Personalized Mini Bourbon Barrel – Create & Age Your Own Whiskey Blend

Our barrels are handmade without the use of any nails. As the wood dries the barrel shrinks and hoops loosen. Hooping is fitted in location is only stabilized after the curing process when the barrel swells into place due to the expansion of wood. Simply hand force the hoop into its proper location and slightly tap the banding’s side with a blunt item around the entire circumference of the barrel until tight. Then proceed to the curing process that’s explain on the instructions card.

It’s common for the barrel to have small pieces of wood inside. Your barrel is charred internally and can cause pieces from the inside to separate from the body. This is good news! The more charred surface contact with the spirit, the faster it will age. Simply strain the spirit before drinking.

The spigot is the most delicate part of the barrel. Hand force the spigot into the hole as far as it will go. Turn the movable top piece to the side then tap in using a rubber mallet or hammer with a towel or shock absorbent material to prevent it from cracking. Please remember to make sure your spigot is at the proper angle. Once the barrel is cured, the spigot will swell and be permanently in that position.

We strongly suggest curing the barrel within two months of receiving it. If the barrel sits empty for more than two months with no liquid inside, the hoops will start to loosen and the barrel will start to fall apart.

This “dimple” is part of any bourbon barrel (both full size barrels like you’ll see at a distillery and mini barrels like this). The dimple is an integral part of making sure a barrel is balanced while being constructed. Sometimes the dimple will appear within the engraved portion of the barrel while other times it won’t interfere with the engraved words at all. There is no way to predict where the engraving sits in relation to the dimple and it’s not something we can change the location of. Because it’s a natural part of the barrel, we cannot issue refunds or replacements due to dimple location.

This is referred to as “leaching.” All barrels can produce a discoloration during the curing process. As the water makes its way through the wood, it will push out coloration from anything it is way. This is perfectly normal and seen in all commercial barrels in the beer, wine and distilling world.

Smaller barrels age 8-10 times faster than a full sized version. Therefore, the “angel’s share” (natural evaporation) is also increased. Due to its rapid aging process most spirits are at their optimum result within 1-3 months. Taste periodically and when accepted best to your pallet remove the contents into a decanter or bottle with appropriate aging notes and begin your next batch.

Remove the bung when dispensing to release pressure and allow for airflow.

Yes, there is actually a barrel food chain. Bourbon is aged in new barrels. Whiskey in used bourbon barrels, Scotch in Whiskey barrels, Rum in scotch barrels and Tequila in just about any barrel. You can follow this chain or inherit flavors from previous batches as desired

Yes, they are charred to a medium level (level 2-3).

The darkness of the engraving my vary slightly from barrel to barrel. We laser engrave every barrel at the exact same depth/power. However, since our barrels are made from real used bourbon barrels, there is no way to know how hard each individual piece of wood is beforehand. Engraving on harder wood my show up slightly lighter. With all that being said, we take pride in every barrel that leaves our shop and know that you will appreciate the quality!

We can currently only engrave on the face of the barrel as shown in the product photos.

Times New Roman Bold.