Shaylyn Gammon’s Nose Led Her to a Career in Whiskey
Photo Credit: Blue Run Spirits
Shaylyn Gammon has a nose for spirits – and it’s won her a lot of accolades.
As a supertaster, Shaylyn’s sense of smell is powerful – so much so that, as she tells it, “I move through the world with my nose.”
But it was her brain that took her down the path of whiskey making. By her own admission, she’s equally left-brained and right-brained so she sought out a career that scratched both her love of science and of art.
Given her award-winning track record, it seems as though Shaylyn made a great choice. The industry drew her in and now she’s making an impact on it as a woman and a mother, crafting fine beverages.
On the Scent
From the very beginning, Shaylyn used her expertise to innovate and create change. Of course, she’s done it all in her uniquely right and left-brained way.
Shaylyn chose to study food science at the University of Kentucky after a bit of experimentation across other disciplines.
“I went into college entirely undecided,” Shaylyn explained. “And I was paralyzed with options, so I was taking everything from journalism to pre-med courses to understand where I might want to go. And then … I found out about this major called ‘food science.’ It was intriguing to me because, number one, I hadn't heard of it. Number two, it had to do with food. And I love food and flavor.”
The course load involved a lot of science. “You do all the core science classes and then you take them all again, but this time just add the word ‘food’ in front of it,” Shaylyn noted. “You know: food biology, food microbiology, food chemistry, food engineering, etc.”
When she graduated, Shaylyn was part of a very small class. Only a few other people completed food science degrees that semester, and those people went on to quality control or research and development roles across the food industry.
For Shaylyn, it was the R&D route that attracted her most. “I figured that would let me explore more of my creative side,” she said.
And that’s where she headed, taking an R&D role in the food space for a brief moment before accepting an amazing opportunity with Italian drink giant Campari Group. That role allowed her to use her skills as a supertaster and she had the opportunity to develop beverages right off the bat. “It was just me and my boss and we did all the innovation for North America for many, many different brands and spirit types,” she recalled.
“When I started with Campari, that year, I did at least two vodkas and one bourbon,” Shaylyn shared. “They all received really high accolades and I was thrilled.”
On the Nose
Photo Credit: Blue Run Spirits
Right off the bat, Shaylyn felt true momentum in the beverage industry. And it hooked her.
“I'm very loyal,” Shaylyn admitted. “I knew wherever I wound up, I would be there a length of time. This was great because Campari definitely scratched a lot of itches for me.”
Her desire to be challenged, her penchant for science and her artistic side all came together in whiskey and vodka. Each spirit appealed to her for different reasons.
“For whiskey, it's blending,” Shaylyn acknowledged. “But for vodka, it's flavors. And that's a whole other world that I was very fascinated by.”
The job also satisfied her desire to continue learning and trying new things.
“No two days were alike,” Shaylyn recalled. “Lots of travel – going down to Mexico and learning their culture. And I was like, ‘Okay, well, I'm going to learn Spanish while I'm at it.’ I love all these things together. All the people. It checked a lot of boxes for me.”
In 2022, Shaylyn took a leap by joining Blue Run Spirits, a startup whiskey company.
“I left the comfortability of a corporate job … and joined a startup,” Shaylyn confessed. “It was an entirely new adventure. For the first time, I was put in a position of true influence. I was the only person with alcohol experience on the team … the only technical person on the team.”
The experience triggered a lot of growth for Shaylyn. But that wasn’t the only time she felt like she was leading the pack when it came to innovation in the industry. That also happened when she was pregnant in 2020.
“When I was pregnant with my son in 2020, I was still working but I wasn't tasting,” Shaylyn described. The expectant mother relied entirely on her nose to blend whiskey.
“It's not that crazy,” Shaylyn noted. “Most of what I do is by smell anyway. So, I blended this one particular whiskey and lo and behold.”
During her pregnancy, Shaylyn worked with a small team and blended Russell’s Reserve 13, a whiskey that went on to earn #1 American Whiskey of 2021 from spirits expert Fred Minnick.
Detecting Off-Odors
Since Shaylyn benefits from a strong sense of smell, it’s not a challenge for her to detect flavors and nuances of whiskey with just her nose. However, she’s encountered other challenges while navigating the industry overall.
“The interpersonal part of any career is challenging,” Shaylyn revealed. “Especially being a woman – trying to find your place; trying to find where you can succeed; trying to find what you're good at and then ultimately being confident in that.”
Photo Credit: Blue Run Spirits
Overall, Shaylyn has certainly overcome the challenges of being a woman – and a mother – in a male-dominated industry.
“As women, whether you're a mother or not, I just think we juggle so much,” Shaylyn confessed.
Shaylyn prioritizes making space for work but also making space for her family. When she’s at work, she gets stuff done. But when she’s with her son, she focuses on him. Then she takes vacation and gives herself a full break from work too.
Still, Shaylyn runs up against an industry that is often unapologetically beneficial for men. She faces questions about her abilities all the time and tries to tackle them head-on.
“They're subtle, right?” Shaylyn reflects. “You can almost convince yourself these questions about your ability as a woman aren’t there.”
“I'm very resilient so I will continue to assert myself and insert myself into conversations,” Shaylyn declared. “If there's a conversation going on, I will make sure to speak up – here's my opinion. I know no one asked for it, but here it is.”
Shaylyn hinted at the fact that even just speaking up – something men often do without hesitation – will sometimes result in an undesirable label for women. But it’s not going to stop her from having her voice heard.
A mentor Shaylyn had while coming up in the industry really helped shape her perspective on women in the industry overall.
“She knew her stuff,” Shaylyn remembered. “When it was her turn to speak up, she made sure she was knowledgeable, direct and authoritative. They were like, ‘Oh, we have to listen to her.’”
Discovering a Diverse Bouquet
It’s a lesson that Shaylyn has taken with her through her career and even today. She feels it’s important to be heard as a woman. And when more women – and more diverse voices – are part of the discussion, it benefits everyone.
“Finally, the spirits industry and other industries are starting to wise up,” Shaylyn said. “And realize that the more diverse we are: gender-wise, racially, culturally, all of that – it really helps. Why would you not want all of those voices when making decisions? If you're trying to market to a wide range of consumers, you need the culmination of all these people's life experiences and the differences that they bring to the table.”
At Blue Run, Shaylyn has seen this kind of diversity at work. The whiskey brand was built on diverse voices in the planning and concepting phase of their spirits. It meant that Blue Run’s whiskeys were made by a more diverse team for today’s more diverse consumers – and it paid off. Blue Run was acquired by Molson Coors in the fall of 2023.
Across the industry, Shaylyn sees signs that the industry has become more welcoming to women. She points to the abundance of articles about women distillers and blenders at the forefront and nods at mentors, like Peggy Noe Stevens, who’ve opened doors for so many who followed.
But Shaylyn also notes that a large contingent of women working behind the scenes are also making an impact on the industry without the same praise and spotlight.
“I work with so many women behind the scenes in operations and quality and procurement,” Shaylyn said. “I worked with an amazing Jamaican woman at Campari. I was R&D liquid; she was R&D packaging. I always wanted her to have the spotlight too. She passed away last year and I think about her all the time.”
As Shaylyn looks ahead, she hopes to draw more women into the industry and continue to make it a more welcoming place for women in general.
She aims to shed light on the STEM career options women – and all people – have in spirits. “It's actually a really great art-meets-science option,” Shaylyn insisted.
For those women choosing to seek careers in spirits, Shaylyn shared some advice: “What I tell them is … don't wait for the dream job,” she disclosed. “If you can get another job that's adjacent, go for it. And then you can move into the role that you thought you wanted to be in, or maybe you'll really love that role.”
Ultimately Shaylyn wants to work toward an industry that’s more open to anyone who like her, has a talent for sniffing out the best spirits and the best opportunities.
