Preparing for the Barrel

At this stage one may think the virgin bourbon is ready to go into the barrel, but this is not so. Before barreling the alcohol, which is now 130 proof, it is filtered in large, steel tanks and reduced, or cut, to 110 proof. It is only now that the liquor is poured into the custom-made oak barrels. The room was quiet at the time because of lunch breaks so the ominous pounding custom to a barreling room were noticeably absent, a disappointment for me because it's a sound I've come to look forward to on each distillery tour. However, it was explained that the gentleman whose job it is to seal each barrel is quite an artful master who normally makes three precise swings with a metal-headed hammer to secure the walnut bungs into the perfectly sealed holes. The enclosed barrels are now ready to wait out the years in one of the distillery's many rick houses.