The Daily Beast:
One of the most fiercely debated new developments is the question of how the wood is “seasoned” before being made into barrels. Seasoning takes into account the time between when the tree is cut down, inspected, rough-milled into staves and then made into barrels. While it sounds straightforward, the wood needs to be dried between milling and becoming a barrel—anywhere from four to about 48 months of air drying, and/or kiln drying.
With proper seasoning, along with the toasting and charring that creates sweeter flavors, oak becomes a major partner in the creation of whiskey flavor. That’s why seasoning has become a selling point for the higher end of the barrel and bourbon market.
Until I moved to Tennessee, I had no idea how important the physical barrel was to various whiskeys and bourbons.
Shawn, I highly recommend “The Barrel Tour” at Buffalo Trace. Unlike most distillery tours you need to sign up in advance and it only happens once per day, early in the morning, but it’s worth the hassle. Also, at Wild Turkey, if you’re lucky, Jimmy Russell is sometimes signing autographs at the visitor’s center. It’s an amazing opportunity to meet one of the giants.
I no longer live in TN but I went on *ALL* the tours, including that one, in TN and Kentucky when I was there! 🙂
Awesome! Isn’t it amazing how completely different each of the tours at each of the distilleries are?
It really is. It was so much fun riding my motorcycle with friends to various tours and experiencing the different ways they presented what was functionally the same information.
I have to wonder if there are any barrel-makers anywhere who are still named “Cooper.” I love a family name that signifies a profession. I almost wish I could live up to my own.