STR

The acronym STR stands for a "shaved, toasted and re-charred" cask. The practice, in essence, works in the same way as cask rejuvenation however importantly, the barrels in question are new rather than having been used to mature whisky on multiple occasions already.

The idea for STR cask maturation was pioneered by the late Dr. Jim Swan and specifically makes use of fresh red wine barrels. The outer layer of wine-saturated wood is shaved to create a combination of slightly saturated virgin oak, which is then toasted to caramelise the sugars and vanillin before re-charring. The result is a barrel that ages the spirit quickly like new oak, but still imparts some fruity red wine flavours into the whisky.

As a result of their profile, the casks have proven particularly popular with fledgling distillers releasing young single malts, and unsurprisingly were commonly adopted by producers with whom Dr. Jim Swan worked as a consultant before his passing in 2017. Among these include Kavalan in Taiwan, Cotswolds in England and the Nc'nean and Lindores Abbey distilleries in Scotland, to name only a few.