Boann To Use Storm-Felled, Ancient Irish Tree For New Oak Casks
A 1,000-year-old Irish oak tree has been transformed into three exceptionally rare whiskey casks in a landmark moment for Ireland’s distilling and cooperage heritage.
Specialist coopers at Kentucky Bourbon Barrel in Kildare have created three 225-litre casks from the giant tree, which was brought down by Storm Elin in December 2023 on Preston’s Estate on Swainstown Farm, Co Meath.
The Preston family are descendants of the renowned Preston’s of Drogheda, Co Louth – operators of a prominent whiskey bonding business for almost a century from 1886. Its new lease of life, a collaboration between Drogheda-based Boann Distillery, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel and Swainstown Farm.
Irish oak casks are exceptionally scarce because relatively little native oak is suitable for barrel production.
Most casks used by the Irish whiskey industry are made from American oak and were previously used to mature bourbon. The main example of new Irish oak being used to finish an Irish whiskey has been Midleton Dair Ghaelach from Irish Distillers.
A selected section of the tree was transported to the Vosges region of France, where specialist mills split the log and converted it into the shaped staves – the shaped lengths of wood that form the sides of a barrel – together with the heads required to make a cask. The oak then underwent approximately 24 months of natural outdoor seasoning before returning to Ireland. At the Newbridge cooperage, the seasoned staves and heads were shaped and assembled into three complete Irish Oak casks for Boann Distillery.
They will now be filled with matured whiskey based on its secret Preston’s Vintage Mashbill XI recipe – a historic late-19th-century recipe uncovered through Boann’s Vintage Mashbill program, which brought old whiskey recipes back to life. The whiskey will be bottled and launched next year.
