Charred Barrels

There's a lot of history and 'lore' behind bourbon so discuss both here.

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Unread postby gillmang » Tue May 22, 2007 8:33 pm

John, I did mean Wray & Nephew Overproof, but also e.g. the 50% abv Rhum Bologne from Guadeloupe, another "whites" to use the local expression. Rhum Bologne is a bit more refined than Wray and Nephew's, but it has a similar vegetal cane odor and taste. These rums make a great cocktail with a little sugar and a good squeeze of lime added - and no ice, as was traditional in the Islands before refrigeration came in.

Screech is all-Jamaica rum, yes, and a good one. But I meant, e.g. Lamb's rums, which in Canada (per the labels) are a blend of Canadian and imported rums, ditto many of the regular-price brands available here (I think Bacardi's too). As far as I know, no Canadian rum is sold here unblended with imported rum, but the reverse of course is not true.

I think Medford rum - the style - was established well before 1860. Crawford's was another very old name. Quality old New England rum was probably like old Demerara. I saw a Medford auctioned 2 years ago at the Getz - didn't want to spring, but I shoulda. It had a reddish dark color like good Demerara. Rum is not that variable, I think.

Gary
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Unread postby bourbonv » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:34 pm

Gary,
We have a researcher here today who is a traditional cooper. I have had an interesting talk with him which I may expand upon later, but there is one point that I think you should hear. When charring barrels, it is best to do so right after putting the barrel together and the barrel is placed back on the heated coals to sett the bend in the staves. A handfull of woodchips or straw thrown on the fire (made from shavings from the barrel) will increase the heat of the fire enough to heat the wood to combustion, thus charring the barrel.
Mike Veach
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Unread postby gillmang » Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:59 pm

Thanks Mike, that may explain that when M'Harry referred to a "handful" of straw for cleansing (of off odours) barrels he meant just that, i.e., because of the coopering method you described, that would char the barrels. This is probably the origin of charred barrels being later developed especially to age bourbon. Originally it was a practice meant to get bad smells out of the wood, and inadvertently it showed that the whiskey improved when kept a certain time - improved more than when kept in non- or lightly charred wood.

Probably the extra moisture in the newly fashioned wood helps to form the char layer and this explains too why re-charring never gets (apparently) the same results. Early experimentation would have shown that new charred wood got better results than re-used wood and ultimately the former exclusively were used for bourbon.

Why in the U.K. did they not char new barrels for malt whisky? I think new barrels were just too expensive there. Wood was stripped from large parts of England for example by the early 1800's (the good oak, that is, that you'd need to age whisky - trees in Scotland are I believe the fir type mostly and not good to age whisky). Alternatively or in addition, new charred oak may not have been as suitable to make quality malt whisky as it proved for quality bourbon and rye because of the possibly different effects of the red layer on all-barley vs. corn- and rye-derived spirits.

I realise too M'Harry was probably referring to cleansing already made casks but we are interpreting what he meant: new wood was legion in the U.S. because the country was (in PA certainly) massively forested, so when he said what he did about a handful of straw he probably had in mind sanitising new casks (since I assume a charred cask is less liable to contamination - or easier to clean later - than a new one). I.e., when charring used plain wood, he might simply have used more than a handful of straw.

Gary
Last edited by gillmang on Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Unread postby bourbonv » Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:08 am

Gary,
The cooper said that he prefers to use wood chips so as to eleminate the chance that there would be an odd taste due to the smoke. He also said his research indicates that charring started in the 1820's in America. It is interesting to hear from someone researching the cooperage side of the story.
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Unread postby gillmang » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:43 am

Yes, thanks, charring seems to be an old cooper's practice from London, England but I would think it may well have been a practice in the States by the 1820's and probably because of the whisky industry.

I edited my post above to add some nuances you may want to read, Mike.

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