Gastropod looks at food through the lens of science and history.
Co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley serve up a brand new episode every two weeks.
The Barrel That Could Save A Forest
Bourbon has to be aged in barrels, by law; whiskey usually spends years in barrels, by custom; and between 20-30 percent of wine spends some time in one. And almost all of those wooden vessels are made from just two kinds of tree: American white oak and French oak. This episode, we tell the story—and try the whiskey—of the distiller and the barrel-maker who, together, are figuring out how to use the huge, elegant, native oak of the Pacific Northwest to create new flavor, and, in the process, restore an ecosystem that has nearly vanished. Along the way, we figure out the science behind how a barrel affects the taste of what you sip, and we trace the trajectory of barrels from their pinnacle, as the go-to container for everything from fish to petroleum, to their current niche status. Finally, we explore why oak became the default wood for barrel-making—and meet the coopers experimenting with different woods, and an entirely new flavor universe for booze.
All that, plus Roman supply chain logistics, bung holes, and spoofulation! Join us for a barrel of laughs as we visit two of America's last cooperages and a pioneering Seattle distillery.
Episode Notes
Matt Hoffman and Westland Distillery
Matt Hoffman is the co-founder and master distiller at Westland Distillery. In 2019, the third edition of their Garryana project was named American Single Malt Whiskey of the Year at World Whiskies Awards; in 2021, edition five won the same award. You can read more about Westland's work to restore Garry oak savannas near Tacoma, Washington, online here.
Oregon Barrel Works
At Oregon Barrel Works, we met Matt Fortran and master cooper Rick DeFerarri. Oregon Barrel Works is a log-to-barrel cooperage that supplies Westland Distillery (amongst others) with their Garry oak barrels. They work with several kinds of oaks, sourced in forests from France to Oregon.
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- Lumber for processing.
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- Oregon Barrel Works
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- Matt showing us the acetylene torch used for cauterizing the bung. He says he gets singed every time.
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- A charred barrel
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- The moment you’ve been waiting for: A cauterized bung hole (not so bad, right?)
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- Finishing touches—there’s a barrel sander in the background
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- Matt turning the final hoops that will go on the barrels. You can see the well-worn temporary hoops on the barrel to the left.
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- Rick measuring a barrel top: Since each barrel is unique, every top is measured and cut to fit.
Nate Lindquist and Rolling Thunder Barrel Works
In 2015, Rogue Ales & Spirits acquired some WWII-era French coopering equipment and tapped employee Nate Lindquist to helm the operation. Nate trained with Rick at Oregon Barrel Works before becoming head cooper at Rolling Thunder Barrel Works, where he creates barrels for aging Rogue’s spirits and beers—and experiments with "weird woods."
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- Those are future staves marked in quartersawn logs—barrel-quality oak is expensive, so coopers mark up their logs carefully to squeeze the maximum number of staves out from around knots and cracks.
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- Rogue barrels and staves (see how the ends of the staves are shaped like curved trapezoids?)
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- There’s no set number of staves in a barrel, just a standard circumference—so it’s a puzzle to get all the right pieces together.
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- Nate shows us the hoop raising process
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- After the hoop raising, the unfinished barrel looks a bit like a skirt or a teepee.
Henry Work and Wood, Whiskey and Wine
Henry Work has been a cooper since 1974, starting with 25 years of experience making barrels in Napa Valley, then managing a cooperage in Kentucky. His book, Wood, Whiskey and Wine: A History of Barrels, is a comprehensive guide to the history of barrels and how their roles have evolved over 2,000 years of use; he's also the author of The Shape of Wine: Its Packaging Evolution.
Aude Watrelot
Aude Watrelot is an assistant professor of enology at Iowa State University, where she studies the chemical composition of hybrid grape varieties, how different wine-making practices affect a wine’s chemical composition, and how this affects the final perception of the wine.
Check out this video of Adirondack Barrel Cooperage made by our partners at Eater.
Transcript
Click here for a transcript of the show. Please note that the transcript is provided as a courtesy and may contain errors.