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CONTENTS

STAGE 1

f) Business Model
Continued

(i) BUILD - Distilling Equipment & ‘inished with’ claims by the whiskey brand when
Process Overview: it goes to market. For example, some leading
As outlined in the Distilling Process Overview, whiskey brands spend three and a half years
there is a critical stage called ‘Maturation’. This stored in American oak bourbon barrels before
involves the storage or ‘laying down’ of the liquid being inished for six to twelve months in Spanish
for a minimum of 3 years in oak barrels so that it Oloroso sherry casks. The bourbon barrels impart
can be labelled as ‘Irish’ whiskey EU Tech File Irish deep, robust chocolate and caramel notes, while
Whiskey. The fact that Irish whiskey has been aged the Oloroso casks lighten the palate with fruitier
in a previously used barrel has provided it with notes and subtle nutty tones.
one of several key points of diferentiation. The
whiskey adopts much of its unique lavour from There is a growing worldwide shortage of wood
the lavours previously absorbed by the wood in for various types of barrels, which has caused
the barrel. The lavour in the barrels is produced their price to increase in recent times. Ideally, you
in the maturation of other liquids such as bourbon want to be able to purchase barrels direct from
or sherry. The choice of wood is crucial in order to source where you can have full visibility to the
achieve the taste proile to support your brand’s provenance and inspect the barrels themselves
promise. prior to purchase. As a rule, barrels once emptied
should be illed as soon as possible with whiskey
to prevent unwanted bacterial growth. Some
Whiskey Maturation: cask traders use sulphur dioxide to prevent this
The types of barrels used in the maturation of occuring, but this gives rise to sulphur notes in the
whiskey include white oak (from the USA) used inished whiskey which is frowned upon by critics.
primarily in the making of bourbon, Oloroso
sherry barrels from Spain as well as a host of You should consider the sources and cost of
other wood barrels lavoured by their use in the your barrel requirements at an early stage.
making of port, madeira, wines and even beer.
Some distilleries will use one type of barrel (eg This is necessary to to provide suicient lead
White Oak) for a majority of the maturation and times for ordering and will also help you in
then switch to another lavoured barrel for the inancial planning.
remaining lay down period. This gives rise to

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