What is the difference between fresh-dumped & furniture/decor barrels?

It's one of the most common questions we get here at MWBC. So, what is the difference? The term "fresh dumped" means the barrel was recently dumped at the distillery and is now ready to be filled. Fresh dumped barrels are the more sought after bourbon barrel due to the fact the barrel is 100% tight, very fresh and is ready to be filled. All of our fresh dumped barrels get dumped at the distillery just days before we receive them. Unlike many other barrel brokers we take pride in only selling the freshest barrels possible. To do this, we only allow fresh dumped barrels to sit in our warehouse for three weeks or less. If they sit longer than that they get down graded to furniture grade barrels. We do not allow this to happen very often, so we work extremely hard to sell barrels before they even arrive at our warehouse.

A Furniture or Decor barrel means the barrel has been retired from the barrel aging process. This could be a result of the barrels drying out, or maybe the whiskey barrels have been used a handful of times for beer and are no longer useable to age another beverage. Wine barrels most often turn into furniture grade barrels because they have become infected. This is something that is impossible to avoid, and we do our best to keep barrels clean, but occasionally we get some that turn sour and can no longer be sold to be refilled – unless you actually want a sour beverage.

These barrels get turned into beautiful wedding statement pieces. For more decor ideas & furniture projects, check out our DIY page