Is it time to retire the term ‘virgin’ casks?

Image: guillermocinque, Pixabay

Casks. The magic maturation vessels that contribute all manner of flavour to spirits. When it comes to whisky, they account for around 75% of flavour, depending on who you talk to. And the casks themselves are ever-varied. From the industry standard ex-bourbon barrels and traditional sherry butts to wine, Cognac, Tequila, calvados… the list is endless. Particularly if you’re a maker outside of Scotland, where there’s almost no limit to the prior contents a distillery could use. If you can taste it, go for it. Get seasoning your casks!

And then there’s the growing use of brand new oak. So-called virgin casks. Sometimes these active vessels are used to give a hit of flavour, often in finishing. Excitingly, some producers are experimenting with different oak species too. The theory is that the varieties in physical makeup – from, let’s say, prevalence of compounds like hemicellulose and lignin to the density of grain – will have differing impacts on flavour. Using, say, Colombian oak casks for one batch and Mongolian oak casks for another will result in distinct whiskies.

So what’s the big deal with the phrase? Dig into what ‘virgin’ means, the connotations, misunderstandings, even the gendered nature of the word, and it gives an immediate ick.

Let’s start with the concept of ‘virginity’ itself. It’s a social construct. For many, ‘losing’ one’s virginity isn’t even representative of early experiences of intimacy. It’s very focused on one way of having sex. You have it one second and it’s ‘gone’ the next? What is even ‘lost’?! Could something not be gained instead? Is it even applicable to queer sex? Think about it, and ‘virginity’, especially when wielded as a label, literally means nothing.

So where does the idea of virginity come from? Purity culture. Social control. Gender-based oppression. Think about the narratives behind ‘virginity’. It’s almost always about young women, and their ‘worth’ or ‘value’ in a sexual context. It’s patriarchal language that lives on, largely unquestioned.

And: VIRGINITY HAS LITERALLY NOTHING TO DO WITH WHISKY?!?

‘Virgin casks’ is a phrase fully ingrained in the vernacular of the whisky industry. So much so that even I, who has talked with friends about how gross the phrase is, used it in a recent Instagram reel. 

‘Virgin oak’ is on so many bottle labels and in so many press releases. It is used to ‘explain’ flavour and maturation in tastings, at festivals, in bars. In businesses. It’s a prevalent phrase, so it’s going to take some unlearning. But it’s also weird, outdated, and, really, quite gross. 

In an age where whisky as a whole is making progress in a quest for equity, it’s time that we retire ‘virgin’ casks. Say what you mean. New casks, fresh casks. Whatever. We can all agree an industry standard term for sure. But for the love of all things whisky, it’s time to retire ‘virgin cask’.