Page 37 - Beverage MasterAprMay 2021

Craft Distillery

11 due to the narrow width of the house. Most customer base prefers barrels freshly emptied and
of our warehouses have ricks that are ‘three high’ slightly wet. A lot of that barrel stock comes from
or have three tiers of ricks. However, we do have bourbon distilleries which, by law, can only use a
one house that has ‘six high’ ricks. Still, the design barrel once for bourbon.
doesn’t change. When our cooperage makes a bar-
rel for a distillery, like a Woodford Reserve specific Accordingly, The Barrel Broker has some insight to
barrel, it doesn’t know which warehouse it is going share on how to store barrels and what its custom-
to be entered into, so that barrel has to fit in every ers prefer when selecting used racks. John Gill, who
warehouse’s ricks.” has a background in the wine tourism industry and
heads quality control for the company, said that for
When it comes to proper storage, Morris said, his clients, choosing a racking system really comes
some things never change. “The proper storage for down to need, preference and budget.
a barrel in the rick is simple. Rick it with the bung
in the 12 o’clock position to minimize leakage. If a “Racks are designed to safely store barrels two
barrel already has a leak, rick it with the leak point wide and up to five stacks high while being able
at 12 o’clock. Otherwise, it is the condition of the to be moved with a pallet jack or forklift. The
warehouse that is important, rather than how the seven-inch racks allow ample space to access the
barrel sits in the rick. We want clean, dry condi- bungs while stacked for pulling samples or topping
tions in the warehouse.” off. We suggest used, refurbished or new two-bar-
rel racks in three-to-seven-inch sizes. We sell them
Morris also said that there is no need to rotate all for barrels, 15 to 60 gallons.”
barrels if there is good inventory control, along
with batching barrels together to make a consistent Gill agrees with other experts, such as Morris, who
flavor profile. A barrel matures based upon ware- say that barrels don’t need to be rotated. He told
house temperatures and the length of time the bar- Beverage Master Magazine that he also believes
rel spends in the warehouse, not by how it sits. that keeping the proper temperature in a ware-
house is key to a successful product outcome from
“There has been a tremendous amount of study any barrel.
conducted on the impact temperature has on the
maturation process,” he said. “Brown-Forman has “Ideal for breweries is high humidity, 60% to 70%,
research papers that date back to the 1920’s – we and cool temperatures to minimize evaporation
operated during Prohibition under medicinal per- loss. Ideal for distilleries is a continuous change of
mit KY—3. Based on these many studies, we never temperatures and humidity to achieve complex fla-
allow our Kentucky warehouses to drop below 55 vors and complexity in barrel-aged spirits.”
degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. This requires that
each of our warehouses be constructed with thick Price and preference dictate what racking sys-
masonry walls so they can be heated as necessary. tems a brewery or distillery may choose. However,
They will get as hot as they will in the summer experts agree that controlling warehouse tem-
because they can’t be cooled. Jack Daniels has ‘iron perature, avoiding undue pressure on barrels, and
clad’ warehouses, so they can’t be heated and will, keeping tabs on inventory control produce the best
therefore, get cold in the winter. So, Brown-Forman results. Whether wood or metal, racking is a mat-
matures its whiskies across a variety of maturation ter of knowing what will stack up as the best out-
styles.” come for the product inside a barrel.

Reusing Resources

Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, is home to The
Barrel Broker, co-owned by John and Kathleen Gill,
who started the business 11 years ago in California.
The company sources and supplies used barrels and
racks for breweries, wineries and distilleries. While
its clients are primarily in the Midwest, The Barrel
Broker also has business overseas. The company’s

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