The Barrel Mill Cooperage

Founding Year & Location: 2004, Avon, Minnesota

Founder: The Knapton Family               The Barrel Mill was founded when the Knapton family, with over a century of experience in the lumber industry, purchased a cooperage and applied their woodworking expertise to barrel-making. They brought deep knowledge of wood aging, grain tightness, and tannin management to the cooperage. Their philosophy blends old-world craftsmanship with modern precision, resulting in barrels that elevate the spirits they hold.

Oak Source: The majority of their American White Oak is from Northern Missouri, while some is also sourced from Minnesota.

Signature Style: The Barrel Mill is known for its premium American white oak barrels, seasoned outdoors for up to 24 months to reduce tannins and develop complex wood compounds. Their Oak Infusion Spirals®, a patented oak alternative, offer rapid extraction and refined integration of toasted oak flavors for distillers and winemakers alike.

Historical Timeline

• 2004: The Knapton family acquires the cooperage and establishes The Barrel Mill.

• 2005: Launch of the Oak Infusion Spiral®, revolutionizing oak alternatives for wine and spirits.

• 2010s: Expansion into partnerships with leading distilleries, breweries, and wineries across North America.

• 2020s: Continued innovation in barrel design and finishing techniques, with custom displays and small-format barrels gaining popularity among craft producers.

Cultural & Regional Influence

• Geography & Climate: Located in central Minnesota, The Barrel Mill benefits from the region’s seasonal extremes, which contribute to the natural seasoning of their oak. Outdoor aging in this climate enhances the wood’s character and readiness for coopering.

• Community Ties: The cooperage maintains strong relationships with local wood suppliers and regional beverage producers. Their barrels have been used in collaborations with craft distilleries, breweries, and wineries across the Midwest and beyond.

Production Evolution

• Techniques & Equipment: The Barrel Mill combines traditional coopering methods, hand-shaping staves, steam bending, and charring, with modern machinery for consistency and precision.

• Innovation & Tradition: Their Oak Infusion Spirals® offer a fast, efficient way to impart oak character, while their full-size barrels remain a staple for aging whiskey, rum, and wine.

• Sustainability: By sourcing oak locally and aging it naturally outdoors, The Barrel Mill reduces environmental impact and supports regional forestry practices.

Modern Identity

• Leadership: Still family-owned and operated, The Barrel Mill is guided by a commitment to quality, tradition, and innovation.

• Brand Philosophy: “Perfect Your Craft.” The Barrel Mill sees its barrels as a canvas for distillers and winemakers, emphasizing partnership, precision, and the transformative power of oak.

• Flagship Products:

  • 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 30, and 53gal American white oak barrels (various toast and char levels)

  • Oak Infusion Spirals® (varying toast levels of American White Oak, French Oak, Sugar Maple, Cypress, Spanish Cedar, Amburana, Cherry, Aspen, and Mizunara)

  • Custom barrel displays, typically in the form of barrel shelving

Using a barrel press to fix rings onto a barrel

Toasting the inside of a barrel

Charring the inside of barrels

Removing a barrel from the barrel charring station

Personal Opinion The Barrel Mill is a very popular cooperage for smaller distilleries that are starting to get off the ground. Their small size barrels are very common, and widely used. Some of the distilleries known to have Barrel Mill barrels are NoCo Distillery and Distillery 291 in Colorado, Dark Arts in Kentucky, and Middle West Spirits in Ohio. From my personal experience, The whiskey I’ve had that I know came from Barrel Mill barrels was very high quality. However, there was no noticeable trademark flavor from the barrels themselves that I noticed.               

I have personally used the oak infusion spirals. They sell spirals formatted for everything from a 400+ gallon tank of liquid, down to a single bottle of whiskey. I have tried the individual bottle spirals in the past. It definitely will change the profile of your whiskey, but I’m not always sure that blasting a bottle with extra oak is a great move. A bottle of Ezra Brooks became entirely too tannic, but a bottle of Mellow Corn became a phenomenal monster. I’ve seen other people experiment in the past, and it seems that in general Mellow Corn takes very well to extra finishing.