John is at Moonshine University in Louisville for the Barrel Aging Workshop — the two-day intensive built in partnership with Independent Stave Company on the wood side of how bourbon becomes bourbon. Every char level, every stave, every toast profile, walked through with the people who actually build the barrels for the industry.

What is the Moonshine University Barrel Aging Workshop?

The Barrel Aging Workshop is a two-day intensive crafted in partnership with Independent Stave Company — the cooperage giant that supplies barrels to most of the bourbon industry. The course walks attendees through wood types, char levels, toast profiles, and the staves themselves: how each variable shapes the maturation arc of an aging spirit.

Moonshine University at the Distilled Spirits Epicenter (801 South 8th Street, Louisville) is the working-distiller curriculum that trains the people who go on to make commercial American whiskey. Founded in 2012 by David Dafoe of Flavorman, the school is the official education provider for the Kentucky Distillers’ Association — and the Barrel Aging Workshop is one of the most respected technical short-courses in American whiskey.