Big Barrel Business

barrels-image

What do the names Independent Stave Company and Brown-Forman Cooperage mean to your life?  If you’re a bourbon enthusiast, they are major players in the distilled spirits you enjoy, and you may not even be aware of how important their businesses are to the bourbon industry. The iconic containers they produce directly affect the taste of the whiskey you drink. The innovations in coopering is essential in creating the flavor profiles like vanilla, leather, spices you taste in your bourbon.

A cooperage is the business of making barrels and casks, and these two companies are the 2 main players in this lucrative business.

Brown-Forman invested $45M in 2017 to modernize their equipment to reduce costs and increased efficiency.  This move would allow them to reduce 70 hourly positions in 2019.  The company produces 2,500 new barrels a day to use for Brown-Forman whiskeys such as Jack Daniel’s, Woodford Reserve, Old Forester, and Early Times.

Independent Stave Company announced in 2018 a new $66.5M cooperage in Morehead, Ky, Kentucky that would result in 225 new jobs in Eastern Kentucky. Construction is set to begin this year and the new facility is slated to open in 2021. They also invested $28M in two other facilities. ISC is the largest supplier of barrels to the American whiskey industry. They are sourced by most of the major Kentucky whiskey distillers outside of Brown-Forman.

The bourbon business is booming and there is plenty of other industries like cooperages, travel, and agriculture that are reaping the benefits of this boom outside of the distillers.

Cheers, Y’all!