Cooperage
Lesson 1: The Art of CooperageThis is lesson 1 of 12 of "The History and Science of the Barrel" available through The Rum University's website, www.RumUniversity.com“Cooper, noun, one who makes or repairs wooden casks, barrels or tubs”
Coopers as professional craftsmen date back to the origin of the wooden casks themselves. Historians disagree on when and where wooden barrels were first used, what they do agree on is that the Romans took full advantage of barrels for storing and transporting goods. The biggest challenge to researching wooden artifacts is that they deteriorate much faster than their metal or ceramic counterparts, thus the evidence of their existence easily vanishes.
Early Greek and Roman writers credit the Gauls with the development of barrels. For example, Roman author and naturalist Gaius Plinius Secundus (also known as Pliny the Elder), who died in 79 AD, wrote that the Gauls stored their wine in “wooden containers that were held together with metal hoops.” A couple of decades before then, Julius Caesar invaded Gaul at Uxellodenum, the Roman army faced an enemy armed with wooden barrels filled with pitch and grease -a primitive incendiary bomb- which were lit and rolled down the hills toward the invading soldiers. These wooden barrels were called “cupae,” from where we derive the word “cooper.”
Regardless of the origin of their profession or the root of its name, coopers are responsible for building the foundation upon which aged wines and spirits around the world are forged. Today some companies are adding saw dust, wood chips and other by-products to their beverages in order to impart rich wood flavors without having to actually age them. Fortunately for us, none of these techniques have fully replicated the metamorphosis that takes place inside a real wood cask, so the need for coopers and their finished products is as strong as ever.
Why wood?
Wooden barrels replaced clay pots and amphorae because they were lighter, stronger, could hold larger volumes and had a longer usable life. So despite the fact that barrel making required more time and a specialized labor force, the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks and barrels became the container of choice.
Wooden barrels had an added benefit: they imparted nutty, spicy and other flavors and aromas to the liquids they stored, further enhancing the drinkability of wine, beer and later of distilled spirits. But of all woods, why oak? Lesson II will answer this question in great detail.
Family traditions, family names
In much the same way that the profession of smithing produced the common English surname Smith and the German name Schmidt, the trade of cooperage also gave the English name Cooper, French name Tonnelier and Tonnellier, Greek name Βαρελάς/Varelas, Danish name Bødker, German names like Faßbinder (literally cask binder), Böttcher (tub maker), Fässler and Keiper, Dutch names like Kuiper or Cuypers, the Latvian name Mucenieks, the Hungarian name Kádár, Bodnár, Polish names such as Bednarz, Bednarski or Bednarczyk, the Czech name Bednář, the Romanian names Dogaru and Butnaru, Ukrainian family name Bondarenko, Ukrainian/Russian name Bondar, the Jewish name Bodner and the Portuguese names Tanoeiro and Toneleiro, Spanish Cubero and Macedonian Bacvarovski (Македонски: Бачваровски).