MARKETING/DESIGN/CONSUMER TRENDS/INSPIRATIONS Cognac & Brandy News for Consumers & Industry Experts Edited by 3 Times Winner of World Best Cognac Producer
With the increase use of oak casks, craft spirits, brown spirits, small batch and cask finishes one needs to understand more what are the casks, their sizes and types.
First a barrel is a specific dimension of cask. Since the barrel is the most common size used to age spirits most people call everything a barrel, but this is incorrect. A cask is the generic name and a ‘barrel’ is a specific size and type of cask.
A spirit barrel is a cask which contains 200 liters of spirits.
Consequently, oak casks have different sizes and each size of cask has a different name, as the illustration below shows.
Cask Dimensions, Volumes, Sizes and Styles
10 Most Common CASK DIMENSIONS
Tun Cask: 1000 litres
Commonly used to rest, marry, blend, etc. liquids.
Pipe Cask: 650 litres
Common for Port
Butt Cask: 500 litres
Common for Sherry
Puncheon Cask: 450 litres
Common for Sherry
Hogshead Cask: 300 litres
Common for Cognac (barrique) and wine (225 liters)
Barrel Cask: 200 litres
Common for whiskies, but also Rum and Tequila
Tierce Cask: 150 litres
Rundlet Cask: 100 litres
Barillet in French
Quarter Cask: 50 litres
Trendy for small batch-craft
Firkin Cask: 40 litres
Hence, this is why Comandon Cognac for instance makes ‘single casks’ rather than ‘single barrel’ cognacs, because in fact the original cask might not have been a ‘barrel’ but an Hogshead, called BARRIQUE in French.
Note: that the sizes vary depending if it is French, American or British for instance, but the above works as a general rule.
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I am interesting to nay a 150 Litter Barrel for red wine.
do you ship to Israel as well?
Sorry Meir I do not ship wine. I am just a cognac producer trying to describe Cognac and its spirit.
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I like your article and I wonder about these casks too.