Cooperage Tour

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Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Thu Jun 25, 2009 4:13 pm


Today, four of us from the Bourbon Society here in Louisville had a tour of Bluegrass Cooperage (now called Brown-Forman Cooperage). It was a good tour and here are a few pictures. They make over 2000 barrels a day.

Gayle
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barrel hoops.JPG
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barrrel heads.JPG
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charring.JPG
charring.JPG (112.23 KiB) Viewed 13185 times
barrel smoke.JPG
barrel smoke.JPG (148.72 KiB) Viewed 13185 times
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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Thu Jun 25, 2009 4:18 pm


Here's a few more pictures. I didn't know if the site would let me post all of them.


Gayle
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barrrel heads.JPG
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banding.JPG
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staves.JPG
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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon Joe » Thu Jun 25, 2009 4:25 pm

Great pictures Gayle. Thanks for posting them.
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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby DeanSheen » Thu Jun 25, 2009 6:17 pm

Is that the one you have to pay for?
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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby independant » Thu Jun 25, 2009 6:24 pm

Great pics I really like the charring one with the amber glow.
Thanks for sharing
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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Fri Jun 26, 2009 2:28 pm

There is no charge for the cooperage tour. They started doing this in April. Yes all the barrels are the same and Old Forester is put into a #3 level of char. It's interesting if you ever get the chance to go.

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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Fri Jun 26, 2009 3:50 pm


By the way Mozilla, I lived in Temple, TX for 14 years and retired there. I visit an old buddy of mine every year in Austin. He lives on Harper's Ferry St.

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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:58 pm


No, the cooperage is out by the airport across from FEDEX. The next time I am coming to Austin, I'll let you know. I try and stay away from 6th Street. Louisville is my hometown, so when I retired, I moved back here to see what it's like now. I could move back to Texas in a heartbeat.


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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:00 pm


Also Mozilla, do you ever go to The Broken Spoke? I love the Geezenslaws.


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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby cowdery » Mon Jun 29, 2009 12:36 pm

They've added all that brand ID since they started to give public tours. Interesting.

I think there are some specification differences in the barrels they make. Woodford, I think, is the only one for which they char the barrel heads.

Brown-Forman used to supply barrels to other distilleries but now, as a general rule, they do not. It's mostly a capacity thing. They need all they can make for their own brands and to make more, they would need to do a significant expansion of the facility, or build another one, cause they've pushed that place to the limit.
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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby bourbonv » Mon Jun 29, 2009 12:55 pm

Actually, Chris Morris says they char all of the barrel heads, but Woodford is the only ones they TOAST before they char them.
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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:56 pm

Yeah, the guy that gave us the tour said they char all the barrelheads.

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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:58 pm

We also learned that Maker's Mark uses walnut bungs instead of poplar. Doesn't walnut put something into the barrel. If so, how and why can they do that?


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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby bourbonv » Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:20 pm

Gayle,
Since the barrel is stored bung up, there is very little contact with the bung so there will be no flavor added to the whiskey. Even it was so, walnut wood bungs would probably add no more flavor than a popular bung.
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Re: Cooperage Tour

Unread postby Bourbon HQ » Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:26 pm

OK, thanks Mike.

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