Gambrel scrub oak

[hoochinoo]

Upon request, a friend was kind enough to bring me a hunk of this oak species indigenous to the Rocky Mountains. I was thinking about processing and turning them into wood chips and could not find any information here about it.
Has anyone used this kind of oak? I asked the local supply shop here and he is selling oak chips from Hungary and had no clue.

Thanks in advance.

[Aidas]

Quercus gambelii -- so it's a true oak. I'd say that you should try it. I couldn't find anything on whether it's been used for winemaking or whiskey. No surprise -- Colorado is not really historically known for that.

Looking at pictures of the leaves and wood, it looks like it should work. It's going the work different than quercus alba (white oak) or quercus robur (european oak), as it's denser (because of drought resistance).

I would try it on a small amount of white dog and see what happens.

Aidas

[hoochinoo]

... an update.

I processed the wood into 7 inch long and about 1 to 2 inches wide splits, baked in oven for about an hour and scorched the wood black using the torch I use for soldering copper, then stored in with some hooch in glass jar.
After a couple of weeks, I can smell and taste some mellowness. Surprised.