Today we look at barrels for storing rakija, wine or anything else, and why it matters that rakija or wine “rests” in wooden barrels.
Go back 100 or even 200 years. History books, and the films and series that try to show that time faithfully, all tell the same story: goods travelled in wooden barrels, whether seafood, wine or gunpowder, because barrels were easy to handle, store and transport. They were the equivalent of today’s steel shipping containers. As trade grew, containers and cardboard took over and the barrel industry began to fade.
Wooden barrels
Storage in wooden barrels gives a spirit its character and changes its taste and texture. Barrels can be made from many woods, above all oak, but also acacia, beech, mulberry, ash and others. Here they are most often made of sessile or downy oak, with black or galvanised hoops, or, made to order, brass or stainless-steel ones.
There are two ways to dry the wood. The first, better but slower, is natural drying outdoors, which can take years. The second is artificial drying in special kilns and rooms, which takes only a few days. As the spirits industry grew, and with it the number of small family distilleries and the demand for barrels, drying had to speed up. Quickly dried barrels are far from poor, but what they give the drink differs from barrels of naturally dried wood.
Barrels of different sizes
Barrels are named by their volume: a 225-litre wooden barrel, and only that size, is a barrique. Small barrels of up to 5 litres are used mostly for vinegar; there are also huge barrels that hold vast amounts of a drink.
Rakija and wine should mature in oak barrels, sometimes for several years, to take all the good that oak can give. Fermenting in wood can add a specific, complex taste. Technology has changed barrel storage too: wine, for example, is now first kept in large tanks and then moved into wooden barrels to mature.
Oak adds aromas often compared with butter, vanilla, coconut, caramel or cinnamon. Our Serbian pedunculate oak can add a much stronger aroma than, for example, French oak.
One more important thing: barrel wood can be made with or without charring. Serbian sessile oak is a good example of wood that is charred in the making; it gives a beautiful, refined taste and character, and raises the quality of the rakija, wine or other spirit kept in it.
We hope this helps explain how spirits are stored, and why rakija is most often kept in wooden barrels, above all oak.
