ISC Barrels is well known for our traditional spirit barrel, but we offer a multi-dimensional portfolio of products with the assistance of our global cooperage family. Today, we want to give you an inside look at a new, unique line of spirit barrels we can offer through one of our sister cooperages – Tonnellerie Quintessence.
It has been a long year, but here we are preparing for the second annual James B. Beam Institute Industry Conference. This year’s conference will take place March 10-12 and will be a virtual event.
ISC Barrels has recently developed a customizable tasting kit to help our current and future customers easily fine-tune their barrel choices. Through a consultation with Account Manager Chad Spalding, distillers can receive a tasting kit customized to their specific flavor goals.
Join Andrew Wiehebrink, Director of Spirits Research and Innovation, on a video tour of our ISC Research Center in Lebanon, KY.
We all like to be different, to stand out amongst the crowd and be noticed. This sentiment holds true for the beverages we choose to both consume and produce – particularly when it comes to spirits.
In 2019, ISC Barrels officially rolled out four toasted barrels in our Small Batch Series. Named after the characteristics they impart, these barrels are; Smoke 1, Spice 1, Sweet 1 and Sweet 2.
New Visitor Center Now Open at Kentucky Cooperage We have been hard at work the past few months improving our visitor experience at Kentucky Cooperage and are excited to announce that the new Visitor Center is now open. Ann Daugherty, Kentucky Cooperage Tour Guide Each year thousands of people tour …
When used in conjunction with barrel aging, oak alternatives are a natural way to use 100% oak to access a new spectrum of flavors which can enhance and improve the complexity of a spirit.
Most of you who follow the ISC Barrels blog post are familiar with the use of new charred oak barrels in the bourbon making process. Many of you also know that once the aged bourbon is dumped, the barrel can no longer be used for bourbon production and is sold to another producer to start a new life.
After charring, we follow a proprietary process to cut spirals throughout the inside of the barrel, significantly increasing the surface area to allow aging spirits access to alternating layers of char and white oak.
The spirits industry is on fire. Large distilleries are expanding, the craft spirits industry continues to grow at a rapid pace and consumers are thirsty for knowledge. The innovation and experimentation currently taking place within the industry is unprecedented.
Independent Stave Company and American Forests have launched a one of-its-kind Oak Restoration Fund to invest in key projects that ensure the sustainability of oak forests.
Independent Stave Company is passionate about sustainable forest management. Partnerships with organizations like American Forests are important to us to continue finding ways to translate this passion into action.
Whether you’re barrel aging and looking for another oak component or working with a spirit that needs a different oak profile, finishing products can help you achieve your desired results.
I am always surprised how many people are unaware of the role that oak barrels play in the craft beer industry. People often tell me that they thought only wine, or bourbon and scotch aged in barrels.
In Oxygenation Part I, we discussed different variables that influence the rate of oxygenation during the maturation period. In this post, we switch gears and focus on what kind of reactions we can expect to see as a product of the oxygenation process.
From March 4-6 our ISC Barrels team visited the city of Pittsburgh for the fifth annual American Craft Spirits Association Convention and Tradeshow. The convention boasts the largest gathering of licensed craft spirits producers in the U.S. – so we were in good company!
Offered in limited quantities, our Small Batch barrels combine innovation and technology to bring out the best in your spirits.
Flavor development in barrel aged spirits is a complex process. As coopers, our focus is on oak extractives and their role in flavor development. We study the perception of those oak extractives in spirits and what we can do to heighten or mask their perception.
Our Cooper’s Reserve barrel brings creativity to the forefront, allowing distillers to create a fully customized barrel tailored to their spirit. Here, the focus is on flavor, using wood type, seasoning, and an extensive range of toast options to achieve specific goals for each mash bill.
Sensory analysis is a critical aspect of research and development at ISC. Each year we lay down new experimental barrels and our sensory panel provides our team with data to track the performance of each barrel. In conjunction with chemical analysis, we rely on this sensory data to maintain barrel quality, develop new products, and test new flavor possibilities.
