Different Types of Wood Used in Making Oak Whiskey, Bourbon & Wine Barrels

Table of Contents

Points for discussion:

Introduction

What Are Wood Oak Barrels?

What Are Barrels Used For?

How To Make Wooden Barrels?

What Are The Different Types Of Oak Trees?

What Are The Different Types Of Barrels?

Why Is Oak Used For Barrels?

What is the Effect of Wooden Oak Barrels in aging whiskey, wine, or any spirit?

What are the Different Species of Oak Used for Wine Barrels and Whiskey Casks?

What Are Wine Barrels Made Of and How To Make Wine Barrel?

What Are Bourbon Barrels Made Of?

Where Can You Buy A Wooden Barrel?

Introduction:

What Are Wood Oak Barrels?

French Common Oak (Quercus robur)

Irish Oak (Quercus petraea) American White Oak (Quercus alba)

Wood barrels or casks are hollow cylindrical containers with bulging centers that are longer than they are wide. Traditionally, they are made from wooden staves and bound by wood or metal hoops. Large wooden liquor barrels used for aging spirits are called a vat, whereas a small barrel is known as a keg. In modern times, the wood used in wine barrels come from three different oak trees, namely: The typical standard sizes of wood wine barrels have been mentioned below:

Bordeaux type – 225 liters (59 US gal)

Burgundy type – 228 liters (60 US gal)

Cognac type – 300 liters (79 US gal)

What Are Barrels Used For?

Wood barrels are used to age wine, distilled spirits like whiskey, brandy, rum, beer, tabasco sauce, or balsamic vinegar (in smaller sizes). When wine or other spirits are aged in a barrel, it promotes oxidation. Small amounts of oxygen are introduced in the barrel when water or alcohol is lost due to evaporation, known as the “angel’s share.”

Spirits aged in wooden liquor barrels are imbibed with compounds like vanillin and wood tannins present in the barrel wood. The presence of these chemicals depends on many factors like their place of origin, how the staves were cut and dried, and the level of toasting during manufacture. Wood for barrel making is typically obtained from French or American oak species, but chestnut and redwood trees are also used.

The barrel-making process begins with the selection of barrel wood. While barrels can be made out of many different oak trees, the most commonly found are wood oak barrels. Although both French and American oak are used to make barrels, there’s are differences between a French and American white oak barrel. When it comes to imparting flavors, French oak is more subtle, while American oak is much more assertive.

Barrel wood is harvested from different oak trees handpicked by the cooper to ensure a uniform and watertight final product.

The wood is then formed into long thin staves that are stacked and left to dry for years before they are ready to be formed.

Once fully dry, the staves are shaped to be broader in the middle and tapered at the ends. The shape is essential for making leakproof wood oak barrels without using screws or glue. The staves are then carefully selected to ensure the tightest fit and assembled inside a metal hoop to give the barrel its familiar shape.

The assembly is then subjected to heat and humidity, making the barrel’s wood flexible, and metal hoops of different radii hold the staves tightly in place. A precise machining step trims the ends of the staves and cuts a groove in one that fits the barrel heads, known as croze.

The heads are then custom cut to fit the croze, and the wooden liquor barrels are finished with a final hoop to keep everything in place. The barrel is checked for leakage postcompletion. The cooper sands the barrel down after it passes final inspections and signs or stamps his final work at the end.

What Are The Different Types Of Oak Trees?

Including hybridized species, more than 600 oak varieties are found worldwide, out of which about 90 are native to the United States.

Out of the different oak trees found in the US, North America is home to the widest variety of species. Most are categorized as red or white oaks and are characterized by their elongated, lobed leaves, sturdy trunks, and acorns.

Many oak species also grow in parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe. China houses around 100 oak species, while several European nations have designated different oak trees as their national foliage.

Why Is Oak Used For Barrels?

Oak is the ideal choice of wood for barrel making because of its many signature traits like strength, durability,liquid-tightness, and coopering suitability. A large volume of medullary rays in the barrel wood contributes to the extra strength. The cells of white oak contain tyloses that dam up the vascular tissue, resulting in clogged pores that prevent leaking.

What is the Effect of Wooden Oak Barrels in aging whiskey, wine, or any spirit?

Distilled spirits are clear and relatively flavorless, like vodka. Their time in the wood oak barrels imparts flavors and colors from the barrel’s wood to help them become the dark bottled spirits we all love. Therefore, aged liquor is darker than unaged spirits.

Apart from color, flavors are also added to spirits aged in wood barrels. Depending on the wood used to make the barrel, different flavors are imparted into the spirits. The flavor enhancement mellows out any harsh notes in the distilled liquor and introduces oakiness or charred oak undertones.

What are the Different Species of Oak Used for Wine Barrels and Whiskey Casks?

Oakwood has remained the best wood for barrel making for thousands of years. It is considered the best wood to age whiskey as it contains a pseudo tannin named Gallic acid and has many compounds that add spiciness to the spirit. Oak also provides the best wine barrel wood due to its perfect relationship with grapes and how well it ages and enhances the flavors.

American White Oak

American white oak is the most assertive force in the world of whiskey barrel wood. Bourbon must be aged in a newly charred American white oak barrel, and later the used bourbon barrels are utilized in aging many varieties of scotch, whiskey, and other spirits. American oak wood barrels impart mellow notes of vanilla, caramel, and coconut and softly affect the taste.

European oak wood whisky barrels tend to add spice and vanilla flavors to whiskey during aging. It is a slow-growing oak with a tighter grain. It is also more absorbent than different oak trees and allows deeper invasion of spirits during maturation. European oak adds bitter, spicy, and woody notes to the taste. European oak grows all over Europe, chaste far into Turkey and Russia. It is less thick and grows slower than the American white oak.

Sessile Oak

This species is found in Europe and is not as common as other species. It is also known as Irish oak because it is the national tree of Ireland. Nowadays, Irish whiskey barrel wood is sourced from France from the cognac and wine industries.

In the whiskey wood world, this species is known as Mizunara or Japanese oak. Its tasting notes include vanilla, coconut, spicy rye characteristics, oriental incense, and sandalwood. The Mongolian wood oak barrels provide the exclusive features associated with Japanese whiskey.

What Are Wine Barrels Made Of and How To Make Wine Barrel?

The oak used for wine barrels is sawed into long pieces called staves.

The staves are seasoned outdoors for years before being shaped. The exact shape helps make the barrel watertight without glue or mechanical fixes.

Oak is the preferred wood used in wine barrels for centuries, mainly for storing and transporting wine. Even today, a majority of red and white wines are fermented and finished in oak wood barrels.

Heat and humidity, along with metal hoops, are used to bend the staves in proper form.

The barrel head is custom cut to fit the croze. The constructed barrel is toasted over flames till the staves are slightly charred.

The middle hoops are removed, and the wine cask wood is sanded on the outside.

Finally, the hoops are reapplied and knocked into a fixed position.

What Are Bourbon Barrels Made Of?

The bourbon barrel is made from Quercus alba or American white oak trees that are preferably over 90 years old. Oak barrels for aging bourbon have bubblelike cellular structures (tyloses) that bulge into the xylem cavities, thus blocking water movement. It makes the barrel wood particularly watertight, even with thinner staves, which is perfect for the mechanized oak bourbon barrel-making process used in the USA.

Where Can

The Rocky Mountain Barrel Company houses the broadest range of used wood barrels for sale, ranging from wooden whiskey barrels and oak bourbon barrels to wood wine barrels for sale. Request a brewer’s quote today!