barrel programs...can I buy and age my own barrel?

[NorCalBoozer]

i know it's possible to "buy" a barrel from a distiller and then they store it and bottle it when the time comes.

my question is...is it possible to buy a barrel and age it myself?

[JeffRenner]

i know it's possible to "buy" a barrel from a distiller and then they store it and bottle it when the time comes.

my question is...is it possible to buy a barrel and age it myself?

I don't think so. I believe the largest container that may be sold is 1.75 liters.

Jeff

[kbuzbee]

I agree with Jeff. I read somewhere (maybe in Chucks book??) it is part of the three tier system implimented after prohibition that everything has to be in bottles. Of course..... You can ALSO buy the empty barrel and dump all the bottles back into it to continue aging.... Complicated but doable. Make sure you save the bottles I think it was on the Buffalo Trace tour they mentioned doing this.... They said the barrel is very reasonable, $20 or so??

Ken

[cowdery]

The typical "buy a barrel" program is what several people here have done. The distillery selects a few mature barrels, you taste them, pick the one you like, and the distillery bottles it up for you. Several distilleries will do this.

Commercially, some distilleries do, in fact, sell new made whiskey to a customer and then age it for them, although this isn't done for consumers. Part of the issue is, why would you want to? Since you likely would only own one barrel, you would be taking a big chance in terms of how that barrel would age.

Now if you are asking, can a buy a newly-entered barrel, take it home and age it in my basement (as was common among the wealthy in the 19th century) the answer is no, it's against the law. Unless you have the appropriate license, you cannot buy alcohol in any container larger than 1.75 liters.

[kbuzbee]

Chuck, do you know if Wild Turkey does this??

Thanks!

Ken

[NorCalBoozer]

the reason for my post, was that knowing how much the aging and weather has to do with flavor, I was interesting in maybe setting up some aging in my locale. I was interesting in knowing how my local weather trends would affect the bourbon. Would it be good? bad? different?

Of course I probably wouldn't want standard size barrels. Way too much bourbon. But what if I could make 1.75 L barrels (or somewhat larger) and then fill them with a young bourbon and age it at my house? that might be cool. Has anyone done this?

The typical "buy a barrel" program is what several people here have done. The distillery selects a few mature barrels, you taste them, pick the one you like, and the distillery bottles it up for you. Several distilleries will do this.

Commercially, some distilleries do, in fact, sell new made whiskey to a customer and then age it for them, although this isn't done for consumers. Part of the issue is, why would you want to? Since you likely would only own one barrel, you would be taking a big chance in terms of how that barrel would age.

Now if you are asking, can a buy a newly-entered barrel, take it home and age it in my basement (as was common among the wealthy in the 19th century) the answer is no, it's against the law. Unless you have the appropriate license, you cannot buy alcohol in any container larger than 1.75 liters.

[barturtle]

A 1.75L barrel would age extremely fast and that might not be desireable--I think it would anyway, due to a high surface-to-volume ratio. Would probably be either very woody or overly charred. At least that's my guess.

[NorCalBoozer]

yup, i just found an article about a guy aging beer in some oak barrels. after about a week it was too woody.

it would speed up the flavoring but that would be another reason to make sure to taste test on a regular basis

I did find several places that make oak barrels of different sizes, one gallon, 2 gallon, etc.

How many gallons in a production barrel?

A 1.75L barrel would age extremely fast and that might not be desireable--I think it would anyway, due to a high surface-to-volume ratio. Would probably be either very woody or overly charred. At least that's my guess.

[TNbourbon]

...How many gallons in a production barrel?..

53.
Here's a small-barrel vendor -- but I don't know how you'd go about charring (or even lightly toasting) it:
Thousand Oaks Barrel Co.

[NorCalBoozer]

whoa 53, that might take me a while to drink thru. I did find another vendor that has charred barrels specific for "spirits" and they range from 1 gallon to 30 gallons.

http://www.redhillgeneralstore.com/b...ource=overture

...How many gallons in a production barrel?..

53.
Here's a small-barrel vendor -- but I don't know how you'd go about charring (or even lightly toasting) it:
Thousand Oaks Barrel Co.