Brown-Forman Expands Coopering Into Indiana

By Richard Thomas

Brown-Forman, the drinks giant that owns Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve, announced on Thursday that they would purchase and expand a lumber mill in Owen County, Indiana for the purpose of making barrel staves and ends. The mill would therefore become a parts supplier for other Brown-Forman cooperages, such as the one located in Louisville, Kentucky.

The $12 million investment in the Indiana timber concern is only the latest move in Brown-Forman’s plans to expand and consolidate its in-house coopering operations, vital in supplying the new oak barrels needed for aging most of the company’s whiskey products.

Last summer, Brown-Forman invested $60 million in opening a new cooperage in Trinity, Alabama, drawing on mills similar to the Owen County concern in Stevenson, Alabama and Clifton, Tennessee.