As an itinerant master blender who has shaped hundreds of whiskies, Nancy Fraley has acquired a formidable nickname: The Nose. Her olfactory powers are indeed world-class, able to detect even the faintest and most unbelievable flaws, like curry contamination. Although far less famous than many of her peers, Fraley is in high demand as a blender across the United States and the world.

If you’ve enjoyed whiskies from Jos. A. Magnus, Wyoming Whiskey, Still Austin, or J. Henry & Sons—or any of the dozens of other distilleries she’s worked with—you’ve tasted Fraley’s touch. Each of these spirits has its own unique flavors and aromas, but all share the signature technique that Fraley has pioneered: slow water reduction.

It’s one of the few true innovations in American whiskey today, referring to the practice of bringing a spirit from cask strength to bottling proof by adding water in small increments over time. The method originated among French brandies like cognac and armagnac, but until Fraley—who trained under master brandy distiller and blender Hubert Germain-Robin—no one had employed it for whiskey.

The reason for using slow water reduction is simple and fundamental: it makes a better whiskey. When water and alcohol are combined, chemical reactions take place that heat up the solution and damage more delicate aroma and flavor compounds. Slow water reduction avoids that, preserving everything that was created during fermentation, distillation, and maturation, and creating a more integrated texture to boot. A whiskey made with slow water reduction is like a table that's been sanded to show off the beauty of the wood grain: elegant, polished, at its best, with nary a hint of a splinter.   

Is the process esoteric? Absolutely. But slow water reduction is having a pretty profound impact on the distillers that have adopted it. And thus Fraley, its Johnny Appleseed, is one of the most influential figures in American whiskey today.

The New Wine Review talked with Fraley about her innovative method, what collaboration looks like in craft whiskey, how whiskey drinkers have changed in the last twenty years, and her highly interactive social media life. And she shared solid advice on how to become better at nosing and tasting whiskey. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The New Wine Review: You’ve pioneered the technique known as slow water reduction in American whiskey. In my view, while it’s still niche, it’s one of the true innovations of the last 20 years. Do you think more distillers will move to it? 

Nancy Fraley: I think so, and it’s not just the clients I work with, like Joseph Magnus or Still Austin. It's the fact that I've been teaching courses in this for 12, 13, maybe 14 years.

For example, Old Elk—one of their early distillers took a class with me years ago, and now I see they trademark “slow proofing.” Well, that came from me. [Old Elk’s trademark is for Slow Cut Proofing Process. – Ed.] I don't say that in an ego-filled way. I just know that distiller was in my class, and the next thing I know they're doing slow water reduction. Unless you come from a brandy background, a French brandy background in particular, you would've never heard of this.

I'm not saying everybody got it from me, but the distilleries that are now employing it probably got it either from me or from my mentor Hubert [Germain-Robin], or maybe just a handful—three or four people in the United States—who they would've heard about that from. I am one of these three or four people, and I've been teaching this for a long time, so I know I've played a big role in it. It's really a major change in the way that bourbon and other American whiskies are made today. And I'm proud to see it.

NWR: As you should be! Slow water reduction reads as a Nancy Fraley signature to me. Are there other hallmarks that you can point to as uniquely yours?

NF: Slow water reduction really comes through [on the palate]. I can taste whiskies I've made and kind of tell: I bet I did that. I don't know if other people can. I think I definitely do have a signature style, and way of blending that employs those French techniques whenever possible.

My goal is to make whiskies that are a little shyer on the oak. Not as oak heavy. I don't always achieve that, but that's my goal. Also to be a little bit rounder on the palate—not aggressive or angular in any way, softer tannins—and to create something that really has finesse and elegance. Even higher-proof products, I always strive to make them very soft and round on the palate.

NWR: What’s the collaboration like with whiskey brands? Do they come to you with a specific flavor goal? Do you tell them what’s possible with the stocks they have on hand?

NF: It's often a mix of those things. I've had everything from the only instruction I had is make something yummy—that's all they said, I don't know what that means: to whom should it be yummy?—all the way to much more specific things. But everybody that I work with, I always look for long-term collaborations. Even though I am a freelance master blender, I tend to stay on as the master blender. If anyone's going to use my name and my, for want of a better term, celebrity, I want control over that product. If you're going to make use of my name, then I have to have creative control of that product. That's really important to me.

I don't really take on new clients. I mean, it's rare. Maybe I'll go to India or Israel and do a fun project, but that's just more for me to be creative and have fun and do something different. But for everybody I work for seriously, I am their master blender. I might get paid as an independent contractor, but I do all of the work that an ordinary in-house master blender would do.

Quality is the most important thing. At the end of the day, if I feel like I can't achieve that with someone, I don't want to be involved. I've been at it long enough now that people are much happier to allow me those terms than they were when I first started.

NWR: Have you seen any changes among American craft whiskey drinkers over the years?

NF: I've really seen the education on the part of the consumer just skyrocket. I've really been impressed with how knowledgeable people are becoming, and how interested in the production process they are. It really forces you to stay on your toes because people notice things: "well, this batch wasn't like that one." People are watching. 

Not that you can build a blend just based on one person's critique, but you start learning from them too—what their tastes are, and what they're noticing about your products and such. It's a good relationship. Whenever possible, I try to drop knowledge, as it were, for them, but they give me a lot back too, and I hopefully take that into my blending, and try and create better and better quality. Like a symbiotic relationship.

NWR: I know you get on Reddit a lot to chat and answer questions. You are much more accessible than most master blenders in that way.

NF: Recently one person came out and criticized me for doing that. One thing I like to be very careful about is not to influence the reviewer—to make them feel intimidated or that they were wrong in their review. I hope I never come across that way.

Say they gave one of my [Jos. A. Magnus] Cigar Blends a score of 87. Well, obviously I would've liked 97. I don't say that, but I'll go on Reddit or wherever, and say, well, you might be interested in knowing more information about how I made this product—just so you understand it. Your review can still stand, that's fine. But it might be interesting to you to know how it's actually made, or what I did in this case, why it tastes that way.

Most of the time people are very appreciative of that. I always want to be cautious about it. But yeah, I do like interacting. I hope that people take it in the way it's intended.

NWR: You’re a master noser and taster. What advice would you give to an amateur who wants to build up their skills?

NF: Even when you're not drinking whiskey, just going about your day from morning until night, as much as possible, try to be conscious of what you're smelling around you. You wake up in the morning: you smell coffee brewing, or someone's toasting a bagel, or eggs are being cooked. Really think about that. And, not to be crass, but you walk by a subway and smell urine or something. Both pleasant and unpleasant, to really be cognizant of what you're smelling through the day and think, what is that? Why am I smelling that and what do I think about it? Actively be thinking about what you're tasting and smelling.

And the times you are with a whiskey or some other spirit too—let's say you get fruit from it. Think: okay, what kind of fruit? There's more than just fruit in general. There's citrus and orchard fruit and say, if it's citrus, is it fresh citrus? Is it like a peel? Or do you get pith on there? Is it a stewed fruit? All those things.

You can take something like fruit and just try and dissect it further and further, and that too will be a good teaching or a way to train yourself. 

NWR: Great advice. How would you teach someone new to whiskey to discern quality?

NF: That's an excellent question, and it's one I've tried to teach to distillers: what does quality mean to them? For a producer, quality is usually best defined as that which is acceptable to your average consumer—that your average consumer would enjoy. We have to look at technical faults and that kind of thing and try to be objective.

I would go a step further, for the consumer, to think about how that spirit makes you feel. As a consumer, you can be a little bit more subjective. When you nose it, is it pleasant? When you taste it, is it harsh and aggressive and off-putting? Essentially, do you enjoy it? I’ve found that things that I don't think are good quality, someone else might actually really enjoy. It is kind of a hard thing to define. If a glass invites you back for a second sip or another pour, that is probably quality to you.

NWR: What do you like to drink when you’re not on the job? Do you have a hard time shutting off your sensory side?

NF: I drink a lot of different spirits. Probably my all-time favorite spirit is armagnac. I collect vintage armagnac; the oldest in my collection is from the 19th century actually. I've got bottles from the ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s, a bunch from the ‘60s. But I don't always want that either.

I love mezcal. If it's summertime, I don't want something really high proof and heavy. I want something a little bit more, for want of a better term, more in the aperitif style—something that's more approachable. High proof on a hot day? No thanks.

Probably what I drink more of than anything these days is bourbon, because that's what I work with. If I'm working on a blend, I'll often try and put my consumer hat on at the end of the day, and think as a consumer and not a blender.

I have a tremendously difficult time just shutting off [my sensory side] because I'm always analyzing. I can't help it. Quite frankly, sometimes I'll just mix some bourbon with some Dr. Pepper Zero. I love it. It doesn't have to be sophisticated all day long. Sometimes you don't want to think when you're drinking, and that shuts my critical side off. If I mix it in a cocktail, then I can just enjoy and let my hair down.

NWR: Do you ever abstain from alcohol entirely, to give your senses and body a break?

NF: As much as I can, not always. But I notice that if I take too much of a break, then when I go back to analyzing 80 to 100 barrels in a day, it affects me. Even though I am spitting, I don't have the same stamina. But yeah, you do have to give your body a break. When I was much younger, it was very common to do about 200 a day. I can't do that anymore. I'm in my mid 50s. That's not a healthy thing to do.

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