-
Contrasts between Spirit Barrels and Wine Barrels
Hello distillers!
I have a question about aging in new barrels.
The owners of the distillery that I am opening bought 90+ new barrels before I got here that were built to be wine specific, all new. I love new barrel-aged spirit (I’m from the US, it’s in my blood!), but I know that barrels made for Bourbon/US distilleries are processed differently than barrels intended for aging wine (aging the wood outside for a certain amount of time before construction, etc.)
Is anyone familiar with the nuances between the processes of new wine barrels vs new spirit barrels? Will there be a significant difference in the final product? We’re starting mostly with rum, but we’ll definitely be expanding into other categories once we have a solid footing. Anything special I need to consider? I’m just curious how much this will affect flavor, angel’s share, hydration, consistency, and more.
Overall I’m sure the differences will be minute, if there are any at all, but I am just trying to consider all of the factors before I put roughly 5,000 gallons of barrel-proof spirit into an unknown experiment.
Any and all tips/advice/words of wisdom would be appreciated!
Cheers
-
8 Replies
-
Do you have any specifications on the barrels? Wood type, months aged, toasted, or charred?Also do you know the cooperage?
-
I do! It’s TN Coopers (based out of Chile, but I’m sure they were procured through their California branch), and they make all sorts of different styles, and of course that’s exactly what the owners got – all sorts of different styles. American oak, French oak, European oak (I’m guessing that’s just a generic coverage of several other countries), convection toast (LT/MT/HT), fancy things like “Grace” and “Revolution” among other seemingly proprietary styles of preparation. It seems to run the gambit of their styles. I’ve done some research into what they make, and it seems like a really cool company, I just haven’t found any info on how their barrels taste with spirits in them as opposed to wine!
-
I would imagine they would work just fine then. Barrels really don’t differ too much whether they are for whiskey or wine, other than the toasting and charring that they do on them. American oak would be just like a standard whiskey barrel minus the char. But with a heavy toast I would imagine the taste would be nice. French oak typically has a bit more tannins so it might benefit from a lower entry proof. And not too familiar with European oak, but it can’t be too different.
There are tons of spirits around the world getting secondary aged in wine/port/sherry barrels so give them a try and let us know how they turn out.Rums and brandies do well with some of the non-American oak barrels. But mix and match and you will have plenty of blending stock for future releases.
-
You might want to open up some of the barrels to check the toast level, as wine barrels are typically only toasted, rather than charred. If that is the case, you might want to experiment with charring some of them. I suspect there will be a significant difference between toasted and charred barrels. I am looking forward to getting some wine barrels myself to investigate further.
With 90+ barrels, I also recommend getting a full set of barrel tools, including a head removal tool, hoop driver, manual punch, drift, spiles, and a bung removal tool.
-
@Jedd Haas You are totally right, upon inspection they are only toasted, to varying degrees. This is definitely an interesting curveball, and I am very curious to see how it comes out. I’m guessing it’ll age at a “slower” rate since it will have less penetration into the barrel? Also I’m guess they won’t be as sweet since there will be less caramelization of the wood sugars. All this is just conjecture though. I’ll see what I can do about charring some on my own, but resources in Belize are few and far between, so it will be a while before I can try that. I appreciate your tip for getting cooper tools, though, and I will be doing that for sure. That many barrels on my own in a unique climate will call for some work for sure. Thank you for your reply!
@Kindred Spirits Thank you for your input! I have learned that none of these barrels are charred, only toasted to varying degrees, so this will definitely provide for a unique spirit – rum (and more!) in new, uncharred, toasted barrels. As I said above to Jedd Haas, I am curious to see how this will change the aging timing, and flavor profile. Once we have used them at least once they will become a bit more familiar, but until then I’m heading into uncharr(t)ed territory. I really like the tip of lower proof in the more tannin heavy woods. I plan on doing exactly what you said at the end, though, and that is just leaning into the variety as much as possible so I can have lots to play with when it comes time to blending batches. Using all of the different woods and toast levels with different proofs, cuts, and even different ferments (molasses B, C, demerara, sugar cane juice) to allow for the largest source of flavor to choose from.
Cheers!
-
Sounds like you have everything well in hand, looking forward to seeing how the spirits turn out. If you ever need a hand down there in Belize let me know, I’d be happy to make a trip down!
-
I have worked with toasted and wine specific barrels in several contexts. There is a significant difference in maturation between even a heavily toasted and a charred barrel. The toasted barrels won’t just age slower, they will also age differently as there is no carbon layer for the adsorption of various compounds and the flavors created by the heating process will be different. Whiskey will rarely taste ‘mature’ without some time in a new or used charred barrel. Lighter toast barrels can also impart some negative flavors into the spirit (green, sappy, vegetal, etc) depending on the cooperage practice. If it was me I would take the heads off all of the light toast barrels and retoast and then char them, and probably the medium toast barrels as well depending on what they smell like. Or if you aren’t up for that I would resell them to a winery. Â
-
@JustAndy Thanks for your response! This is a bit of an eye opener, but I’m really glad you’re not pulling back the punches. These are important notes that will absolutely play a role in the final product, and now I’m starting to see what that will look like. I’ll do what I can to modify the barrels, but there is definitely no selling them. That carbon layer is so important! What’s funny is the coopers even branded our rum brand on the heads – wouldn’t they have known this wasn’t for wine? Wouldn’t they have said something? I’m a little miffed that they didn’t let the owners know about toast vs char; wine vs spirit. Alas, it is what it is, and I’ll have to make do with what I’ve got, but I appreciate the information and I shall move forward accordingly.
Cheers!
Log in to reply.
English 
Spanish 
German 
French 
Russian