Whiskey barrels for aging

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dunluce
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Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by dunluce »

www.thompsonbarrel.com

Has anyone ordered from here? Just came up in my feed today, wanted to make sure it wasn't a scam.

Thanks.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by HDNB »

typos like "all of these blankets are currently in stock" when the site sells barrels screams scam to me.

pretty sure if i was selling barrels and made a build it yourself website on wix or shopify or whatever platform that's built on... I would have tried to use the correct word for the product after utilizing the "duplicate this site function" in the builder software.

i wonder how many blankets they are selling on the other site?
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by TDick »

dunluce wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 3:55 pm www.thompsonbarrel.com

Has anyone ordered from here? Just came up in my feed today, wanted to make sure it wasn't a scam.

Thanks.
Sorry I didn't see this post first.
I basically posted the same thing in the "Anybody Gotten Any Good Deals" thread.

I saw it on Facebook so naturally suspicious.
Offering 1 & 2 Liter barrells personalized $22/$38 Shipping included.
Been recently taken on a FB ad - different company, different product so definitely wanted to ask first.
Thompson.jpg
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EDIT: Here is the website. https://thompsonbarrel.com/.
I just sent them an email asking where they are located for product pickup.
Last edited by TDick on Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Deplorable »

Sounds too good to be true, and you know the old adage, it probably is. "Made from used whiskey barrels" to me means thin staves, and leaky joints.
If I had to buy a new, small barrel, I would bite the bullet and get a Gibbs. If I could get a 2 or 3 gallon new Barrel Mill Barrel, that would be my first pick.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Badmotivator »

I particularly love “Yes We Are All About The Environment”

Gotta put that on my website. :)
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Deplorable »

Badmotivator wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:11 am I particularly love “Yes We Are All About The Environment”

Gotta put that on my website. :)
I just checked out your website. Glad to see you're making these for retail sale now. I hope they're bringing you a little bit of income. The size seems about perfect for what I get out of a 25 gallon ferment.
You've got a few spirits now Im sure that have matured well in them. Tell me, how long you think before its reached a suitable level of maturity, and what's your angels share over the course of that time. Im sure evaporation is much less than a 5 gallon barrel.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Badmotivator »

Deplorable wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 10:00 am I just checked out your website. Glad to see you're making these for retail sale now. I hope they're bringing you a little bit of income. The size seems about perfect for what I get out of a 25 gallon ferment.
You've got a few spirits now Im sure that have matured well in them. Tell me, how long you think before its reached a suitable level of maturity, and what's your angels share over the course of that time. Im sure evaporation is much less than a 5 gallon barrel.
Cool! I'm glad you found my website. Income isn't really an issue, which is good because there isn't any yet. :) But nothing would please me more than to know I was helping folks make good stuff. These barrels are a delight to me.

I would be glad to share what I’ve learned. I do have a large number of barrels that have been aging many years, and have some useful sweeping observations.

First, the oldest barrels, made with insufficiently weathered wood, basically ruined the spirits. The wood must spend at the VERY LEAST one winter outdoors. Even then, the tannins are a little high for my taste. Lesson painfully learned. In fact, I am getting ready to dump barrels 5 and 6, made in May 2016 and filled with brandy, down the drain. Ouch. I'm never going to use wood that spent less than two years outdoors. I don't enjoy tannin.

Second, every barrel made after I began properly weathering the wood is between good and great, and confirms for me that I'm doing the right thing. I have 13 barrels filled with panela rum from '17, and many other one-, two-, or three- barrel sets of other recipes from '17 and '18, and I absolutely love them. The spirits have lost almost all of their youth and gained so much complexity, color, smoothness, and fascinating flavors.

Third, every barrel really is different. I had encountered that idea many times in my study of aging in barrels, and sort of believed it, but now I have proof of that truth right in my glass. One barrel may be spicier, and its brother is mellow. One may present more of the spirit character while its neighbor expresses the barrel more. One may smell of butterscotch while its twin is more herbal. It's really fun to have a few of the same spirit, same age, same wood treatment, etc. and just go back and forth between them. Also, and because of this, blending is a really useful tool. My friend and I just bottled around 3 gallons of his 4-year-old brandy, blended from four different barrels. His preference was 100% of two barrels and 50% each of two others. On that day there was a dinner party at my house, and the guests all enjoyed trying the four barrels individually and then the blend. They all agreed that the while the individual barrels were interesting (and folks had different favorites), the blend was balanced, more complex, and delicious.

Fourth, I think that I can also confirm what I've read about the "maturation curve", namely, that around 65% of the new raw spirit character (the sharpness of heads and the funk of tails) has resolved after a year, and like 85% after two years, and then progressively smaller improvement in subsequent years. My percentages are estimates and probably wrong, but you get the idea.

Fifth, the loss rate from my barrels is of no concern to me after the long test I ran. The average year-one loss rate from a four-barrel cohort I tracked was 5%. If what I've read about industry loss rates is true for my barrels as well, the subsequent years will see a slightly lower loss rate, but I stopped tracking them and started tasting them instead. :)

Feel free to ask any other question that occurs to you. Cheers!
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Deplorable »

That's All Great information! Twisted Brick and I have chatted a good bit about making a couple of these. I still go back and fourth about just leaving the barrel head whole, and putting a 1.5 inch ferrule on the side (top) of the Baine Marie.
Of course the maturation curve is going to be fully dependant on the cuts the distiller adds into the final blend, but I can see where a few of these are an alternative to 5 gallon barrels and the 10 to 15% loss to the angels, and if you're aim is long slow maturation, these are teh ticket for small quantities. All your homework has paid you dividends. :thumbup:
Maybe after the virus restrictions are over, all of us PNW folks can plan a get together someplace.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Badmotivator »

Deplorable wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:32 am That's All Great information! Twisted Brick and I have chatted a good bit about making a couple of these. I still go back and fourth about just leaving the barrel head whole, and putting a 1.5 inch ferrule on the side (top) of the Baine Marie.
Of course the maturation curve is going to be fully dependant on the cuts the distiller adds into the final blend, but I can see where a few of these are an alternative to 5 gallon barrels and the 10 to 15% loss to the angels, and if you're aim is long slow maturation, these are teh ticket for small quantities. All your homework has paid you dividends. :thumbup:
Maybe after the virus restrictions are over, all of us PNW folks can plan a get together someplace.
I hope you will try to make some!

Three large badmotivator barrels will hold 4.8 gallons or so, and cost a lot less than one purchased 5-gallon. What do those go for, anyway? Getting access to really good and trusted wood is the probably the hardest part.

Amen to a PNW hoedown. I'll travel for that. :) Late summer might even happen, if signs keep pointing in the right direction.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

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Deplorable wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:32 am Maybe after the virus restrictions are over, all of us PNW folks can plan a get together someplace.
I'm in!!
Cranky's spoonfeeding:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52975

Time and Oak will sort it out.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Deplorable »

Ha! I've got a sweet hook up on once used Barrel Mill 5 gallon barrels from the local distillery for $50 a peice. But sometimes you don't want to commit to making 5 gallons of something only to find out after all that aging you don't like what you made.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Badmotivator »

Deplorable wrote:Ha! I've got a sweet hook up on once used Barrel Mill 5 gallon barrels from the local distillery for $50 a peice. But sometimes you don't want to commit to making 5 gallons of something only to find out after all that aging you don't like what you made.
Good point. Great price though!

Also, sometimes you want that which only fresh oak will give you. Think you can recondition the inside of those used barrels? That would help too.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by dunluce »

Annnnnddddd.....

hijack complete. lol
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Deplorable »

Yeah, sorry about that. If you do order from them, let us know what your experience is.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by cob »

dunluce wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:42 pm Annnnnddddd.....

hijack complete. lol
Do a lot more research before buying a tiny barrel for aging.

they make a great decoration, and or a soso decanter.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by dunluce »

Well, in all honesty I was just kind of hoping this might be a newer distributor who was trying to build a customer base before raising their prices. Everyone starts from somewhere, right?
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Deplorable »

dunluce wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 4:57 pm Well, in all honesty I was just kind of hoping this might be a newer distributor who was trying to build a customer base before raising their prices. Everyone starts from somewhere, right?
wishful thinking. they lost me when I saw they were making barrels from reclaimed whisky barrels. So, that means they are scraping out the char, and cutting down the staves, all that makes for thinner staves. Thinner staves means more evaporation, and greater chance of leaks. I bet the Angels love overhauled barrels.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by dunluce »

Deplorable wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 6:30 pm wishful thinking. they lost me when I saw they were making barrels from reclaimed whisky barrels. So, that means they are scraping out the char, and cutting down the staves, all that makes for thinner staves. Thinner staves means more evaporation, and greater chance of leaks. I bet the Angels love overhauled barrels.
So....just how thick do the staves need to be for miniature barrels?

I'm not a barrel maker, but I assume that a miniature barrel doesn't have staves as thick as regular ones?
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Oldvine Zin »

dunluce wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 6:56 pm

So....just how thick do the staves need to be for miniature barrels?

I'm not a barrel maker, but I assume that a miniature barrel doesn't have staves as thick as regular ones?
A leak is a leak and I prefer regular staves as in the small Gibbs barrels

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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

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dunluce wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 3:55 pm www.thompsonbarrel.com

Has anyone ordered from here? Just came up in my feed today, wanted to make sure it wasn't a scam.

Thanks.
I sure don't like their website. No price until you fill out the info? I call B/S on that.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by 6 Row Joe »

https://www.sofiasfindings.com/product- ... g-barrels/
Or barrelonline.com are better choices.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by dunluce »

Oldvine Zin wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 7:53 pm A leak is a leak and I prefer regular staves as in the small Gibbs barrels

Stay safe
OVZ
So is that a yes, they use the same sized staves for smaller barrels as large ones? It's a serious question from someone who doesn't make barrels.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Oldvine Zin »

nerdybrewer wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 12:48 pm
Deplorable wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:32 am Maybe after the virus restrictions are over, all of us PNW folks can plan a get together someplace.
I'm in!!
I'm In
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Stay safe
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Oldvine Zin »

dunluce wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 8:02 pm
Oldvine Zin wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 7:53 pm A leak is a leak and I prefer regular staves as in the small Gibbs barrels

Stay safe
OVZ
So is that a yes, they use the same sized staves for smaller barrels as large ones? It's a serious question from someone who doesn't make barrels.
from what I see on my barrels - Yes

Stay safe
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by Deplorable »

The staves on my 5 gallon Barrel Mill Barrel are about an inch thick at the middle measured through the bung, and measured at the barrel head, the ends of the staves are over 5/8"
if you plane down a stave to remove the char, and sand the outside, your going to reduce them to less than 3/4 inch thick, then rechar. If the evaporation on a 5 gallon barrel is 10 to 15% over the first 12 months through an inch of oak, I suspect its going to be a good bit more on a thinner barrel.
One of the members here compared the weight of a "renewed barrel to a once used barrel, and the weight reduction was more than half. that's a significant amount of wood to remove.
I know there are guys on here who have had good luck with small barrels from Gibbs, and RedHead Barrels has been hit or miss, and most of the novelty barrels on Amazon are not of good quality.
Ultimately you need to decide what you want from the barrel, how much you want to store, how long, and your price point.

I'm a "fuckin cheapskate" to qoute my wife and kids :lol: , if I didnt have the hook up I do on used 5 gallon barrels, I'd be buying or making BadMo barrels, and asking for a 3 gallon Gibbs for Christmas or Fathers Day. That's why I said if you buy one, let us know what you get. Someone needs to be the guinea pig.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by TDick »

dunluce wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:42 pm Annnnnddddd.....

hijack complete. lol
lmao baby.gif
lmao baby.gif (214.93 KiB) Viewed 2491 times
As I mentioned, I sent them a "contact us" asking for a location for local pickup.
No response but I got two emails "You left something in your shopping cart."
I assume Shopify SOP.
Doesn't mean they're bogus, but they don't show up in a Google search either.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by dunluce »

Deplorable wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 8:35 pm I'm a "fuckin cheapskate" to qoute my wife and kids :lol: , if I didnt have the hook up I do on used 5 gallon barrels, I'd be buying or making BadMo barrels, and asking for a 3 gallon Gibbs for Christmas or Fathers Day. That's why I said if you buy one, let us know what you get. Someone needs to be the guinea pig.
True enough, someone does. I'm undecided yet if I will pull the trigger or not, and was also hoping to get SOME kind of a response back. Does it look like a scam? Quite possibly. Then again, I know some outfits that if they posted what they started with, with their lack of marketing knowledge, they would have totally looked like a scam as well. :mrgreen: The issue up here in Canuckistan is always finding an in country source....I'm pretty sure I could fund half a country's budget with the shipping fees from imports into here. :mrgreen:

As for the hijacking, I'm not mad, I found it quite funny and always do, how quick a thread can get completely 100% off track so quickly.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by dunluce »

Also, simply asking here usually invites people smarter internet-wise than me to check it out....there's now a Facebook post stating the page was created only last week, so does definitely look like a scam.
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Re: Whiskey barrels for aging

Post by rubberduck71 »

I've had good experiences with barrelsonline (currently 3 in my possession), but I've seen mixed reviews (or even some bad ones) from others here on HD site. They are definitely the lowest price point on the internet that I've found. I'm only on my 3rd fill, so very limited idea of "typical lifespan" of each of them.

Anyone have any feedback on another site I found: https://topshelfbarrels.com/
Slightly higher price-point but quality appears to be better???

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