Different Barrels For Whiskey Around The World

A whiskey barrel is a hollow cylindrical container made of wooden staves surrounded by wooden or metal hoops. Modern wooden barrels are made of white oak, French common oak and American white oak. Whiskey distillers have been doing experiments with barrels and whiskeys for the last few years. This has led to the creation of an array of more interesting whisky. Most favoured barrels for aging whiskeys are white oak barrels. White oak barrels are strong, plentiful and do not leak. White oak allows a certain amount of oxygen to transfer in and out which is a crucial part of the whiskey aging process. Most important fact about white oak is, it provides a host of known flavour s to whiskey including coconut, caramel and vanilla.

Canadian whiskey is a blend of individual whiskeys prepared from different grains. It is blended after aging in red oak. Red oak barrels are strong flavoured and very spicy. These work best with a rye-based whiskey. Red oak barrel-aged whiskey gives strong flavors which can give you an eye-watering experience. One more Canadian whiskey is collingwood whiskey. The effect of collingwood whiskey is pleasant with reduced astringency but not overwhelming maple sweetness. This whiskey is allowed to rest on toasted maple staves and then matured in a stainless steel tank with special staves inserted into it. This is because collingwood barrels are not great for storage. This technique can be used with different kinds of woods.

Barrel maturation of whiskey is one of the most influential processes that defines the taste of whiskey. Different barrels offer unique flavors. Most common types of barrels used for whiskey aging are bourbon barrels, quarter cask, butt, puncheon, standard hogshead, blood tub, baroque cask, Bordeaux, cognac, Sherry hogshead, port pipe and Madeira drum barrels. Most commonly the whiskey barrels are made up of American white oak and European oak. American white oak offers caramel soft, mellow and vanilla effects. European oak imparts bitter, spicy and sting on the wood effects. Whiskeys undergo steady faring processing oak barrels of varying capacities. Smaller barrels promote faster creation of aromas.

• Puncheon barrels: capacity of these barrels is 480-520 liters. These are formed of American white oak. Puncheon barrels were introduced in 1960. These are popularly used for maturing grain Whiskeys.

• Sherry butts: capacity of these barrels is 480-520 liters. First sherry barrels were introduced in vita de Jerez in Andalusia. These barrels are increasingly not easy to find and are the most expensive barrels in the market.

• Hogshead barrels: liquid holding capacity of these barrels are 250 liters. These barrels are created from former bourbon barrel staves combined with some used or new staves.

• Bourbon barrels: capacity of these barrels is 180 liters. Bourbon barrels were first introduced in 1930 in Scotland. These are used to age American Whiskeys. These barrels are taken apart and sent to Scotland as staves. Once reassembled, they then undergo the process of charting to a lesser or greater extent as per the requirement.

Conclusion:

A whiskeys maturation in barrel is not merely storage. It is an ongoing interplay and chemical evolution between spirit, wood and air. During the process certain new compounds emerge, filter out and transform overtime.

How Barrels Contribute To Make Whiskey Luscious

William Shakespeare once quoted: A quart of Ale is a dish for a King.

True, isn’t it!

When visitors come on tours at a distillery, less than half know that whiskey is brown because of the barrel it is aged in. Actually, any distilled spirit—whether it’s vodka, gin, whiskey, brandy, or rum — can get the color from the barrel. When spirits are ripened in barrels, they pick up the color from the barrels. Barrels are essential for the flavor of spirits and wines in different ways.

Amazing! Now that you have got a brief of the wonders of barrels that you might have seen in your daily lives but couldn't gather that why they have the board of ‘used old barrels for sale’, let’s dig a little deeper into the benefits that aging spirits in an old barrel holds:

In spite of the luxuries that modern technology has to offer, most distilleries still use old barrels to age the whiskey. As the oldest and most convenient method of aging spirits, the legal requirement for whiskey is its time in a barrel.

In the brewing industry, used barrels are more commonly used. Surprisingly enough, while new barrels are used, they are often not cost-effective and, for many brewers, don’t produce the desired effect on the beer. Many brewers also prefer used barrels because the flavors presented by new oak are strong and blend the flavor characteristics in the beer.

Jon Levy, the CFO and COO of Rocky Mountain Barrel Company believes that it is very rare that brewers would age a beer in a new barrel, if ever. The main purpose of using barrels for brewing is to extract the flavor of the wine or spirit that was previously aged in the barrels. Rocky Mountain Barrel Company is an expert when it comes to providing premium quality used barrels for sale across the world.

With this information, it is time get this show on the road. The process of aging in a used barrel involves steps which require intensive care before inheriting a fine drink from the barrel.

• The used barrels are loaded with bourbon, and then they rest patiently on dusty racks in storage houses until they’re deemed ready.

• The bourbon gradually flows into and out of the wood, soaking up flavor and color. Seldom, barrels will need to be repaired: cracks can form or hoops might need to be hammered into place.

• All exercises are focused on getting the most flavor out of the barrel while losing the least amount of spirit. Now, as we all know, the oak is slightly porous. Because of this, it allows a process called micro-oxygenation. Basically, small amounts of oxygen move in and out of the barrel.

• The tiny, regular amounts of oxygen mean that the wine or spirit doesn’t oxidize, but it does catalyze a variety of chemical reactions that can solely happen when there is oxygen present.

• Molecules swap atoms and functional groups and produce new flavor compounds, particularly a group of compounds called esters, that taste great and more complex.

Rocky Mountain Barrel Company has the largest collection of used barrels for sale. See the collection of old used oak barrels for sale. They ship the barrels worldwide. Contact Rocky Mountain Barrel Company for used barrels.