Misc. pix

2011-11-25T12:07:00.000-08:00

Icons of whiskey

2010-09-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

George Washington distillery

2010-09-22T10:37:00.001-07:00

An antique Scottish still

2010-09-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Scenes from the distilleries

2010-09-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

FOREST TO FLASK

2010-09-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

Photos by William M. Dowd, 2008

(Double-click to enlarge images.)

INTO THE FOREST PRIMEVAL

(1.) An overcast early spring day in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri near Mark Twain’s boyhood hometown of Hannibal. This view from Victors Point shows a double-bend in the Mississippi River and a still-bleak countryside.

(2.) Dr. Bill Lumsden, head of distilling and whisky creation for Glenmorangie, gestures to Bob Russell, left, head of Brown-Forman sawmill operations, during a meeting with representatives of the Missouri Conservation Dept. They were setting up a tree-felling session on a state-owned Ozarks tract that is one of Brown-Forman’s suppliers of white oak for barrel making.

(3.) Lumberjacks Jerry (left) and Eddie Hicks, brothers who have been logging in the Ozark Mountains for more than two decades, meet with Missouri Conservation Dept. Resource Forester Kristen Goodrich to review red-marked trees scheduled for felling in the Edward Anderson Conservation Area forest near Hannibal, Missouri.

(4.) Stripes of red paint designate which American white oak trees are to be cut down.

(5.) Logger Jerry Hicks goes to work cutting down one of the designated oak trees.

(6.) The Hicks brothers go to work dissecting the fresh-cut oak.

(7.) A rough end of the new-cut tree gets trimmed off to reveal the best portion of the heart.

(8.) This cross-section of the newly-felled oak shows good composition.

ON TO THE SAWMILL

(9.) Leroy Cardwell, left, owner of the Cardwell Lumber Inc. sawmills in Novelty, Missouri, and two other towns, discusses the latest shipment with Bob Russell and Bill Lumsden.

(10.) Graded oak logs are stored outside the Cardwell sawmill to await being sawn and shaped into staves for wine and spirits barrels.

(11.) A worker guides quarter-sawn logs into a shaping device.

(12.) Faint diagonal saw marks across the grain of the staves is the desired cut to prevent splitting under pressure.

(13.) Amish workers, with the straw hats and beards their religion dictates, make up a large part of the Caldwell sawmill work force.

(14a, 14b, 14c) Workers at this station, guided by a laser marker, fit odd-sized wood scraps together to create pressure-fitted tongue-in-groove squares. The rough squares then are cut into circular shapes for the tops and bottoms of the barrels.

AND THEN TO THE COOPERAGE

(15.) Workers known as “barrel raisers” assemble 32 staves into barrels.

(16a, 16b, 16c) As part of the process of a zero-waste manufacturing stream, some scrap wood is made into dowel pegs to hold together barrel headers.

(17.) Barrel headers are coated with beeswax, then run through a charring apparatus.

(18a, 18b) Finished charred headers are stacked up until the remainder of the barrels come off the assembly line.

(19.) Meanwhile, the barrels are “toasted.” Wood begins to ignite at 482°F, creating a controlled char of the inside of each barrel.

(20.) Once barrels are fully processed, they are put on conveyer belts and head for their final destinations.

Picture This

Misc. pix

Icons of whiskey

George Washington distillery

An antique Scottish still

Scenes from the distilleries

FOREST TO FLASK