You have now been subscribed to Barrel Facts. Whiskey barrels are really expensive and the method to make certain types is passed down through generations. The tightness of the barrel and the type of wood are both considered as the wood will expand a bit from absorption of its contents. An amount of whiskey loss is accepted from evaporation of the contents through the porous wood of the barrel. A considerable expertise is necessary to create quality barrels. [1][2][3]
Each type of wood is used for aging different spirits. Oak is most common in whiskey and wine making. Sometimes the barrels are even smoked near a fire to impart a unique flavor into the alcohol that will be held in the barrel. A used barrel is very desirable and can go for higher prices on the open market than even a quality new barrel. This price parity is due to the unique flavor that can be impacted by using a used wine barrel for whiskey, used whiskey barrel for wine, or some other unique alternation of barrel contents.
Barrels that are hundreds of years old, and thick with aged bacteria are used for making traditional Japanese soy sauce. These special family heirloom barrels will be used for many generations before they are eventually retired. [4]
The process to produce the casks could be accelerated in the same pressure-aging process on wood pieces, which can then be used in place of the casks. And as the surface area of wood pieces is far larger than that of a barrel, and since pressure causes full penetration of the wood, it requires far less wood volume to produce the same chemical interactions and leaching. It may therefore be economical to buy the used casks and cut them up for use in the pressure-aging process.
Anything to get away from being reliant on aged wooden barrels to produce aged whiskey at a huge markup simply due to the time required for the archaic process. That's what is silly.
Wow that's a massive loss though, I hadn't realised it could be that much lost.
That's also interesting regarding a potential for accelerated ageing.
I'm also wondering how oxygen uptake is effected by differing levels of spirit in the cask, I'm assuming that might effect the taste somewhat.
Edit: The thesis 'Aging of whiskey spirits in barrels of non-traditional volume' has lots of interesting information.
"As evaporation occurs and the fill level decreases, oak not in contact with liquid spirit dries, contracts, and becomes
more porous to the entry of outside air (28). Oxygen present in the barrel fuels oxidation reactions that are essential in the production of mature spirits"
yeah. my point was not that bourbon oozes out the pores of the reused barrel.
my point is that if the oak is the same species as that used in bourbon barrels, and if the barrel is charred in a manner similar to a bourbon barrel then the whisky flavor has a greater tendency toward bourbon-like flavor than if sherry or wine barrels or plain, un-charred oak barrels were used.
bourbon barrel availability to scotch producers increased significantly after 1935 when US federal law required single use bourbon barrels, and, more so later in the 20th century when the supply of Spanish sherry barrels dwindled.
The photo looks like it's of a cask firing at Ariake Sangyo [0], which manufactures barrels for a variety of uses. About 10 percent of their barrels go to domestic whiskey producers, and the rest to shochu. Yamazaki has their own cooperage, so that barrel isn't going to them.
However, Yamazaki does use a variety of different barrels, including wine casks for finishing, sherry casks, mizunara (Japanese oak) casks, new American white oak puncheons, hogsheads made of used barrels, and ex-bourbon barrels. AFAIK they use a variety of char levels on the barrels they produce in house and on re-chars.
> it matters a lot what the barrels have been used for before
Which is a good thing, because it allows distillers to be creative, adding different notes to both scent and taste. Quite a few whiskies nowadays do tell you what kind of cask they were aged in.
Bourbon and sherry have traditionally been popular choices, but wine, port, cognac and rum barrels are also being used recently.
Ironically, it's a little unlikely that Yamazaki barrels are charred. American whiskey is aged in new oak, which is charred or toasted both to standardize quality and also to bring out caramel and vanilla notes from the wood. But single malt scotch is generally aged in used barrels and the barrels are selected in part for the characteristics of what was aged in them before, which is why the "best whiskey in the world" Yamazaki 18 Sherry Cask costs so much. Charring is what you do, in Scotland, to an exhausted cask; it's also something Scotch distillers work to mitigate in ex-bourbon casks.
Whiskey must be aged in brand-new oak barrels, and Jack Daniels claims to be one of the only distilleries in the world that makes their own barrels. So…
If they’re expanding rapidly, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of their barrels aren’t quite as good as they should be. Less mature trees, less experienced workers, etc.
If you need more barrels this year than you did last year, there are only so many ways to make that happen.
It's kind of crazy just how much cheap swill gets sloshed around at minimum time just so that it qualifies the bond - only then to ship the barrels around to other producers for re-aging. IIRC most of barrels from Beam and Brown-Forman?
Lately it seems like there's so many sherry-aged whiskies and whiskey-aged something or other, or first-fill, second-fill, ends up traveling over three continents. Seems like the barrel coopers are the ones doing the best, but even then the wood itself is pretty contentious in terms of quality versus hype.
They're virtually all matured in bourbon or wine/sherry casks, and more in bourbon casks than any other kind of cask. If you ask at the distilleries, they'll tell you it's because the bourbon casks are simply cheaper.
Scotch generally doesn't age in new oak. But all bourbon does, by law. So there's a pipeline of used barrels for Scottish distilleries to use.
If you get a chance to try to Woodford Reserve new/old wood rye sample, you'll see why Scots use our barrels: the first aging in whiskey in a new barrel extracts huge phenolic flavors. Those woody flavors would compete with Scotch, especially since Scotch generally ages much longer than bourbon. Meanwhile, sherry barrels are much more expensive and contribute their own distinctive flavors. So bourbon casks are they way you go when you want a neutral aging environment.
I was moved to nerd out about this because you suggested Scotch is aged in ex-bourbon casks because of the sweet notes they impart. I don't think this is true. I am a fiend for ex-sherry Scotch, and the sweetness generated by an ex-sherry casks is usually unmistakable, club-you-over-the-head powerful.
You'll notice that lots of Scotch releases make a big deal out of the wine casks they age in --- what kind of sherry, what age the barrel --- but few ex-bourbon Scotches will say anything but "aged in bourbon casks".
> People have suggested that the inside of barrels were originally burnt to remove the leftover flavors of goods previously stored within, which sounds reasonable enough ... So why do barrel coopers still char the interior? ... Charring the wood actually primes the wood, which impacts the spirit’s flavor in several important ways that have nothing to do with smokiness ... charring essentially opens the wood up, making it easier for bourbon to extract flavors.
It's a good question, but much (in a lot of cases maybe most?) of the flavor of a whiskey comes from the cask, not the mash bill, and guaiacol is a component of the wood flavor as well.
I'm a connoisseur of American whiskeys (mostly bourbons) and it's just as true there. Most bourbons I've tasted hit their sweet spot around 15 years in a barrel, but once they start getting around 20 years, they're much less enjoyable. The overwhelming wood and tannins start masking what made the whiskey interesting and unique in the first place.
It sounds totally possible. There are a lot of home distillers that age whiskey by putting charred oak pieces in a jar of fresh whiskey. The problem with this process for aging whiskey is that it skips the evaporation that happens through the semi-porous wood and I've heard that the process of the liquid expanding and contracting through the wood also aids in a mellowing of the flavors.
Jefferson sells bourbon using the same gimmick, they've had several batches at this point.
barrel aging in differing climates does cause different aging characteristics, due to how the liquid enters and exits the oak, but I'm unsure if doing so in a temperature controlled warehouse would impart the same thing.
Each type of wood is used for aging different spirits. Oak is most common in whiskey and wine making. Sometimes the barrels are even smoked near a fire to impart a unique flavor into the alcohol that will be held in the barrel. A used barrel is very desirable and can go for higher prices on the open market than even a quality new barrel. This price parity is due to the unique flavor that can be impacted by using a used wine barrel for whiskey, used whiskey barrel for wine, or some other unique alternation of barrel contents.
Barrels that are hundreds of years old, and thick with aged bacteria are used for making traditional Japanese soy sauce. These special family heirloom barrels will be used for many generations before they are eventually retired. [4]
[1] https://youtu.be/ccoHCSKMf-E
[2] https://youtu.be/GE7QA1chUzw
[3] https://youtu.be/kaXvFw8ve_I
[4] https://youtu.be/1mc2g8Ue-hI
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