Not all casks are barrels, but all barrels are casks.

We can hear brain cells ticking away on this statement. So lets add a bit of context to it.

We are often asked to design and craft a specific piece involving a full size cask, but what exactly is a full size cask? Well you have a choice. Did you want a Hogshead, a Butt or maybe a Firkin? How about a Puncheon, Octave, Port Pipe or perhaps that well known one... a barrel?

Can you see where we are going with this?

A cask and a barrel are not the same things. The term “cask” being something of an umbrella term, while the term “barrel” refers to a particular type of cask. as mentioned there are a wide variety of cask types, each of which will have a different use, often defined by capacity:

Octave: 50ltrs (a quarter the size of a Barrel)

Quarter Cask: 125ltrs (by the way a this is a quarter the size of a Butt!)

Barrel: 200ltrs

Hogshead: 230-250ltrs

Port Pipe: 350+ltrs

Butt: 500L

Puncheon: 500-700ltrs

All in all, bigger the cask more whisky there is... unless of course its been maturing for years and the angels have taken their share. Now thats another story!

#BreathingLifeBackIntoCasks 🥃