Distiller magazine

118 distiller e Atkins, Virginia, facility was a preexisting 1970s sibling to the Jackson home site, says Whitmer. "We already knew the building's capacity, enabling us to drop our production model into it, which trimmed 18 months off of what would've been a far longer building and permitting period." Whitmer believes SBCI's operations in the three states "give us good proximity to the center of bourbon production so we can service distilleries without being in direct com- petition with competing cooperages." ough initially focused upon volume production so as to establish themselves and serve a strong demand, SBCI has begun positioning itself to service craft whiskey distilleries. ey're stepping into this market with a few local operators, such as the nearby Davis Valley Distillery, where they are testing air-drying periods for local oak. As SBCI's operations are as automated as currently possible, each customer's specs can be programmed and saved to minimize variance and fluctuation over future orders. "We're not reinventing the wheel here, although we have processes differentiating us from our competitors," says Whitmer. "All our staves are jointed on a com- puterized numeric-controlled jointing machine," he says, "whereas tradition- ally this is done manually with a joint- ing wheel, adapting technology that wine barrel coopers have been using for decades. And we're the first US company applying this method. is allows us a more precise stave, giving more con- sistent barrels, a shape that's always the same, giving less leaking and less evapo- ration. Our customers experience 1–3% less loss — more whiskey produced to put in the bottle, and fewer barrels need- ing to be purchased." is creates a clear financial incentive for potential buyers. Upon arriving at the cooperage, staves air dry in the yard for 3–6 months before being pre-dried at 85°F in a warehouse to a moisture level of 12–13%. e raw, milled staves are laid out to be jointed in one machine pass, where they are cut and measured, before jointing top to bottom at a rate of 15 staves per minute. e ring- ing of staves into a tulip formation is still done by hand. Dry heat and moisture are then used to bend the 100-pound barrels, and once headed, they're mechanically forced into shape. e barrels are then heated to 350°F before being rolled out by machine to set the staves and line up joints. ey then enter a self-enclosed, computer-operated charring room with fire shot from the oven through a burn hole. A #3 char is the most popular, with #4 a close second. Temporary bilge hoops and truss hoods are applied by machine for final processing. At the end of this process comes the testing. ey fill the barrel with a gallon of water, then blow air at 10 PSI into it while rotating it, forcing the water through any existing defects. Minor problems can be ameliorated by inserting narrow shavings and sanding them smooth to the staves. roughout the process, knots and mineral streaks are examined to determine their usefulness to the final barrel. LED-lit assembly lines, high ceilings, state-of-the-art air filtration and ventila- tion and process automation have taken the place of smoky, dusty, dim rooms or factory floors. With up to 35% of each log not becoming part of a barrel, SBCI A #3 charred stave, one of SBCI's most popular options. Photo © David Furer

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