Charring: What’s different at West Cork Irish Whiskey?
In our ongoing promise to breathe new life into the world of whiskey production, at West Cork Irish Whiskey we’ve patented our very own charring technology that uses a phenomenal level five char. Charring is a process whereby the cask is exposed to a controlled level of heat to prime, strengthen and waterproof the wood which directly impacts the flavour of our spirit. Levels one to four, range from 15 seconds of heat exposure, all the way to 55 seconds. A high level of char offers less room for crossover between the wood’s tannins and the alcohol, and helps to keep intact the original flavour profile created in earlier processes of production.
We use our level five char on specific releases like our West Cork Black Cask or the Glengarriff series. John and the team at WCD, employed the help of Pat Whooley, a local forger, to build the Iron Bellows used in our rare charring process.
Casks for Peat Charred and Black Cask are charred using a non-pyrolytic fuel source, which is a smokeless gas powered flame. As pioneers of all things whiskey, sustainability is of utmost importance to the team at the West Cork Distillers.
