Barrel Like with other spirits, longer aging results in a more pronounced flavor. Traditional balsamic vinegar is aged in a series of wooden barrels. Since its invention in 1868, the pepper mash used to make Tabasco sauce is aged for three years in previously used oak whisky barrels. Beers are sometimes aged in barrels which were previously used for maturing wines or spirits. This is most common in darker beers such as stout, which is sometimes aged in oak barrels identical to those used for whisky. Whisky distiller Jameson notably purchases barrels used by Franciscan Well brewery for their Shandon Stout
Barbera d'Asti has been possible to produce "Barbera d'Asti Superiore", for which the wine must have an alcoholic strength of at least 12.5% by volume, and be aged for at least 14 months, 6 months of which stored in oak or chestnut barrels. Many "superiore" producers refine it in small oak barriques to obtain a rounder taste. The "superiore" has the following sub-zones indicated on the label: "Nizza", "Tinella", or "Colli Astiani" ("Asti"). The "superiore" wine has a strong additional aging potential; it can often be aged from ten to twenty years. The Nizza DOCG was added to Asti's Barbera portfolio in