In today’s hot domestic whiskey market, can there ever be enough mills and cooperages producing barrels? Unlikely, but at least we’re keeping cooperages busy. In an effort to meet the insatiable demand for barrels, American Stave Company, a division of Independent Stave Company, just acquired 48 acres in Kentucky to build a state-of-the-art stave mill.
Plans call for American Stave to open its sixth American oak stave mill in its portfolio in Marshall County, Kentucky, by next year, according to WEKU. The facility is said to be strategically placed as Marshall County is known as an excellent source for cooperage-quality white oak. “American Stave Company has been purchasing logs in this area for years, making it a top contender during site selection.”
Once complete, the western Kentucky mill “will supply staves and heading to the parent company’s cooperages in Kentucky and Missouri, thereby increasing the number of barrels crafted each year at these cooperages as well as any facilities to be built in the future.” It will also create upwards of 40 new jobs in the local community.
“This new stave mill will be an important addition, allowing us to further augment our supply of high-quality American white oak,” said Brad Boswell, president and fourth-generation cooper, in a statement. “It is also the final step as we position ourselves for a major expansion to our barrel- making operations.”
Independent Stave has been experiencing significant growth due to whiskey’s current boom. In 2015, for example, it completed construction of its fifth American oak stave mill, located in Morehead, Kentucky. It has also “increased its log buying yards throughout white oak country and expanded its cooperage in Missouri.”
“Our company has been supplying the wine and spirits industry since our inception in 1912, first as a domestic supplier of staves, and today as a cooperage company crafting a wide range of barrels and oak products.” added Boswell.
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