Distiller magazine

fall 2020 | 135 e owners were not distillers themselves, but they were attentive and avid fans of the profession, paying close attention to the production and flavors coming from their favorite drams. Eventually they began to see what many of us in the industry see every day: e cask is integral to quality spirit pro- duction. I've lost track of the number of times I've heard the phrase, "barrels make up 70–90% of a whiskey's flavor." Setting aside that I'm not entirely sure what metrics are being used to quantify "flavor," I think that for many spirit types, these words largely ring true. ere is something alchemical and almost mag- ical about cask maturation. e white spirit enters the barrel as a brash and rude liquid neophyte and emerges (hopefully) smoothed, matured, and coifed for the real world. It's hard not be taken in by the wonder and aroma of a properly maintained maturation warehouse. Whether it be the cool dunnage systems throughout Scotland or the hot and dry rick houses dotting the Kentucky landscape, you can't help but fall in love with their spartan design and primitive allure. ese are altars to the idea that time and patience are the perfect finishing ingredients for spirits that cannot easily be improved upon. Casks are the sporks of the distilling industry. at is to say, a game changer. is can't be over- stated. Prior to the use of casks for the maturation of spirit, they were merely viewed as containers; a tran- sient vessel to hold spiritous liquid for the purposes of transportation or easy serving. Wooden casks became the CD's to the clay amphora's cassette tapes of the day. ey were more efficient, robust, and easier to move. However, until the advent of toasted and charred barrels, they were considered little more than holding tanks. Eventually, fire entered the mix and the cask evolved into something more than a vessel. It became part of the recipe, an ingredient — and it has forever altered the spirits we consume today. rough various physical and chemical reactions between cask and spirit, we see rough-hewn white liquors transformed into bolder and haute impres- sions of their former selves. Would Jack Daniels or Jim Beam taste the same were it not for the use of newly charred American oak? e Macallan sherry bomb would not exist were it not for careful cask selection and management. e famous Cognacs of southern France would likely remain fiery and rustic without the addition of state-run old growth oak forests. So, to make many of the world class spirits we know and love, a cask must enter the picture at some point. Several of these spirits require either through tradition or law a specific type or class of cask. Most American whiskeys must legally be aged in new charred oak barrels. Caribbean rums are typ- ically aged in used bourbon casks, while Cognac and its older brother Armagnac are almost exclusively aged in toasted French oak. If you know what you're producing, then choosing a barrel is seemingly the easiest decision to make. Sometimes it really is that simple. Buy barrel. Put liquid in barrel. Wait and then bottle. However, like most things in life, there's a difference between sim- ply doing something and doing it well. is is where the principles of cask management come into play. In my view, cask management begins with the selection of the standing tree to be converted into stave wood and ends with the final blend. All along the middle there are roads, routes, and rivulets that we can meander down to further alter the character and effects of the maturation process. In the end, I

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