The term Casks and Barrels to most of us seem to be simply a tightly bound wooden drum that in more modern times is used to store, age, and possibly transport spirits. At first to me, they seemed to be two words out of a thesaurus for something meaning exactly the same, and texts and content in the media would also seem to support this. They seemed to be used conversely or for most, gave the impression to be similar and hence taken in the same context.

But are they really? Are casks and barrels really the same? What differentiates one from another…

In simple terms, casks are a parent term, a blanket that encapsulates drums of all shapes and sizes. A particular subset of these casks, namely the American oak casks of 200 litres and sometimes the Hogshead (250 litres) are referenced by the term Barrel. Everything else is and should be labelled as a cask.

So not every cask is a barrel, but every barrel is certainly a cask!

More on wood, cask and it’s effects on another post : The Wood in Whisky

Slainte!