At Odell Brewing Co. we are very selective about every ingredient that goes into each and every beer we produce, and this even extends to the barrels we hand select for our barrel aged projects. Because of this Brent, Doug and myself headed to Kentucky to get a better understanding of the barrels we use for our single serve offerings. Specifically, we went in search of the best bourbon barrels for our next Bourbon Barrel Stout and we planned on paying a visit to Canton Cooperage, producers of our virgin Woodcut barrels.

Day 1

We arrived in Louisville and visited Kelvin Cooperage where Kevin and Denver showed us thousands of different barrels ranging from new oak barrels to well used Irish Whisky barrels. We agreed to return Thursday to inspect freshly dumped bourbon barrels. Then we were welcomed with open arms by fellow craft brewers Brian at Brownings Brewpub and Joel at Bluegrass Brewing before making way over to the Louisville Beer Store to check out their vast craft beer selection. Afterwards, we were treated to a Bourbon tasting and tutorial by Jayson at 732 Social which helped set our course for the next day.

Day 2

We drove down to Heaven Hill Distillery where we were given a tour of the barrel warehouse and we had the pleasure of tasting 18 year aged Elijah Craig and 10 year aged Evan Williams. We left in agreement that the Elijah Craig barrels could play nicely with our Bourbon Barrel Stout. Then we were off to Makers Mark distillery where we were blown away at the access we had to the complete distillation process, including tasting the actively fermenting distiller’s beer. Finally we made it to Canton Cooperage where Bill gave us a comprehensive tour of the facility and the stockpile of aging white American oak staves awaiting a home in a finished barrel. All wood at Canton is aged at least two full years to allow tannins to leach out prior to barrel production.

Day 3

We set out to Woodford Reserve Distillery to take their first tour of the day before hustling back to Louisville to get Doug to the airport. Doug made the executive decision that we had enough time to swing back by Kelvin Cooperage so we could inspect the barrels they were receiving that day. We were able to “nose” many different used bourbon barrels and, once again, the three of us were in agreement about the best candidates in which to age our Bourbon Barrel Stout. We left Bourbon country with a game plan to acquire the perfect barrels for our next Bourbon Barrel Stout release. I will keep you posted as our plan unfolds.