How to Buy Whiskey Barrels
Whiskey consumption has a lot of known benefits. Barrel aged whiskeys are now becoming popular with people developing a love for it. Your final whiskey can taste entirely different after going through a barrel, and this justifies its popularity. You final whiskey gets new depth of smell and taste from being matured in a barrel.
There are some chemical compounds present in the wood such as lactones which are responsible for adding floral aromas and coconut in some cases, vanilla and caramel in the forms of phenolic aldehydes and simple sugars respectively that will be absorbed by the whiskey during the aging process. If there is any whiskey that has been residing in a barrel, the new whiskey will absorb the flavor left over from it as well as the strong caramel and vanilla flavors present in it. However, selecting a barrel to age your whiskey in is not as easy as it may seem. If you want to find the best whiskey barrel without much difficulty, this article is a must read for you.
The type of barrel is a crucial factor to consider. Once you have decided to age your whiskey in a barrel, it is vital to know the type of barrel that is suited to it. Oak barrels are the most readily available. The problem comes in when deciding whether to buy a new barrel or one that has been used before. A new barrel requires thorough cleaning and treatment to eliminate any bacteria and organisms that may be residing in the wood. In the case of recently emptied barrels, cleaning is not a necessity due to the sterilizing effect of the high proof alcohol that was in it. If it was once used but has not seen service for a long time, it should be cleaned too.
What barrel size do you want to buy? There are smaller used barrels that can hold up to five gallons. You can get used barrels from distillers both in-person and on the internet. New barrels come in a variation of capacities that could scale down to one liter. Whiskey aged in a smaller barrel is more likely to lose its taste since it absorbs the flavors faster and evaporate at an accelerated pace.
Look at the cost of the barrel. The designs and furnishings are just some of the factors that determine how much you will have to pay for a whiskey barrel. Depending on the size of a whiskey barrel, you may have to pay more or less. The price will also depend on the place you are purchasing the barrels from and how many barrels you are buying.