead of weathering the storm of Covid with the distillery and introducing her Blender’s Select bourbon to the world, Eboni faced blowback from an industry run by mostly white men. She faced discrimination that held her back from reaching her full potential at the legacy brand, even though she fought back against it. Ultimately, she left the company, striking out on her own as a consultant for smaller craft brands.
Acknowledging the difference between her experience at a large distillery versus the craft spirits landscape, Eboni notes, “I really love craft because it's a different element and just a little bit more hands-on process of distilling for sure.”
In the two years since leaving Diageo, Eboni returned home to Birmingham, Alabama but she’s only continued to build on her already impressive resumé. She has blended for craft brands, like Dread River Distilling Co., and provided sensory services for a distillery in Nashville.
“Through sensory analysis, I provide feedback and quality ratings, guidance on whether I think
improvements or changes are needed throughout the distillation process,” Eboni says, explaining her sensory work. “And hopefully, it proves helpful. It has [at] the larger distilleries, and it's proving helpful in the smaller world – using that ability to help people create better liquids and [getting] programs implemented at craft distillers.”
Familiar Currents
Meanwhile, home continues to hold a very special place in her heart. So much so that she’s developing products in homage to Birmingham. In fact, the Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey she created for Dread River is a tribute to that home base. It makes sense since the distillery is right around the corner from her home too.
“It's a couple of blocks from my grandmother's house,” she explains. “The owners and I got to know each other and I got to know the brand and kind of where they were. The best way for me to integrate myself and partner with the distillery was creating a blend.”
Ripples of Change
Even with the comfort of home surrounding her, Eboni still encounters challenges. However, she admits, “When you step into the craft world, craft doesn't necessarily have the gatekeepers and the stakeholders that are just worried about the profit margin.”
But there’s still that blowback from the status quo. She’s bringing a fresh and diverse perspective to a craft that has long been owned by a single, uniform group. Even in an agile and fast-moving craft environment, she runs up against barriers.
“I mean, I’ll say this, even in my most recent project, I encountered issues,” she admits. “Especially being a woman, being a Black woman and not having people appreciate your knowledge or your expertise that you bring. It makes it difficult.”
As she sees it, it’s all “a bit unnecessary.” The way the industry handles the criticism, especially over the last year, hasn’t been terribly effective either.
Eboni observes, “I think our industry is one where we – for years – have put women up on this pedestal, but have we really changed how it is on the inside?”
It appears that women are being set apart from the rest of the industry. It makes Eboni question whether she and others like her are actually being heard and listened to. Are women getting the opportunity to make decisions or have all the efforts to improve diversity simply been lip service – an effort to look better as the world changes around the industry?
Still, Eboni loves her work. “If I weren’t crazy in love with what it is that I do, I wouldn't do it. That's just me being honest.”
Sea Change
Recently, Eboni teamed up with a fellow pioneer, Marianne Eaves – the woman who earned the title of the first female Master Distiller in Kentucky. Eboni’s sharp senses support Marianne’s efforts to select craft distilleries she includes in her Eaves Blind, a subscription service that offers samples of small-batch and single-barrel whiskey.
In Marianne and others like her who’ve stepped away from establishment jobs to build their own brands, Eboni sees a hopeful future for women and underrepresented groups in the industry.
“There's a lot of women leaving roles and betting on themselves,” she says. “My hope is that women continue to be brave, they continue to fight to stay in this industry. Because that's what it is – a fight. It's not easy.”
Those moves by women seem to be making more impact than the distilleries themselves, as far as Eboni is concerned. Even as they spend money on efforts to improve diversity, it has yet to change much.
“I’m not sure I’ve seen that breakthrough in the industry,” she concedes. “For me as a Black person, I’m still waiting to see more talent that looks like me – beyond marketing.”
However, even with stunted diversity efforts, women and BIPOC individuals still join the industry. Eboni suggests they find the people who will cheer for them and support them in their journey.
“Surround yourself with people that wanna see you there,” she advises. “Understand what it is that you want because to rise in the industry or to be seen as leaders, there are different ways to do it – I just happen to be on the liquid production side.”
As Eboni herself moves forward, continuing to bet on herself, she hopes to be remembered both for her blending talent and also as a person who makes room for others. It was important to her to tell her story and share her experiences – to make a difference.
And so, Eboni explains, she’d like her legacy to be twofold – as “someone who has made great liquid and has done their best to do some good along the way.” There’s no doubt that Eboni is well on her way to establishing that legacy.
