Independent Stave Company has begun
construction of a research center dedicated to oak innovation and
experimentation for the spirits industry. It is being built in Lebanon,
Kentucky, as an addition to the company's Kentucky Cooperage campus. Once
complete, the new research center will serve as a cutting edge resource on oak
maturation for ISC's distillers in Kentucky and around the world. "We are passionate about spirits,
including working closely with distillers to foster innovation and develop new
products," said Andrew Wiehebrink, ISC director of spirit research and
innovation.
The research center will include a
laboratory, a library of experiments, a tasting room, and offices for ISC's
Kentucky-based research and customer service team. "We don't want to just talk about what
is possible," said Jeff LaHue, ISC's director of strategic partnerships.
"Instead, we can demonstrate through blind tastings, sensory science and
chemical analysis." Since the
1990s, ISC has conducted hundreds of barrel experiments and the company,
working with its distillery partners, continues to lay down barrels every year.
The company's innovation team has increased the number of experiments in play
for the past three years and many of these projects will come of age for
evaluation as the research center becomes fully operational.
"Independent Stave Company is
committed to continuously improving the quality, consistency and variety of the
barrels we offer," said Brad Boswell, ISC president. "This research
center is further evidence of how we translate that vision into action to the
benefit of our customers." As part
of its mission, the research center will also explore how to enhance structural
integrity and recovery yields.
"We are looking at all the elements
to build a barrel-oak species, wood age, barrel shape and size, how we engineer
the barrels, all the materials used-to optimize the barrels we craft,"
said Wiehebrink, who works directly with ISC's key spirits customers on
innovation projects. "We encourage distillers to bring us their ideas and
challenges. We know how to transform ideas into reality, with sensory and
science-backed results."
