Independent Stave Company (ISC) is pleased to announce the construction of a research center dedicated to oak innovation and experimentation for the spirits industry. Once complete, the new research center will serve as a cutting edge resource on oak maturation for ISC’s distilling customers in Kentucky and around the world.
“We are passionate about spirits, including working closely with distillers to foster innovation and develop new products,” said Andrew Wiehebrink, ISC director of spirit research and innovation. “Our ISC Research Center will serve as an excellent platform for our customers to learn about oak, explore the extensive product options available, and also pursue new ideas for a point of distinction in their own products.”
The ISC Research Center is being constructed in Lebanon, Ky. as an addition to the company’s Kentucky Cooperage campus. The research center will feature a laboratory, an extensive library of experiments, a professional tasting room and offices for ISC’s Kentucky-based research and customer service team.
“We don’t want to just talk about what is possible,” confirmed Jeff LaHue, ISC’s director of strategic partnerships. “Instead, we can demonstrate through blind tastings, sensory science and chemical analysis.”
ISC has conducted hundreds of barrel experiments since the 1990s and continues to lay down barrels every year. The company’s innovation team has increased the number of experiments in play for the past three years and many of these projects will come of age for evaluation as the research center becomes fully operational.
“Independent Stave Company is committed to continuously improving the quality, consistency and variety of the barrels we offer,” said Brad Boswell, ISC president. “This research center is further evidence of how we translate that vision into action to the benefit of our customers.”
As part of its mission, the research center will also explore how to enhance structural integrity and recovery yields.
“We are looking at all the elements to build a barrel – oak species, wood age, barrel shape and size, how we engineer the barrels, all the materials used – to optimize the barrels we craft,” confirmed Wiehebrink, who works directly with ISC’s key spirits customers on innovation projects. “We encourage distillers to bring us their ideas and challenges. We know how to transform ideas into reality, with sensory and science-backed results.”
Independent Stave Company is a dynamic, family-owned cooperage company reaching customers in more than 40 countries. Founded by the Boswell family, Independent Stave Company still embraces the core values of family, innovation, community and hard work.
