The first Irish-made casks in over 60 years in Ireland were recently coopered and made at Dair Nua Cooperage in Foxford, Co. Mayo, marking a milestone in the re-emergence of the ancient craft of coopering to support the growing Irish whiskey industry.
The coopers and management said they were delighted to re-introduce barrel making skills to Ireland.
According to Diageo / Guinness Ireland archives, the last cask made there was filled and dispatched from St. James’s Gate on March 15, 1963, after almost 200 years of wooden cask use.
Fifth generation cooper and master cooper, Ger Buckley of Midleton Distillery Irish Distillers recalled that his cooper father built the last casks at Midleton Distillery around the same decade. Apprentice coopers from Tullamore Dew also attended the event.
Given the lack of Irish oak wood stock in Ireland dried and suitable for cask making, quality FSC accredited new Romanian virgin oak (Quercus Petraea/Quercus Robur) air dried for 18-24 months, was sourced by the cooperage.
It was then constructed into casks using ancient skills and tools along with new equipment specially commissioned for the cooperage locally in Foxford.
The staves were gently bent to the rounded familiar barrel shape using flames and shaped into place by the coopers. Following the process of fixing new hoops and the making of the heads, the casks were toasted to finish the whole process.
32 200L casks are to be made and they will become collectors’ pieces to age some special Irish whiskeys.
Coopering
The development comes at a time when tillage farmers are saying the sector is at breaking point due to two years of bad weather.
“The cooperage’s connection with weather and barley yields manifests itself if Ireland’s distillery spirit productions and spirit maturation in wooden casks are down due to poor barley crops and the lack of supply of casks in Ireland, as we focus on repairing and rejuvenating used casks from the various distilleries,” managing director at Dair Nua Cooperage, Annette Kearney told Agriland.
“Coopering works enable the cask to have up to two life cycles more. Therefore we extend the life of valuable oak and wooden casks on the island,” she said.
“We also supply speciality second use casks from wineries and distilleries from around the globe which add flavour, colour and aroma profiles to Irish whiskey.
“It will be increasingly important in light of climate change, grain and barley supply as well as wood and barrel availability which is increasingly in short supply that Ireland is able to extend the life of the wooden casks used in Irish whiskey production,” Annette said.
She stressed the importance of nurturing and supporting the skills of coopering in this country and having cooperages in operation such as Dair Nua Cooperge in Foxford.
“In Ireland, we don’t have the oak tree stock grown specifically for barrel making and investments in our native and oak tree cultivation would be an opportunity for the long-term (100-year plus) farming future,” she said.