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No different speciality casks (yet), everything in oak. Using standard ex bourbons, virgin American oak, ex cognac, ex Bordeaux, ex port, ex sherry, ex rum, retoasted Bordeaux, lots of different American ipa's and stouts - we do collaborations with a growing number of USA breweries. Hopefully getting some Japanese oak casks in the next month. Reputedly real problems to keep from leaking. Also doing some of my own shaving and retoasting/charring for experimental stuff.

Jeez that sounds pretty frightening. I struggle to get the tastes at the higher strengths. It sort of anaesthatises the tongue and taste buds. Our blender reckons if I taste these regularly enough I'll adapt. I'll chicken out and just enjoy the lower percentages. In all honesty I know practically nothing of what happens in the distillery - that's on a different site from me and the maturing warehouse. To me it's just a very expensive chem lab. Now my warehouse....that's where the magic happens.

Out of the still at 68% ? Ours exits at 80.5 - 81.5%, but yes we cask at 63.5%. I guess that's one of the differences between Irish triple distilled and Scottish double. At bottling time, we dilute either to 43.6% for our standard range, or for special or unusual finishes, our blender decides at what strength its best flavours arise.

Sorry Stubby , I've derailed your thread a little here. One of my favourite 18 year olds is Bowmore 18. A really smooth sweet blend of oak and sherry cask without being overly powerfull in the smoke. Shaun

All casks lose an amount of liquid through evaporation of predominantly the water component of alcohol as it soaks into the oak. It's not actually visible as dampness on the outside unless its leaking. This loss is usually at the rate of 2 - 3% per year, depending on temperature and humidity, even its position in the stack ie hotter in the roof cooler on the floor. The water lost isn't replaced, at bottling, you just get less bottles per cask , hence the increase in price with age, along with storage costs ( think of it as rent) for the time the cask has laid in store. We have just 2 casks of 30 year old, started off at about 190L now contain approximately 120L which will be unlikely to ever see the open retail market, and will be snapped up by the investors in the distillery with the remainder going out through our shop as distillery exclusives, at a price that I'm not going to able to afford. I'll just have to lick out the cask at the end !. The Angel's share puts a smile on my face every day when I open the warehouse door first thing in the morning, that great aroma of oak and alcohol. Beautiful Hope this has answered your question.

Of course some comes home. There's often 1/2 a litre or so left in the bottom that the pumps can't get out. Be a shame to waste it. [emoji6]

Oh believe me it's a sore trial, but I consider it an honour to be doing such a service to the whiskey ( and gin....and vodka) drinking community, ensuring it tastes good. Have to do all sampling in the mornings to clear the blood before driving home.

There's about 400 casks in this pic. Another 120 to the right,1000 more to the left, out of picture, and a further 1200 in another warehouse. One of the great hardships of the job is that I have to taste sample regularly. Unlike the wine industry we swallow to feel the heat all the way. None of this spitting out nonsense [emoji12]

My workplace....I work for another irish distillery as their cooper , though I can't use that title, not having been apprenticed. Irish whiskeys are triple distilled rather than double distilled, gives a cleaner smoother taste and finish. Very few are peated though at the moment. I'm due to start experimenting with a peat smoked cask, rather than the grain being smoked to see what flavours we'll get. We, along with many other smaller distilleries here are not selling into UK currently as the export costs put too high a price on each bottle! Redbreast is a fine drop though.

Think about it ...the only purpose of a sawmill of any type is to produce sawdust. The timber is a byproduct.!

Oooooh .....grinder ........ ring inverter.......soft start.......I wouldn't be brave enough to put that lot into a Google search.

Is that the image of a cyberman in the last pic ?

Can we cast the net a bit wider?

Have you been there with your trimmer?

The interior light is on ?

I'll hazard a guess that the battery's flat.

Having gone through a few tubes in recent years, I've noticed the tubes now seem to be some sort of vinyl rather than rubber. Deteriorate faster and much harder to get a good repair to bond to. Will look at puncture proof for my next replacements. Shaun [emoji106]

Hi Mark, The unexpected opportunity was a guy saying " you work with wood ,- would you like to be a cooper for my distillery ?" I had no knowledge of casks and barrels other than having seen the cooperages on a agricultural study tour to the cognac region of France back in the mid 1980s.! He arranged a crash course in cask working from the Jameson distillery here in Cork. Now 2 ½ years later 2100 casks have passed through my hands. I love the job, has some great perks, and I'm expected to taste and comment almost daily. Producing top shelf whiskeys , gin and soon to start vodka. Employed, 3days/week, not in the mud,shit and rain, but not as fit as I used to be, what a lucky turn. Most of the time the ankle is great, being fused it doesn't move in the same way anymore, doesn't bend or rotate, so all movements come from toes or knees which has its fatigueing downsides. Downhill slopes / stairs are painfull, could walk uphill all day long. Could not have carried on milling with it. Mine was simple wear and tear, I remember yours was a considerable smash, so I guess way more troublesome. Clonakilty distillery Facebook, twitter and Instagram has some pics /vids of me at work [emoji4]

Ah, your roads are well looked after then. The politicians on this side of the border don't give a shite about our local roads!

Christ you've got some work ahead of you. Poor Fred.

If the change happened suddenly and wasn't cured with a blade change, have you smacked into one of the blade guides to push it offline? Or a track bed support has loosened, allowing the track to flex as the sawhead passes over it, effectively changing the logs height? Shaun

Bonane then I guess. That's a place name for those not in the locality ,reading this wondering what I'm ctapping on about

Love the cat's paw details in some of those, and never worked with elm - gorgeous colouring.

How's the ankle doing overall mark ? After my fusion op I carried on for a while commercial mobile milling, but the pain would be beyond unbearable. 3 days work would lead to 2 more unable to walk. After a year an opportunity unlooked for popped up out the blue to make me change direction. 2 years later I've sold my lucas mill, but still kept my woodlands126 as a hobby/ one day retirement mill. The damage to my ankle was nothing as extreme as yours, so I don't know how you do it. Shaun

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