92: The Rickhouse Effect: How Placement Transforms Whiskey

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So you got a barrel of whiskey where do you put it, in the attic, basement, garden. Rickhouses are the best bet, lets get into it but first our sponsors

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Barrel rickhouses are warehouses where barrels of aging whiskey are stored on wooden racks, or ricks, that are stacked vertically. The design of a rickhouse allows air to circulate around the barrels, so they don't need to be moved or rotated.

Rickhouses are important to the bourbon industry, and have been since the late 1700s in Ireland. The term "rick" may come from the Irish word for "king".

Here are some things to know about rickhouses:

• Temperature

  The temperature inside a rickhouse can vary significantly, with the top floors being hotter and drier, and the lower floors being cooler and more moist. These temperature fluctuations can accelerate the maturation process, which can enhance the whiskey's flavor.

• Location

  The location of the barrel in the building can affect the maturation process. For example, brick warehouses can create steadier climates than open-air rickhouses, which can allow for slower aging.

• Cost

  A rickhouse can cost around $7 million and house between 18,000 and 55,000 barrels.

• Barrel storage

  There are other types of barrel storage, including palletized warehouses and dunnage warehouses. Palletized warehouses are more modern and cost-effective, but rickhouses can be more innovative and efficient for storing barrels.

Great Insights:

A Closer Look at Our
Kentucky Rickhouses

HOW SIMPLE STRUCTURES PRODUCE COMPLEX FLAVORS

2019

High-quality charred oak barrels are essential to developing Elijah Craig's signature flavor. But where and how those barrels are stored are an essential part of the story. Discover the Greatness Within our open-air rickhouses.

Aging our Bourbon in Level 3 charred oak barrels is the first step to developing Elijah Craig’s signature flavor; but equally important is where those barrels are stored. For centuries, American distillers have aged whiskey in warehouses with styles ranging from converted barns to ornate, custom-built brick buildings. Today, we age our Bourbon in what are known as traditional open-air rickhouses.

These modest wood-frame structures, usually seven stories tall, have corrugated metal sides and roofs. Each floor is filled with wooden ricks, in which barrels are stacked three-high and stored throughout the aging process. The design allows the air to circulate around the barrels, which means they never need to be moved or rotated during their time in the rickhouse. According to Donald Blincoe, whose firm, Buzick Construction, Co., has been building rickhouses since 1937, very little about these buildings has changed over the past century for one main reason: the design works.

Apart from being simple to build, these storage spaces serve unheralded roles in the development of Elijah Craig. With only a thin sheet of metal separating them from Kentucky’s climate, our barrels experience drastic swings in temperature—which ultimately improves the flavor of the Bourbon they hold. Our rickhouses are not climate-controlled or insulated in any way; nature alone dictates how hot or cold the temperatures are inside. Temperatures can swing from below 0° F in winter to more than 100° F in just nine months.

Barrels stored on the highest floors endure the summer’s worst heat, which leads to more water evaporation and results in Bourbon with higher proofs. On the lowest floors, where temperatures are much cooler, the reverse happens: barrels often lose more alcohol than water, and proofs drop. The moderate temperatures of the middle floors form a sweet spot where maturation is most balanced.

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