Why are oak cask used to make whiskey, rum, or other spirits? Why not other woods?

Question

Why oak? Why not mesquite or hickory or some other type of wood? How did oak become the "standard" wood used to age the various spirits?

Answer 1

Good question. The answer is not so easy, unless you want to accept 'because'. :)

'because' isn't such a bad answer tho'.

Imagine you are a distillery and want to buy some barrels. Look around at the coopers -- they sell barrels made from French, American, Hungarian etc wood, but that wood is oak. There aren't many -(any?) companies making mesquite wood barrels.

The reason is that over the years winemakers have decided that oak barrels are best. In teh early days American winemakers used Redwood (and there are some large redwood barrels still in use in California, and in olden days the Greeks used pinewood (hence their taste for Retsina).

Why oak? The wood has to have a tight grain to stop the contents leaking out, but allow minimal air in to aid aging. And over time the wine consumer has become used to the flavor imparted by oak, and they expect it.

Scotch whisky distllers prefer to use old wine/sherry/port barrels. Some distillers prefer brand new barrels. But the fact is that virtually all barrel making comanies use oak. The wood has to come from old trees grown in cool climates and when cut has to be air dried for some years, and you need skilled coopers to make the barrel. So barrel making companies tend to be linked to a certain area near ancient forests - such as Limousin in France - and they need to invest for the long term.

So, at the end of that, oak barrels are used because they are the ones that you can buy, and that is because they have proved over time to be the best for the purpose.

Answer 2

Everybody has touched on a little bit of all the reasons oak make good spirit barrels.

1) It's a good wood for making a liquid tight container. For starters, it's a very strong wood. The grain in white oak is tight, and it swells when wet sealing itself. Red oak is a bad choice for a barrel as it has an open grain...you can actually blow air through red oak wood.

2) Flavor...arguably 90% of a spirit that's been aged in oak casks acquires its flavor from the wood. There are natural sugars in oak, similar to maple (where maple syrup comes from), though not as plentiful or with the same flavor. When the barrels are manufactured, they're toasted and frequently charred as well (on the inside). This caramelizes the sugars and gives them color and more flavor. The spirit stored in the cask absorbs the sugars, the tannins, the natural wood flavors (hints of vanilla, leather, tobacco, etc) over time and this plays a part in the actual flavor of the spirit. This is another reason why red oak is not used for barrels...it imparts a very harsh bitter flavor.

3) Availability - there's a relatively large supply of oak compared to the more exotic (and possibly more flavorful) woods such as maple, cherry, and so forth...not to mention price. An oak barrel is expensive enough ($300 and up, each). A barrel of a more expensive wood would make that spirit unaffordable. In the Bourbon industry, the barrels are required to be previously unused, charred white oak. In other spirits, the flavors they strive for can be achieved by previously used barrels. Scotch Whisky is almost entirely aged in previously used barrels...some that once contained sherry, some for port, a large amount are previously used Bourbon barrels (since they cannot be reused for Bourbon).

Yes, you could use mesquite or hickory, but historically, experiments with aging spirits in them have yielded nasty flavors. However, I am told that hickory, cherry, and walnut lend a unique and not unpleasant flavor profile...I just shudder to think what that might cost on a large production scale.

Answer 3

Oak is strong, has low pitch content. It is acidic, It swekks when wet, so a leak will wet the wood where the seep is and it will expand and fill the crack without using a filler. So an oak barrel will last for years without leaking. Oak will char uniformally. They make the barrek light a fire inside to turn the insides black, (charcoal) , There is no creosote r other poisonous residue, The charcoal absorbs the ugly stuff in booze, whisky or wine. There are a hundred other reasons. Also they made ships from oak for the same reasons. The reason everyone worships pine and fir is because it is easy to cut and mill and the trees grow fast. Cheap
Mesquite is too small scarse and impossible to make a barrel from. Hicory is strong, but not the desired flavor, and not as available.

Answer 4

Rum Barrels For Sale

Answer 5

Just wanted to throw in a correction. Jack Daniels is from Tennessee, not Kentucky. Kentucky is the only place where "Bourbon" comes from. Anything else is "Whiskey" or "Whisky" (or more simply, Sour Mash.)

Everything else, in terms of barrel strength, taste, etc are true. Two additional factors, 1) there are a lot of Oak trees in the American Southwest. 2) Tradition!

Answer 6

oak wood is charred by burning on the inside after barrel/keg/cask is made .
this gives the liquor the mellow flavor..... oak wood has that ability that other wood does not..
its not all oak..some 200 diff types of oaks....

there is a special white and some red oak trees...used..
ala/la/miss has good red oaks for liquor.....

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Flavor, and some woods will cause the whiskey to turn bad, or not mature right.

Answer 9

Oak is strong and has a good taste when it is used. Also it is not toxic.

Answer 10

depend's on the distiller's recipe, the "Scott's" claim that they are the only one's that can make "Scotch" properly (and they have a wonderful product). "Jack Daniel's" Distillary in the U.S laughs at this, and say's that their "Burbon" is better, their arguement is "Kentucky" is the only place to get the water needed to get the flavor, both are correct !