If traced through history, the spirit business for over four centuries has typically been headed by a male figurehead. But the launching of Big Nose Kate Whiskey by Melissa Heim in 2021, a classic blended whiskey changed the 400 years of history at once and introduced a new theme not only in the western whiskey industry but to their entire beverage industry at large by naming and honouring it after Maria Izabella Magdolna Horony, popularly known as Big Nose Kate – an icon, rule breaker, and enterprises of her own time. Though she never really appreciated the huge force on the frontier that she was. Heim and her partners aim to celebrate all adventurers who deserve their due.
Big Nose Kate, an extremely unique blend with a strong body and rich mouthfeel, bringing together bourbon, rye and malt “sourced from superb distillers across the country.” According to the Heim, Big Nose Kate opens with a note of dry sherry and cherry fruit, cereal grain, and oak, and finishes with mellow baking spice. Artfully and meticulously sourced from superb distillers across the country, the whiskey is well-travelled, bold, and brave, just like Mary Katherine Haroney, maintaining its name.
“We are excited to finally introduce a strong independent female protagonist into a brand world long associated with male figureheads. But we are not aiming to be a ‘gendered’ whiskey. We’re for all people who like discovering great stories, and tipping a glass to those behind them. Kate was an entrepreneur, change-maker, and whiskey drinker to boot, so we believe she’s cheering us on from the saloon in the sky.”
By Heim
Big Nose Kate is produced in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Kate operated a notorious “Dance Hall” before riding on to her next adventure. Kate was originally a daughter of a Hungarian aristocrat who around the age of fourteen turned orphan and immigrant, she was drawn to the wild American west through chance, rebellion, opportunity, and a deep curiosity in people, places, and ideas. A strong, industrious, and fiercely independent self-made woman generations ahead of her time, Kate was Doc Holliday’s “partner in crime,” bucked horns with Wyatt Earp, and ran several gambling and entertainment operations. This astonishing drink is in honour of this ravishing woman of all time, she was mostly considered to be ‘no better friend’, and ‘no worse enemy’ than Big Nose Kate. Yet the Docs, the Wyatts, the cowboys, and the rangers always commanded center stage, until now. The whiskey intended to state the tale of her extraordinary life.
But this stunningness sits on the procreator distillery of Big Nose Kate, Melissa Heim. It is an exception in itself, as it is the first in the whole world to be lead by female Head Distillers and blenders, which by now has already won over 40 medals for their flavor and quality in a wide range of spirits products that she has made. Heim, who once produced spirits in collaboration with Big Bottom Distilling, crafted the whiskey in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is now thought to be changing the entire vision and atmosphere in the spirit business on a whole new level.