Wilson Forest Products

Hidden in plain sight along Jefferson Road is a stave mill and cooperage, producing staves and finished barrels to be used by barrel makers, distilleries and wineries around the world. For three generations, Wilson Forest Products in Jefferson has been a part of Greene County for 89 years, with three generations of Wilsons quietly producing the products that have made the small company stand out.

In the 1930s, the US Navy had a need for timber to be used for the decks of its ships. The necessity for white oak plank decks brought William Wilson of Columbus, Ohio to this southern corner of western Pennsylvania, where he founded Wilson Forest Products. William partially chose Greene County due to the prevalence of white oak; it proved more economical to purchase the land and trees outright. Wilson Forest Products opened in Graysville in 1931 and began providing timber for the US Navy. After WWII, production shifted with demand, and the company began to produce staves, the cut boards used in the creation of barrels for making whiskey and wine.

William sold the business on to his son, Bill, in the early 1970s. During the years that Bill operated the company, it expanded its operations even further, and in 1981, began exporting staves to countries outside of the US. The company moved from Graysville to Jefferson in 1992. In 2001 the family expanded the business again to include a cooperage and began making their own barrels for export. In the early 2000’s, Bill’s sons Mike and Brian took over the operation of the business. Mike serves as chief executive officer and Brian as the chief operating officer.

The cooperage produces about 22,000 barrels a year on average. “We’re a smaller cooperage, in the grand scheme,” says Brian. Because of that, the company focuses more on the quality of the barrel they provide instead of quantity. The barrels they make are exported world-wide for use in the creation of scotch whiskey, while their staves are sold to other cooperages within the United States and throughout the world.

The average time to create a barrel is 18 months, but can range from as short as five months or as long as three years, depending on the customers needs. Once the timber arrives at Wilson, the raw logs are quartered into staves and then either kiln-dried or air seasoned (for up to three years). Air seasoning provides more time for the wood to leach out any natural chemicals, like tannin, and makes for a softer tasting product.

After the wood has been dried, the actual process of creating the barrel only takes about two hours from start to finish, thanks in part to technology. “We have to be as technological as we can be,” shares Brian. “It’s the future. There’s still a lot of hands-on and hard labor, but we’re about as automated as you can get. It’s really helped.” However, the company knows the need to keep the human eye. “Customers like to see human interaction and there are limits to what a robot can do. A robot doesn’t know steel from wood, where a human can look at a piece of wood and notice a flaw,” he adds.

All the white oak that Wilson Forest Products uses comes from a 500-mile radius around Greene County and they employ two full-time log buyers. “Customers will often want oak from a certain area, such as South Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, depending on what they want for their product,” says Brian. “”Certain regions are better for particular wines or spirits. Climates are different, soils are different.”

Wilson Forest Products is the only cooperage that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), thanks to the sustainability practices. To be certified by the FSC, you must manage your forest or supply chain responsibly and comply with stringent environmental, social, and economic standards. These practices help the company keep a low impact on the environment. To maintain the certification with the FSC, the company must follow certain rules. “We’re very selective in what we buy,” says Brian. “We only buy timber from properties that use proper forest management practices. The area the timber comes from must be able to be reforested. We can’t buy timber that may come from construction sites, like pipelines or home sites.”

He adds, “It can be a tedious process to keep our certification, but it’s important and it means a lot to our customers. Today’s customers are more environmentally aware and responsible than past generations.”

Prevalent in eastern and central North America, White Oak, or Quercus alba, wood is preferred for barrels – and shipbuilders - because it is both waterproof and durable. Because wood is reactive, the wood interacts with the whiskey or wine stored inside and imparts desirable qualities, such as color and a range of tastes. Distilled whiskey is clear and receives its rich caramel color from the wood it is stored in. Flavors are imparted through the wood by aging, toasting, and charring.

The raw staves are passed through a machine that completes a double end trim and turns one side concave and one convex. These staves are used to set the barrel up. The barrels at Wilson are 110 inches in diameter. The staves are placed on a table exactly 100 inches long and pieced together. Once they are ready the barrel is set up using an iron hoop with staves placed inside.

The barrels are then sent to the toasting room where they are heated up to make the wood more pliable. They are placed on a machine that brings the barrel together. Once together, the barrel is brought back into the toasting room for additional charring.

Toasting the wood mellows the harsh tannins by breaking down the molecular structure. During the heating process required to bend the barrels, the cooper can toast the wood on the inside of the barrel for a certain amount of time. The variation of toasting levels provides many different flavor profiles. Barrels are also charred; these barrels are set on fire to open the pores quickly and forcibly. Just like with toasting, there are different levels of char.

Toasting creates a more steady and controlled pace for the extraction of chemicals in the wood into the product. Char, on the other hand, makes the extraction of chemicals out of the wood much quicker. Toasting is generally used for wine barrels, where the product will have a slower extraction but stay in the barrel usually only 18-24 months. Charred barrels are used for whiskey, when the extraction is needed to happen quickly but the product will often remain in the barrel at least ten years.

After toasting and charring, the staves of the barrel are then knocked out with a hammer to ensure that they are as close to perfect as they can be and then taken to a machine that will cut the bunghole and create a groove inside the barrel for the head to rest on. There are no glues or chemicals used in the barrel making process. The barrel is then sanded, and metal hoops are placed on it to hold it together.

The barrels are then prepared for quality control and shipping. About ten percent of the barrels are tested with water. Barrels with what could be seen as an ‘obvious problem’ such as knotholes are checked, as well as barrels that have no exterior defects.

The 63 full-time and part-time employees receive a lot of in-house training. Much of the team has started with the basic jobs that require less training, and depending on their strengths, have been moved to more skilled positions. “Everybody seems to find their groove,” Brian says. “We’ve got a lot of good employees and they’re all willing to help others.”

He adds, “There’s a sense of pride with these guys. They make a specialty niche product that is sent around the world. When they purchase a whisky or wine made by one of our customers, they know that they may have a had a hand in its making.”

The sense of pride can be seen throughout Wilson Forest Products., from the employees to the owners. This family-owned business has been creating an exceptional product right here in Greene County for almost 90 years and will continue to do so for years to come.

Published in June 2019 GreeneScene Magazine.