Woods

by **Ganga** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:12 am

After having stopped by Red Carpet Liquor (Glendale, CA), I have a question: Why is it that everyone seems to be refering to "port wood" and "sherry wood"? It would seem more appropriate to refer to these as port cask and sherrry cask since the wood is invariablely oak.

Yes, you may refer to me as a pedantrict.

by **irishwhiskeychaser** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:21 am

Okay ... you are being Pedantic :wink:

No difference really you could say matured in Bourbon Barrel and finished in Sherry Hogshead or Port Pipe.

Distillers seemed to have moved to the word wood though. This emphasis on wood maybe highlighting the obvious connection to wood maturation and not confuse people with cask sizes.

At the end of the day it is pretty much marketing speil anyway.

by **les taylor** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:49 am

Port wood does it for me, and i'm not a pedant.

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:01 pm

If I set up a distillery in Dunsinane, I would do a Birnam Wood finish.

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:05 pm

On that theme, how about a "Sherwood" finish - drunk only by men in tights :lol:

by **les taylor** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:43 pm

Crieftain they would have to green though!

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:53 pm

Mr Picky is proud of you, Ganga.

The more pointed question is why some box blurbs feel it necessary to state that the whisky was matured "in oak casks".

by **Reggaeblues** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:53 pm

It's all PR.

When i was an impressionable whisky novice, "matured in oak casks" sounded really impressive...especially if it had been "carefully laid down in oak casks..." and "...sleeping for x years under the watchful eye of the master distiller etc."

by **irishwhiskeychaser** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:59 pm

Reggaeblues wrote:It's all PR.

...... "carefully laid down in oak casks..." .........

Yes, I like that one myself. Sounds like they are putting the new born baby to bed ......

... I suppose in one sence they are but it is more of a case of bumped and rolled into place :lol:

by **Lawrence** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:50 pm

MrTattieHeid wrote:The more pointed question is why some box blurbs feel it necessary to state that the whisky was matured "in oak casks".

Because it sounds better than 'wood'. It's just marketing.

by **vitara7** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:20 pm

prob the same way as in golf you say 1 3 or 5 wood, but their not wood, their metal...

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:20 pm

A distillery manager told me the other day that he had a problem in getting rid of his old barrels. He asked for my advice on an avian solution.

Specifically, he asked "how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?".

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:07 pm

The woodchuck (Marmota monax), or groundhog, land beaver, or whistlepig, a rodent of the marmot family. I see them frequently by the highway--they seem to like the verges of grassy and wooded areas. I have never seen one chucking wood.

And back to the original question: The language is full of such seemingly illogical shortcuts. One may be asked, for example, to state a preference for sherry or bourbon, when one actually wants a single-malt Scotch whisky.

by **Lawrence** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:24 am

Mr. T can you superimpose some cross hairs on that critter?

by **Deactivated Member** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:22 am

What, with Groundhog Day just around the corner? Go aim at some Vancouver Island marmots ("Canada's most endangered species") and see where it gets you.

From http://www.marmots.org

by **Deactivated Member** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:32 am

And there was me - and the distillery manager - thinking that a woodchuck was a bird. A forum that is both fun and educational.