Thinking of buying a Gibbs

[Mendel]

I want to make Scotch style whisky. I *could* buy a used Balcone's barrel, but at least from the prices I see, a new Gibbs would be almost the same cost.

If I go with the Gibbs, I could go with either a 5 or 10 gallon barrel - anything larger holding too much whisky for me to drink by myself and smaller losing everything to the angel's share before aging. From reading this forum, 10 gallons seem to work better, but 5 gallons would be easier, so that is a decision.

Then I need to decide if I go toasted or charred. Charred is for bourbon, and ex-bourbon barrels are popular for scotch. But I like a lot of scotch from wine and other barrels, which are toasted, and prefer the toasted vanilla spice taste to the heavy campfire bourbon taste. So should I stick to tradition and just get charred? Or go toasted? Or experiment with jars and chips of each first?

Of course, aging any length of time in a new barrel won't make anything taste like scotch. But my first few gallons of product probably won't turn out great either. So I will make 5 or 10 gallons, fill the barrel, taste it every week until it borders on too much oak, then empty it into glass and repeating. After doing this enough, I should have a barrel I can age for years in - along with enough whisky to drink for those years waiting for it. Of course I will never the the flavors from amoroso doing it this way. I could also fill the barrel with wine for the first go around, and then have a nice oaky wine to drink too.

[bluefish_dist]

I have done a scotch style in a new Gibbs barrel and have another aging in one right now. I would do the char as it seems to add nice smoke flavor that the toasted won’t provide. If you want a once used, I have a 15 gallon that I dumped about 2 weeks ago, would let it go for cheap. It had a 100% medium peat whiskey in it.

[Mendel]

15 gallons is more than I wanted, and shipping to Ohio (44236) has to be an arm and a leg. If you want to look up shipping cost, I consider, but most likely I have to pass.