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Scotland's Speyside Cooperage is internationally associated with the used barrel
side of things. Its French owner, the TFF Group (Tonnellerie François Fréres),
capitalized on the name by christening its US operations Speyside Bourbon
Cooperage, Inc. (SBCI), which produce new barrels. e shift to new barrels was
reflected in the choice of Brown-Forman veteran Darren Whitmer to oversee and
manage the development and execution of what's now five stave mills and two
cooperages employing 400 people. Beginning with an early used-barrel operation
in Kentucky, then adding its US headquarters in Jackson, Ohio (where it fash-
ioned its millionth new barrel this spring), in 2018 SBCI expanded to southwest
Virginia. Whitmer explains the location was chosen "so as not to fight the com-
petition in Kentucky and to avoid logistical hassles and access to resources." So
that's where I toured a stave mill and nearby cooperage with him.
