A Look at the Reasons for and History of the Cask.
I have been guilty from time to time of putting way too much thought into any food or drink that graces my presence. How was it made? What processes caused the final product? Is there anything I would do differently to improve the offering next time? It is for this reason, as I sit down after a long day with a glass in my hand, I often begin to wonder about aged alcohol and casks. For the purposes of your benefit and mine I decided to do a little digging and find out a little more about the whys and hows of casks.
Why is alcohol aged in Casks?
Simply said, alcohol is aged in casks due to the flavour notes they add to any liquid stored in them. With the heating and cooling of the wood liquids either work their way into the pores or are pushed back out as the wood tightens and relaxes through temperature shifts.
The most prevalent flavours that arise from oak aging are vanilla, or vanillin, and tannins. One study found that the rate of vanillin absorbtion by wine can vary when the yeast lees, or dead yeast, is present however with their removal the rates generally evened out. The tannins in wine come predominantly from two sources; the grapes that are pressed for wine, and the oak barrels themselves. If you have ever gotten that dry mouth feeling after sipping on some after dinner delight it was caused by the tannins in your glass.
How a cask is built
Have you ever wondered how casks are built? I know I have. Cask builders, or coopers, have a lengthy history and effectively use oak and iron to create the cask. Oak is first cut into staves, commonly considered wooden planks that make up the bulk of the cask. These staves are then tapered at the top and bottom end to allow for flexibility and the shape of the cask. Once that is done the metal rings, or hoops, are cut and riveted together. The staves are then arranged around one hoop and additional hoops are added. Once the general shape has been established the top and bottoms are cut or put together and hammered into place.
After initially building the barrel some are additionally charred or toasted. This process that aids in filtering the alcohol, is thought to have originated for the purposes of burning off any residue from the barrel’s previous contents. This process also opens the woods pores and breaks down some of the naturally occurring compounds into what are effectively wood sugars. All of these components add their own signature to the liquids in the cask.
The history of the Cask
When talking about the history of the cask, we should really start by talking about barrels. After searching around online it was believed that the barrel has been with us for at least two thousand years. Barrels were originally made completely of wood. Accurate dating is nearly impossible however due to the fact that wood does not hold up well against natural decay over a period of hundreds of years, let alone thousands.
Wooden barrels were originally shipping and storage containers. They can be made air tight or water tight depending on their use. As you can imagine with the long voyages involved in travel of that time anything shipped in wood would have gained some characteristics from their container.
It was the Greeks who wrote about shipping wine as early as 5 BCE. The Romans wrote about the dangers of using yew barrels for wine storage in the first century BCE. Another potential lead to figuring out the origins of the cask comes from the trade name of those who make casks: cupa, Latin for cask.
There are a number of ancient societies who could stake a claim to creating the cask. The Celts of western and central Europe were skilled in working with wood and metal. Don’t forget the Vikings, surrounded by woodlands with a strong passion for ironworking tools. It may be uncertain as to who originally brought us the barrel, but as a society we thank you for your contribution.
What is aged in casks?
In the present day casks are predominantly used throughout the wine and spirit world for aging and maturing their respective brews. Now with craft beer on the rise they too are beginning to utilize the cask. Have you ever had a chardonnay from California? If so, it is likely that you have sipped on some oak-aged chardonnay.
Casks throughout the world are used for various products and the most prevalent wood is oak. There are however several varieties that are sought after by cask makers, or coopers
Casks around the world.
Worldwide casks are made of oak. The main varieties used are American Oak, and French oak. A notable mention should go out to Japanese oak as well. To a large extent these varieties came about due to geographic conditions, however each type of wood has slightly different characteristics that affect their contents.
Of the two major barrels American oak offer a much stronger and pronounced flavour when compared against French oak. French oak by contrast imparts a smoother finish without the robust vanillin compounds present in American oak.
The Japanese oak has many drawbacks and was initially brought into use during wartime as the Japanese were unable to attain barrels through trade and whisky left its mark on the island. Coopers in the area began to look for suitable substitutes and began using the Japanese Mizunara Oak. Historically this wood was reserved for furniture making. Those casks made of Japanese oak are prone to leakage and another major hindrance is the fact that the tree can take as long as two hundred years to mature.
The cask and the reasons for them are many. At first they were most likely utilitarian containers for shipping goods, but over the years they have been a mainstay in the wine and spirit world. I doubt that the flavour profile was something the original coopers were thinking of however it has developed into a sought after element in many alcohols today. If you were lounging around questioning casks in the back of your head, I hope this article has served you well. I know when I first began questioning the subject I could never have imagined the web of information it has unfolded for me. The next time you sit down with a glass I hope you can reflect on just how much the barrel aging process has added to the product that is beside you.
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