A whiskey barrel ring sounds like marketing until you understand where the wood comes from. Then it gets interesting.
Barrels have a short working life
American whiskey has a rule behind it: bourbon must be aged in new, charred oak barrels. New ones. Every time.
So a distillery fills a barrel, ages the spirit in it for years, empties it — and then cannot legally use that barrel for bourbon again. Thousands of them come out of service every year.
Some get sold on to Scotch and rum producers for a second life. Some become furniture. And some are broken down into staves — the curved planks that form the barrel wall — and cut into small pieces.
That is where ring wood comes from. American white oak, charred on the inside, that spent years in contact with whiskey.
Why it looks like that
Look closely at the wood in one of our rings and you will see dark bands running through lighter grain. That is not stain.
The dark lines are char — the inside of a bourbon barrel is set alight before filling, which caramelises the sugars in the oak and creates the layer that gives whiskey its colour and vanilla notes. The warm amber tones come from years of spirit soaking into the grain.
No two staves age the same way, so no two rings get the same grain. The barrel decided it years before the ring existed.
Does it smell of whiskey?
A little, when it is new, and more if you warm the ring in your hand. It fades over the first few months. If you want it back, a drop of oil on the wood brings it forward again.
It does not smell of alcohol — that is long gone. It smells of oak and vanilla, which is the barrel, not the drink.
How we set the wood
In our rings the wood sits inside the band, against the finger, with Damascus steel around the outside. A few designs run it through the face as well.
Putting it on the inside does two things. It protects the wood — the steel takes the knocks — and it means the warm part of the ring is the part touching you. Steel on the outside, oak on the skin.
The wood is stabilised before it goes in: resin is drawn into the grain under pressure, which makes it far harder and stops it absorbing water. It is still wood, but it is wood that can take daily wear.
Looking after it
Three things, and none of them are difficult.
- Dry it. After a shower or washing up, wipe it. Sitting wet is the one thing wood does not like.
- Oil it occasionally. Every few months, a drop of mineral oil, walnut oil or beeswax rubbed in with a finger. Thirty seconds. It keeps the grain from drying out and brings the colour back up.
- Take it off for heavy work. Gym bars, gardening, anything that will grind against it. Same advice you would give for any ring.
More on this on our Jewellery Care page.
Will it last?
Stabilised oak in a steel channel, worn normally and dried after it gets wet, lasts for years. It will darken slightly as it ages, the way a leather wallet does. Most people prefer it after a year.
What it will not survive is being left soaking, or being used as a tool.
Which ones have it
You can see the ones we build with barrel oak in the Damascus collection — look for Whiskey Barrel in the name. Each is made by hand to the size you order.
And if you are not sure of your size, start here: how to measure your ring size at home.