Page 43 - Beverage Master December January 2020

Craft Beverage

Len Napalitano is an infusion spiral expert with
The Barrel Mill and told Beverage Master Magazine
that their infusion spirals are perfect for creating
unique flavor profiles and helping distillers get their
product to market faster.

“Sometimes, you won’t find the right barrels for
the flavor profile that you want to build for your
customers,” said Napalitano. “With each fill, a
wooden barrel loses part of its flavor offering and
balance, and after three fills, barrels can be neutral
regarding any noticeable flavor profile. These bar-
rels are still obviously good for use, and now they
can benefit from infusion spirals to regain that lost
flavor profile. You can achieve new oak flavor with-
out the new oak barrel, which can be in short sup-
ply at times. Even when used with a new oak bar-
rel, infusion spirals help get your product to market
quicker. Our spirals are cut from premium oak,
maximizing end-grain exposure for full extraction in
weeks instead of months, saving the distiller money
in labor, cost and time. The spirals are formed from
barrel stave wood, cut through, then put into a con-
vection oven to get their desired toast or char by
way of our proprietary formula.”

Jeremy Wochnick, Sales Professional for The Barrel
Mill, said “The spirals range from a light toast to a
#3 char depending what the distillers want, and are
available in not only the standard, premium oak,
but also in French oak and more exotic species like
sugar maple, cypress, cedar and more for exper-
imental and unique small-batch flavor profiles.
Barrel quality results are obtained using any type
of barrel, carboy or stainless tank. The spirals have
proven to be successful in spirits, beers and wines
as well as hard ciders and nonalcoholic drinks like
ginger ale and regular ciders. Infusion spirals can
be used to add a flavor profile to anything. We also
have packs with blend options featuring different
toast levels. The spirals can be used once, and are
inserted into your barrel through the bunghole by
way of netting or some sort of daisy chain for mak-
ing retrieval easy.”

And those infusion spirals, after being retrieved
from their time in the barrel? Well, it turns out that
they’re a pretty good addition to your outdoor bar-
becue.

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