StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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StateWays | www.stateways.com | July/August 2016 31 once in making Bourbon. In many cases, the containers were bought sight unseen. Today, a greater scrutiny of barrels through arrangements made in advance with suppliers is the norm. And the choices are many, although in terms of expense, used whiskey barrels supplied by the largest U.S. producers (Jack Daniel's and Jim Beam, for example) are most commonly in use. But some te- quila producers opt for new oak barrels, whether American, French or even Hungarian in origin. Many determine the toast and char level of these customized oak barrels as well. Finally, in this case, size really matters - at least one tequila producer employs three different capacity barrels to age its tequilas. For a brand such as Casamigos, it's not the origin of the barrels that is important but the quality of each one, especially as the brand launched with a reposado fi rst. Says Olivier Begat, VP of manufacturing and production at Casamigos, "Sourcing the once-used American whiskey barrels is all about choosing the right age of barrells, and maintaining a constant supply." For their fairly new brand, Casamigos reps prefer making deals directly with suppliers rather than through brokers, in order to maintain a level of quality. In addition, they tend not to reuse their 200-liter barrels. For other producers, how the barrels are prepared matters. For example, Espolon uses new American oak barrels with char level 2. Standard barrel char ranges from light to dark, one through four. Lighter char levels are said to impart more fruit and spice notes, while darker chars will provide more color and vanilla fl avor. "When our master distiller was creating Espolon, it was his desire that he always retain the purity of the agave, so he de- cided to use only new barrels for our aged variants," says Chris- tine Moll, marketing director for Gruppo Campari. "It's a very important decision because it allows the agave fl avor to be as pure as possible without the infl uence of other spirits." While opinions differ about how much impact previous usage imparts, master distiller Cirilo Oropeza's main point was to limit infl uence to new American oak only, charred to his specifi ca- tions. Espolon reuses the barrels, and throws in a little twist when it comes to its añejo expression; here, the tequila is aged for ten months in the standard barrels but fi nished for two to three months in ex-Wild Turkey casks made with a higher char (number four). Oropeza has said other types of barrels, like sherry, intrigue him. "I love discussing barrels," says Casa Noble founder and maestro tequilero, Pepe Hermosillo. For him, when planning the house's aged expressions, he believed the industry standard high-char, used-Bourbon barrels wouldn't fi t his vision. "Tequila already has a lot of character. We wondered what we could use that was better - in our case, we picked new French oak, which plays well with spices herbs and earthiness of our tequila by adding vanilla, nuts and fruits through the aging process," he adds. Patrón's Antonio Rodriguez helps oversee quality control as production manager at Tequila Patrón, which employs a variety of barrels. "Many brands use only once-used American whiskey barrels, and that's the most common method," he says. "We use new barrels made from French and Hungarian oak, as well as some very specifi c used barrels. The more types of wood and ages used, the more complexity in the fi nal result." Rodriguez points out that not all reposados are necessarily aged in barrels, with some instead resting in large oaken tanks. As regulations allow for the addition of up to two percent of certain additives, some producers adjust the color of the fi nal spirit to appeal to those who associate darker hues with age or quality. AGED TO PERFECTION Herradura, which introduced the reposado style in 1974, ages its version 11 months - the CRT regulations states a reposado can be aged anywhere from two months to just less than a year. "Producers aren't required to state the age, and they can do just the minimum," Aceves says. "The law regulates you must age a minimum of two months in a wood container and it can be