Four Roses barrel head stencil

[maybeling]

Hi folks. Can anybody help me decipher this barrel head stencil? Obviously it is an OESK from DSP KY 8, but curious about the other information. Would the fill date be on there? Location?

[VAGentleman]

Looks like Dec 17th 2007 to me. L=12 letter meaning Dec 17 being the day and 07 the year(someone correct me if I'm wrong). RC 53 G means Real capacity 53 gallons

[maybeling]

Hmm. I think that would make it too young, right? This is an empty barrel, so I was guessing 2004.

[luther.r]

yes I think it was filled the 62nd day in 2004.

[maybeling]

yes I think it was filled the 62nd day in 2004.

[tanstaafl2]

Thanks! Anybody know what the other markings indicate? TK? L 17 L 07? DG?

[Tucker]

Every FR barrel I've seen has a code starting with "TK 62".

Edit: "04" is the fill year 2004.

The warehouse and barrel number are hand-written on the barrel head.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Tucker

[tanstaafl2]

Every FR barrel I've seen has a code starting with "TK 62".

Edit: "04" is the fill year 2004.

The warehouse and barrel number are hand-written on the barrel head.

Ah yes, I remember that is the case for the warehouse and barrel number now thanks to the pictures!

[tanstaafl2]

I notice the FR on these barrels before the mashbill code. Four Roses I presume? You don't suppose DG on the OP picture could stand for Diageo? They certainly had to have bought a lot of FR back in the day!

Edited October 30, 2015 by tanstaafl2

[Kpiz]

On 10/30/2015 at 9:02 AM, tanstaafl2 said:

I notice the FR on these barrels before the mashbill code. Four Roses I presume? You don't suppose DG on the OP picture could stand for Diageo? They certainly had to have bought a lot of FR back in the day!

 

Well this is an old topic and many people may now know the info I'm about to add, but figured I'd go ahead and add it anyways so that this thread can be a more complete reference.

 

I learned during a private barrel selection at FR that DG instead of FR does in fact indicate Diageo as Bruce said.

 

To extrapolate the pertinent dates from the barrel head stencil, look at either the 2nd or the 5th line (they should be substantially the same). After the TK62, it will have a two-digit number, a letter, a two-digit number, a letter, and a final two-digit number. The first two-digit number is the year it was barreled, the letter indicates the barreling month (A=January, B=February, etc), the next two-digit number is the day of the month it was barreled, the next letter is the distillation month (same format, where A=January, etc), and the final two-digit number is the day of the month it was distilled. For the first barrel Maybeling posted, it shows 04L17L07. This means it was barreled December 17 of 2004, and was distilled December 7 of the same year.

• 04 = Year barreled (2004)
• L = Month barreled (December)
• 17 = day of the month the barrel was filled (17th day)
• L = distillation month (December)
• 07 = Distillation day (7th day of month)

Since there is no distillation year you can generally assume it is the same as the year the barrel was filled. For barrels filled in January, it may show a December distillation date, which would obviously mean the distillation year is the prior year (09A08L21 means filled Jan 8, 2009 and distilled Dec 21, 2008)