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Hangin’ with a Master Cooper: Cascade Brewing soaks in wisdom from barrel expert

November 22, 2016Chris Crowell

cooperage barrel aging craft sour beer
Here we have Cascade Brewmaster Ron Gansberg hangin’ with the Master Cooper himself. Yes, we will keep making this joke.

Cascade Brewing, maybe the craft beer industry’s most renowned brewer of sour beer, recently received a visit from Douglas Rennie, a renowned fourth generation Master Cooper. Can Cascade’s beers get even better as a result? It’s a question worthy of answering, that’s for sure.

Barrels and blending are a very important part of the brewing process at Cascade Brewing and what the brewery says separates it from other sour beer producers; mainly the ones that brew primarily “kettle sours,” which do not utilize any oak barrel aging. Cascade Brewing beers age for a minimum of 12 months in oak; some age up to two years.

Rennie, who formerly hailed from Glasgow, Scotland, and now resides in Napa, Calif., is the Master Cooper for legendary barrel maker Seguin Moreau. Accompanied by the Pacific Northwest Sales Territory Manager Adam Schultz, the two spent more than two hours with Cascade’s cellar and brewery team discussing the finer points of the barrel process and giving a hands-on demonstration of how to properly care for the casks. Here are the photos to prove it.

RELATED: Tips to protect barrel-aged beer during the brewing and aging process 

cooperage barrel aging craft sour beer

cooperage barrel aging craft sour beer

Against the background of Cascade’s 1,500+ sour beer-filled oak barrels, Rennie used his tools ever so delicately to show the team the best way to care for its treasured oaks. He informed them that the wood used in the French Oak casks come from trees that are a minimum of 150 years old; more than 60 percent of Cascade’s barrels are French Oak, including the nine foudres.

cooperage barrel aging craft sour beer

cooperage barrel aging craft sour beer

“We greatly appreciated Mr. Rennie’s time at Cascade,” stated Tim Larrance, vice president of sales and marketing for Cascade Brewing. “We know that his time spent with our team will benefit us greatly in helping use our oak barrels to make the best sour beer around.”

cooperage barrel aging craft sour beer
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. copyrightbug says

    November 22, 2016 at 3:43 pm

    RT @cascadebrewing: Big thanks to @CraftBrewingBiz
    for sharing the story of the lessons we received from a #mastercooper barrel expert http…

    Log in to Reply
  2. tlarrance says

    November 22, 2016 at 3:05 pm

    RT @cascadebrewing: Big thanks to @CraftBrewingBiz
    for sharing the story of the lessons we received from a #mastercooper barrel expert http…

    Log in to Reply
  3. Bhavana Sahukar says

    November 22, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    Bhavana Sahukar liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  4. cascadebrewing says

    November 22, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: Hangin’ with a Master Cooper: @CascadeBrewing soaks in wisdom from barrel expert https://t.co/HIMQXjGKD0

    Log in to Reply
  5. cascadebrewing says

    November 22, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    Big thanks to @CraftBrewingBiz
    for sharing the story of the lessons we received from a #mastercooper barrel expert https://t.co/Maf055uKt3

    Log in to Reply
  6. crsimp01 says

    November 22, 2016 at 10:23 am

    Hangin’ with a Master Cooper: Cascade Brewing soaks in wisdom from barrel expert https://t.co/FLNy9D2agS via @craftbrewingbiz

    Log in to Reply
  7. carlu_fra says

    November 22, 2016 at 10:22 am

    Hangin’ with a Master Cooper: Cascade Brewing soaks in wisdom from barrel expert https://t.co/GovUQOGMiZ #beer #craftbeer

    Log in to Reply

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