Ask the Times

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 1, 2007

Brown-Forman Corp., a producer of bourbon and whiskey, makes 10, 000 to 11, 000 barrels a week. What happens to these barrels after the whiskey is removed?

Because Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey must by law be matured in new, charred oak barrels, Jack Daniel's and Blue Grass Cooperage sell their used barrels to Scotch and Irish whisky makers and to rum and tequila producers, which age their brands in them. Says Brown-Forman spokesman Phil Lynch: "So the next time a friend of yours compliments the Scotch whisky he or she is drinking, you can tell them that one of the reasons it tastes so good is because it's aged in a used Jack Daniel's barrel."

Compiled from Times staff and wire reports.

[Last modified July 1, 2007, 00:24:48]