We take pride in offering 48-month air-seasoned American White Oak. Due to the scarcity of White Oak in recent times, we've partnered with a family-run stave mill in Missouri to ensure a consistent supply. However, our commitment to crafting exceptional barrels remains with our no-shortcuts approach.

We discovered a small stash of Oregon White Oak (Q.garryana) that had been air-seasoned for an astonishing 120 months. This oak was purchased from a local cooperage. Once this stack is gone, we don’t expect to find more again.

My French Oak Ex-Wine wood comes from a barrel reconditioning company in Oregon. Here are a few photos of some of the heads, the inside of a head, and the inside of a couple of my barrels after removing tartrate and wine stain.

Curious about the science of oak used for wine and spirits? Here are some papers to look over:

  • Martínez, J., Cadahía, E., Fernández de Simón, B., Ojeda, S., & Rubio, P. (2008). Effect of the Seasoning Method on the Chemical Composition of Oak Heartwood to Cooperage. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 56(9), 3089–3096. doi:10.1021/jf0728698 (https://sci-hub.se/10.1021/jf0728698)
  • A Review of Polyphenolics in Oak Woods https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4425000/
  • Real-Time Mass Spectrometry Monitoring of Oak Wood Toasting: Elucidating Aroma Development Relevant to Oak-aged Wine Quality Ross R. Farrell, Marco Wellinger, Alexia N. Gloess, David S. Nichols, Michael C. Breadmore, Robert A. Shellie & Chahan Yeretzian https://sci-hub.se/10.1038/srep17334