Secret Life of Bourbon Barrels

This infographic about the secret life of bourbon barrels, created by Gustav Katz,  was originally posted online back in October 2011 so some of the information might be out of date. I wanted to share it again with folks now that Diageo is messing with the laws around what defines Tennessee Whiskey in an effort to permit used barrels to be used in the production of Tennessee Whiskey. If they get what the want, and are allowed to use used barrels, one can only wonder if it will eventually lead to a shortage of used barrels for some of the things illustrated in the infographic below. It may sound far-fetched but then again, many of us never imagined that there would be a shortage of new barrels either – but there is.