making whisky

From what I understand, bourbon barrels, only used once, are prized by the Scotch and maybe Irish Whisk(e)y makers. I don't remember details, but if you get the History Channel, watch for the "Bourbon" episode of Modern Marvels. They nameed a few of them, I was of the impression it was widely done.

I was always of the impression that if a barrel was pretty standard at, say, 8 years, they'd use it then if they needed it. If it shows special promise, they'd tag it and save it for longer. I may have bought into someone's marketing propaganda there, though. Great questions, I'm looking forward to this thread!

As I understand it, some daft US (or Tennessee?) pork-barrelling legislation, designed to protect the lumberjacks' employment, (and sod the trees!) prohibits the re-use of bourbon casks.

Scotch was originally sold as soon as it was cold, in buckets or crocks, but in due course, some enterprising Scottish distiller discovered that the Anglos drink a lot of sherry, which was then mostly shipped from Spain in casks, to Bristol, and there bottled for sale, with a resultant mountain of empty casks to be sold for firewood (later for cutting in half and planting flowers in!). The enterprising Scots saw a use, and having discovered that matured whisky was an improvement on the raw product, started to buy (price, of course, went up as the Anglos saw their opportunity).

Having got well used to using second-hand Spanish casks, when the availability of ditto bourbon casks was discovered, they seized the opportunity, with the difference being that the US white-oak casks need to be dismantled and packed flat for transport over the Atlantic, and, on rebuilding, they need to be enlarged slightly, because they do not come in a recognised size. This is done by replacing the top/bottom plates and adding a few extra staves, so that, say, ten bourbon casks make eight Scotch casks.

Casks can be used two or three times more - depends on accidental quality of each individual cask, and equally, how long used - A cask used for whisky destined for a three year old cheap blend (for use in a whisky mac, perhaps?), can be quickly re-used, whereas one holding malt intended for a premium blend like Walker Black, or for drinking as a 16 year malt, has more taken out of it.

If/when the wood next to the spirit loses much of its sap and interest, a cask can get a "face lift" with a gas blow torch charring the interior, and laying open to the next "fill" interior layers of wood, still carrying some oak juice.

Richard

There are various different companies getting the barrels, but if you were at Jack Daniels then IIRC the casks are going to Glenmorangie. Glenmorangie like many other distilleries actually owns the barrels BEFORE they are used for Burbon (or Sherry in the case of MacAllan). the type of oak, the age of the trees and the location in which they grew are all concidered to be important factors in how they are selected.

They vary.. Caol Ila on Islay is very modern all stainless steel, automation and computers. Just a few miles away Bruichladdich prides it self on being fully traditional with no significant computer control (I wont make any comments about start-ups trying to keep down costs). Most fall somewhare in between. In my experience the Diagio brands tend to be the most modernized.

Again it varies.. but production in most big distilleries is so standardized that drawing the casks out by age is acceptable. Some claim to sample all of their casks looking for either very special casks or substandard ones.

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'Scuse my ignorance but I was under the impression that, since taste is affected by so many factors (such as whether the cask is on the ground or

1st floor), distilleries mix several casks to get the 'house style'. Hence a single barrel whisky is relatively rare and worthy of specifying, as in the Balvenie. Am I out of date or just plain wrong?

Neither out of date nor wrong. It is the blending of casks to create the house style that makes it possible to standardize the production to the extent that it is. Certainly Single Barrel whisky can be very special but in many cases the barrels are those that have been sold to blenders and are concidered "surplus to needs". It has become such a popular item in the last few years that distilleries are pulling casks from their shelves that they had saved back for "tweaking" the house brands (I've got a 72 Ardbeg that came from there that I will one day open). The distilleries that make a point of selecting certain casks for special care and attention from the begining are few and far between, though the number is rising.

Ten years ago or so ( maybe more I'm old) single cask Indie bottles were hard to come by, and pretty much all of them were special.. then the boom hit and it sure seemed like people scoured wearhouses for just about anything they could sell. Now we've gone through the other side and there hasn't been a really worthwhile Islay in an indie bottle in some time. Not to say I don't buy them but I have noticed lately that there are fewer that I think are worthwhile. It gets to a point where I would like someone to start rating the indies for quality and consistancy.