Achi news desk-
Now growing demand for their skills from a booming Scotch whiskey sector has led to the highest number of coopers and apprentices since the late 1990s.
The upward trend is being driven by increased demand from existing and new ‘craft’ whiskey distilleries who demand a steady flow of casks, and the reopening of distilleries that were shelved during the whiskey glut. 1980s.
At the same time, pressure on cask supplies from traditional sources means coopers have a renewed need to repair and renew existing casks, and keep the spirit flowing.
It has led to some highly experienced coopers working well past the state retirement age to help meet demand and pass on their knowledge to a new generation of apprentices.
The demand for their skills means that some can claim at least £50,000 a year.
According to the National Cooperage Federation, in 2013 there were 186 cooperators and only 25 apprentices working in Scotland. That compares with today’s total of 321, which includes 213 fully trained ‘masters’ and 108 apprentices.
But that is still a long way from the 1980s when more than 1,000 coopers worked across the country.
Numbers went down after the ‘whiskey lake’ saw supply outstrip demand, leading to distilleries and co-ops closing. By 2005, only 188 colleagues, including five apprentices, remained.
“Collaboration is fundamental to the whiskey industry: you need casks,” said Federation secretary Fiona Whitelaw.
“Cask supply is challenging at the moment: the whiskey industry is booming but bourbon is not doing so well.
“Whiskey distilleries use old bourbon casks, so the coopers who repair and renew the casks play a fundamental role in the production of Scotch.
“Their numbers are on the rise for the first time in a while and we’re seeing the highest number of collaborators for some time.”
Most whiskey casks are American white oak from Kentucky bourbon bonds where the law states they can only be used once.
However, the white oak required for the casks is rare, while sherry casks are even harder to come by, making it essential that the existing casks are preserved and renew them as long as possible.
Co-operatives used to be common in boroughs, with thousands of skilled coopers making and repairing barrels and cases to store food, wine, beer and spirits.
Once a seven-year apprenticeship, today’s apprentices spend four years becoming experts in woodworking, often using nearly two dozen different types of tools.
They must also notice defects in wood and repair them so that the cask is still watertight, and carry out the process of ‘de-burning’, where the old carbon layer from the original coking is removed.
With the fresh wood in sight, it is then recharred, allowing the liquor to extract components from the wood and the carbon to act as a filter.
A typical cask can be used three or four times maturing its contents for decades at a time before the cooper needs a complete overhaul.
However, at Loch Lomond Whiskies, one of only four distilleries with its own cooperage on site, the coopers’ expertise means casks can be reused up to nine times.
It has ten coopers and apprentices, including ‘Cooper of the Year 2023’, aged 69, Andy Moore.
He completed his apprenticeship in 1973 and worked through the ‘whisky lake’ years without much fat, despite warnings of difficult days ahead.
“When I first started, my journeyman told me to find another apprenticeship because co-op is a dying craft,” he said. “Fifty-five years later I’m still here, and I’d say the art is alive and well.”
Over a 50-year career, he has helped train five apprentices, and since joining the Loch Lomond distillery in 2014 he has worked on around 50,000 cases.
The job has barely changed since he started working half a decade ago. “Having a keen eye for quality wood and the ability to repair it are basic skills needed, but it’s time and learning on the job over many years that has taught me everything I know .
“I’ve seen an increase in production as whiskey becomes even more popular, so it’s really important to have future generations who can keep the craft going.”
In a normal year the cooperage team makes major repairs to around 10,000 barrels, and re-coals another 10,000.
The distillery takes on a new apprentice every two years and the next one is expected to be appointed in September.
They will join Dalton Leith, 22, who joined as an apprentice last year. Unlike many who start collaborating through family connections, he had no prior knowledge of the trade.
“I thought an apprentice cooper was an interesting career path, and something different to normal jobs,” he said.
“I’ve already learned a lot about the ancient craft, from working with the traditional tools to getting to know what a quality cask should look like.
“My favorite part of the job is learning all about the techniques – the worst part is brushing the shop.”
Michael Henry, Master Blender at Loch Lomond Whiskies, says: “Being a united team and having oversight of the cooper’s work on the barrels is extremely valuable and unique. The cooperage allows us to have much more flexibility to influence our own expression through the type barrel.
“For example – our Steam & Fire single malt was finished in heavily charred American oak casks, which were flamed on site.
“Coopers play such an integral part in the whiskey making process. Every delicious and delicious whiskey begins its life in a cask, and the more they are cared for, preserved and built, the better they are – the better all is the final product.”
In addition to a new generation of collaborators, new cooperatives are emerging.
Oakwood Cooperage was launched in 2018 and has 100 people working at its bases in Keith on the Speyside and Uddingston.
Westway Cooperage near Glasgow Airport was launched in 2021 by brothers Jamie, Andrew and Stephen Reilly, third generation master coopers whose family roots in the industry stretch back over 60 years.
It recently announced plans to double the size of its premises to accommodate a growing workforce and a thriving order book.
Also said to be looking for a larger building is Fisher Cooperage, founded in 1998 by George McGhee and the last remaining independent family-owned co-operative in Scotland. Its 25 staff handle up to 400 barrels a day from its base in Shettleston Road, Glasgow.
French cooperative Tonnellerie François Frères has also boosted the workforce at Camlachie Cooperage in Fullarton Road near Cambuslang, which handles more than 100,000 cases a year, and Speyside Cooperage, the only cooperative to have a visitor centre.
It announced an “aggressive cooper apprenticeship program” in 2020, and plans to increase its skilled workforce by 20% every six months until this summer.
The increase in the number of apprentices has also led to a revival in the traditional ‘black’ rite of passage.
For centuries they were only considered to have graduated after they had endured the messy process of being smothered in black gun which often contained ale, molasses, sawdust and feathers, before being rolled around the cooper in a barrel sherry
After being on hold for a decade, the process was revived in 2016 at Speyside Cooperage with the graduation of two apprentices and, more recently, in January, with the graduation of its latest apprentice.
