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Can anyone explain what is going on in the first image at the top of the screen where there appears to be a barrel being rolled through fire?

kevinconaway 8y ago
It looks like they are charring the barrel https://www.angelsenvy.com/guide/whiskey-history/why-charring-barrels-matters/ https://www.angelsenvy.com/guide/whiskey-history/why-charrin... > People have suggested that the inside of barrels were originally burnt to remove the leftover flavors of goods previously stored within, which sounds reasonable enough ... So why do barrel coopers still char the interior? ... Charring the wood actually primes the wood, which impacts the spirit’s flavor in several important ways that have nothing to do with smokiness ... charring essentially opens the wood up, making it easier for bourbon to extract flavors.
- tptacek 8y ago
  Ironically, it's a little unlikely that Yamazaki barrels are charred. American whiskey is aged in new oak, which is charred or toasted both to standardize quality and also to bring out caramel and vanilla notes from the wood. But single malt scotch is generally aged in used barrels and the barrels are selected in part for the characteristics of what was aged in them before, which is why the "best whiskey in the world" Yamazaki 18 Sherry Cask costs so much. Charring is what you do, in Scotland, to an exhausted cask; it's also something Scotch distillers work to mitigate in ex-bourbon casks.
  - wooster 8y ago
    The photo looks like it's of a cask firing at Ariake Sangyo [0], which manufactures barrels for a variety of uses. About 10 percent of their barrels go to domestic whiskey producers, and the rest to shochu. Yamazaki has their own cooperage, so that barrel isn't going to them. However, Yamazaki does use a variety of different barrels, including wine casks for finishing, sherry casks, mizunara (Japanese oak) casks, new American white oak puncheons, hogsheads made of used barrels, and ex-bourbon barrels. AFAIK they use a variety of char levels on the barrels they produce in house and on re-chars. [0] http://www.ariakesangyo.co.jp/ http://www.ariakesangyo.co.jp/, mis-captioned as a distillery here: https://www.masterofmalt.com/blog/post/qa-brian-ashcraft-author-of-japanese-whisky-the-ultimate-guide-to-the-worlds-most-desirable-spirit.aspx https://www.masterofmalt.com/blog/post/qa-brian-ashcraft-aut...

kevinconaway 8y ago

It looks like they are charring the barrel https://www.angelsenvy.com/guide/whiskey-history/why-charring-barrels-matters/ https://www.angelsenvy.com/guide/whiskey-history/why-charrin... > People have suggested that the inside of barrels were originally burnt to remove the leftover flavors of goods previously stored within, which sounds reasonable enough ... So why do barrel coopers still char the interior? ... Charring the wood actually primes the wood, which impacts the spirit’s flavor in several important ways that have nothing to do with smokiness ... charring essentially opens the wood up, making it easier for bourbon to extract flavors.

tptacek 8y ago
Ironically, it's a little unlikely that Yamazaki barrels are charred. American whiskey is aged in new oak, which is charred or toasted both to standardize quality and also to bring out caramel and vanilla notes from the wood. But single malt scotch is generally aged in used barrels and the barrels are selected in part for the characteristics of what was aged in them before, which is why the "best whiskey in the world" Yamazaki 18 Sherry Cask costs so much. Charring is what you do, in Scotland, to an exhausted cask; it's also something Scotch distillers work to mitigate in ex-bourbon casks.
- wooster 8y ago
  The photo looks like it's of a cask firing at Ariake Sangyo [0], which manufactures barrels for a variety of uses. About 10 percent of their barrels go to domestic whiskey producers, and the rest to shochu. Yamazaki has their own cooperage, so that barrel isn't going to them. However, Yamazaki does use a variety of different barrels, including wine casks for finishing, sherry casks, mizunara (Japanese oak) casks, new American white oak puncheons, hogsheads made of used barrels, and ex-bourbon barrels. AFAIK they use a variety of char levels on the barrels they produce in house and on re-chars. [0] http://www.ariakesangyo.co.jp/ http://www.ariakesangyo.co.jp/, mis-captioned as a distillery here: https://www.masterofmalt.com/blog/post/qa-brian-ashcraft-author-of-japanese-whisky-the-ultimate-guide-to-the-worlds-most-desirable-spirit.aspx https://www.masterofmalt.com/blog/post/qa-brian-ashcraft-aut...