The Cooperage Tradition
Let the best wood win.
Aging gracefully
We carefully select the best Canadian white oak wood to ensure that our spirits
are imbued with a genuine reflection of Canadian terroir.
The select barrels our Apprentice Cooper manufactures will be reserved for our most special, unique spirits and offered to the most discerning whisky aficionados.
When you experience Spring Mill Whisky (once it’s matured), you’ll sense the tradition and great care taken to age our spirits.
Our Apprentice Cooper
Keeping the Cooperage tradition close to home for a uniquely local touch, our apprentice Cooper, Quinn Sleeman, employs timeless techniques to maintain the vessels that mature our spirits beautifully.
Having worked with all barrel types, from wine to whisky, Quinn oversees on-site barrel inspections and repairs. Trained in Scotland and the U.S., he brings exceptional knowledge of wood theory and traditional, ages-old coopering techniques to our distillery.
Quinn’s Cooperage Journey:
Our barrels are carefully-selected to ensure consistency in our spirits.
Kelvin Cooperage
We have a very special relationship with Kelvin Cooperage of Louisville, Kentucky. Skillfully creating the very finest barrels, Kelvin Cooperage is one of the few barrel manufacturers who still employ the ages-old technique of charring the barrels over wood fires.
“From the quality of our washbacks, to the sophistication of our brilliant stills, to the extremely carefully built barrels, we feel that in a few years we’ll be bottling malt whisky, Canadian rye, bourbon and an Irish-style tipple that will delight our customers.”
— Doan Bellman, VP Operations, Master Distiller