“Assume a spherical cow”
Before I came to ISC to study spirit maturation, I was in the field of engineering. I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and for the first five or six years out of college, I was strictly focused in that area.
Visitors to Kentucky Cooperage have been mesmerized as they watch our skilled coopers shape and assemble individual oak staves, secure steel hoops, and char the inside of barrels to create the perfect environment for aging spirits. Now, we are thrilled to announce the addition of two new tour experiences designed to immerse you in the age-old art of barrel making.
We are proud to announce that our domestic cooperages- Missouri Cooperage, Kentucky Cooperage and Commonwealth Cooperage- have all secured certification in food safety management (ISO 22000).
We are expanding our domestic stave mill operations! Our new facility in Rickman, TN will allow us to increase our wood supply in support of our customers and the growth of the industry…
Whiskey makers around the world have built their house profile brands on a classic- the char #4 whiskey barrel
At our Kentucky and Missouri cooperages, most production employees specialize in one aspect of the barrel making process such as jointing, raising, finishing, etc. Specializing allows employees to hone their craft and consistently produce quality results. After an employee gains proficiency in their position, they can also benefit from learning the entire barrel production process.
Our Volunteer Firefighter Initiative was launched in September with the mission to support fire departments who rely on volunteer firefighters within the communities where Independent Stave Company cooperage facilities, mills and sales offices are located.
Independent Stave Company (parent company of ISC Barrels) recently purchased 3,000 acres of land in northern Tennessee. The land will be used to supply oak logs for ISC Barrels.
In October Independent Stave Company CEO Brad Boswell sat down at Kentucky Cooperage with the guys of Bourbon Pursuit Podcast to discuss the cooperage industry.
He had fun discussing his family history in the cooperage industry, trends and many different aspects of Independent Stave Company during the interview – which begins around the 8:00 minute mark.
All ISC barrels that require a toast profile to be applied before charring are crafted at our Missouri Cooperage located in Lebanon, MO. In our first post on barrel profiling, we discuss that a charred barrel has two layers – a char layer and a red layer.
The Independent Stave Company team had a great time at the 2018 Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
Friday night we hosted our Kentucky customers at ISC Barrels, Bourbon & Music where we enjoyed greeting friends and rocking out to Clare Dunn & Dustin Lynch.
As barrels exit the steam tunnel they move to the “windlass” where the top of the raised barrel is squeezed together and the catch ring is replaced by a temporary head ring. The barrel then travels through the dry-fire tunnel to dry the staves and stabilize the barrel’s shape. […]
This is the fourth blog post in our series, “From Forest to Barrel”. Catch up by reading the last post. Enjoy the journey as we share how our barrels are expertly crafted from start to finish. From Forest to Barrel: Stave Finishing After rough staves are made at our company-owned …
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our team!
At our six domestic company-owned stave mills, employees take the high-quality white oak logs and process them into rough staves utilizing 100% of the log. Material that cannot be used for staves is converted into a variety of natural products such as chips, mulch, and sawdust.
ISC Barrels is proud to sponsor and judge the long tradition of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival World Championship Bourbon Barrel Relay™. The first bourbon barrel relay was held in 1991, 26 years ago, and was sponsored by Kentucky distillers.
After logs are harvested in the forest, loggers transport their loads to one of our 11 domestic log yards for purchasing. Independent Stave Company Log Procurement has six main log buying yards located at our company-owned stave mill facilities and five satellite yards.
Before an ISC Barrel is even a twinkle in our coopers’ eyes, the process of sourcing the best American white oak trees for barrel staves has already begun.
In every facet of our craft, coopering high-quality oak barrels is the ultimate goal. Quality assurance starts in the log yard where our buyers adhere to strict guidelines when purchasing white oak logs for ISC Barrels. Then, as the logs reach our company-owned stave mills, our craftsmen work diligently transforming the logs into quality staves. Our skilled coopers receive the staves and continue quality checks and processes while crafting them into barrels.
On December 1, The Bourbon Show podcast aired an episode with an interview from our very own Brad Boswell.
