Lisa Roper Wicker Joins Whiskey Thief as Director of Distilling

Early last year, we reported that Lisa Roper Wicker, longtime president and head distiller of Brooklyn, New York-based Widow Jane (among numerous other roles throughout the industry), had taken on the role of master distiller at Garrard County Distilling Co. in Lancaster, Kentucky. Her tenure there was fleeting—she was reportedly fired after just 11 days, and the distillery shuttered just last month, with a $2.2 million lawsuit at its doorstep. Wicker isn’t on the job market any longer, however, as she’s landed at Frankfort, Kentucky-based distillery Whiskey Thief as its director of distilling.

Ross Caldwell founded Whiskey Thief on his family’s 127-acre farm in 2012; nine years later, the distillery passed into the hands of Walter Zausch, who had previously bought barrels from it for his own wholesale company, Distijl. All of Whiskey Thief’s releases are made with grains grown on-site and bottled as single barrels at cask strength (hence the name, which references the tool used to take samples of whiskey from a barrel). Since taking ownership of Whiskey Thief, Zausch has opened a tasting room in Louisville’s up-and-coming NuLu area and raised visitor numbers at the Frankfort distillery from 8,000 in 2021 to 54,000 last year. As part of the visitor experience, guests are allowed to fill bottles directly from the barrel.

Currently, Whiskey Thief makes rye, bourbon, flavored whiskeys, cream liqueurs, and gin. In her new role, Roper Wicker will steer the distillery’s product strategy, which may include additional styles of whiskey.