Wood is a fascinating subject and old distillers can wax poetic when it comes to wooden barrels and aging whisky. In Scotland, if you look after a distillery’s cooperage and whisky maturation program, you can receive the distinguished title of ‘Master of Wood.’
The most commonly used wood for barrels in the world is American white oak, which imparts a range of flavors including vanilla, honey, and nuts. The second most commonly used wood is European oak which imparts a more complex set of flavors including sherry, dried fruits, and spices.
By a fluke of history, American law, which was passed to help the cooper’s union, dictates that bourbon must be aged in new American oak barrels. This means the bourbon industry is looking to sell hundreds of thousands of used wooden barrels each year. The rest of the world is more than a willing customer and everyone from rum producers in the Caribbean to Scotch producers to Canadian whisky producers buy the once-used oak barrels for their own spirits.
American bourbon producers will tell you they’ve extracted the best the wood has to offer. Scotch producers will tell you the Americans have removed many of the bitter tannins, lignins and vanillins that can overpower a spirit, and the barrels are now ideal for whisky. Regardless of your point of view, the influence of wood does lessen with each refill and eventually a barrel has nothing more to give and is discarded.
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At Odd Society, we intend to do a lot of experimentation with wood. We recently purchased ten small American oak barrels that were used to age rye from a distillery in Washington. We’ll be picking them up this weekend! We will also be purchasing some brand new 200 liter American oak barrels, and hopefully some French oak barrels. The problem with French oak is that it is at least three times as expensive as American oak. This is a question of wood scarcity rather than quality, although some people prefer the taste of whisky aged in French oak.
So come visit our barrels (once we open)! The picture below was taken during my stay at Springbank Distillery in Scotland.
