Fitted with new oak lids

STR casks light, medium, medium+ and heavy toasting
The STR cask was developed and optimised for the maturation of distillates by the late Dr Jim Swan. The STR cask was created out of a need for more casks for the production of single malt whisky due to an abundance of wine casks in Europe and America. These casks were initially used for the maturation of red wine.

S - step 1
3-5 mm is planed from the inside of the cask to remove red wine residues that could otherwise impart unwanted tannic and sulphurous notes (and possibly harbour unknown bacteria), but not so much as to remove the desired fruity notes preserve

T - step 2
The barrels are then toasted to break down the hemicellulose and lignins in the wood structure into wood sugars and other desirable flavour compounds that are soluble in alcohol.

R - step 3
Toast again with an intense flame that caramelises the wood sugars, causing the distillate to penetrate deeper into the staves, increasing the surface area of the inside of the cask by creating shallow cracks, and acting as a built-in “carbon filter system” that can remove unwanted off-notes in the distillate.