By Richard Thomas When it comes to whiskey and wood, the world has three basic models. The American model relies heavily, although not exclusively, on new oak. The Irish and Scottish model relies heavily, although not exclusively, on used barrels. Finally, the Canadians are a heterodox lot who use both new and used barrels. Yet it’s the Irish and Scottish ...

By Richard Thomas Only a few years ago, a controversy raged in American whiskey circles about the use of small barrels in the craft whiskey sector. A big part of why the issue caught on among bourbon enthusiasts for a time is because, until the craft distilling movement started, the 53 gallon American Standard Barrel (ASB) was the beginning and ...

Why Bourbon Barrels Dominate Not Just American Whiskey, But Irish, Scotch And Japanese Too By Richard Thomas When it comes to whiskey and wood, two basic facts stick fast. First is that barrel maturation, that intricate dance of cask, climate and clock, often accounts for half or more of how a whiskey tastes by the time it reaches the bottle. ...

Exploring The Types Of Whiskey Oak By Richard Thomas Whenever the subject of why a given whiskey tastes the way it does arises, my favorite statistic is that, depending on who made it, barrel aging contributes between 40 and 80% of the flavor. Barrel aging itself breaks down into several factors, but the oak used in making that barrel, cask, ...

By Richard Thomas Heretofore, whenever the subject of “new oak” comes up in reference to European whiskey-making, the wood in question was never from the whiskey’s country of origin. The whiskey might be Irish or Scottish, while the oak is almost invariably American, French or Spanish. But no longer. New Midleton is ready to turn the corner on that mix ...