Media & PR

April 20th, 2025

Oak leaves illuminated by warm sunlight. Photo by Olga Ionina via Adobe Stock.

Picture this: You’re on a distillery tour, guided through a rickhouse stacked six stories high with barrels. The air is heavy with char, oak, and a hint of the bourbon’s angel share. Toward the end of the tour, your guide pulls out a whiskey thief and draws a pour straight from one of those barrels. You take a sip, and there it is... that warm, toasted-oak finish that lingers long after the heat fades.

Sure, a distiller’s mash bill brings the grain, but it’s the oak that gives whiskey its soul. Barrels shape the color, the complexity, and the character of every spirit inside. And every one of those barrels? It started with a white oak tree.

A tree that took 80 years to grow. A tree that might yield only two or three barrels in its lifetime. That kind of math doesn’t work out in nature’s favor unless we change the equation.

At Midwest Barrel Co., we believe the best way to respect oak is to make its impact last. That’s why we recover freshly emptied barrels and help give them another life. But we understand that if we’re going to truly do right by barrels, we also have to do right by the trees.

So in 2019, we created #SaveTheStave® — our commitment to reinvesting in the natural resource that fuels our entire industry. In partnership with Arbor Day Foundation, we’ve supported the planting of trees where they’re needed most, not just to offset what’s been used, but to actively protect what remains.

This year, we’re proud to share that we’ve officially crossed a major milestone: more than 50,000 trees planted (53,635, to be exact). From Ohio farmland to Appalachian coal country of Kentucky, these projects are restoring forests, protecting watersheds, and creating a future worth aging for — one tree at a time.

Or better yet, what’s a stave?

In the barrel world, a stave is one of the curved wooden planks that forms the body of a barrel. It takes 31 to 33 staves to make just one standard bourbon barrel, each one cut from American white oak. That barrel will typically stand about 35 inches tall, hold 53 gallons of liquid, and deliver all the flavor, structure, and soul a spirit needs.

But when it’s emptied? That oak still has more to give.

In bourbon production, the law requires that every batch be aged in a brand-new charred oak barrel. That means once it’s been used, it can’t be used again for bourbon, even if it still has decades of life left in it.

Our entire business is built around extending the life of those barrels. When we say we’re “saving the stave,” we mean we’re doing everything we can to honor the oak and extend the life of every barrel it becomes.

We launched #SaveTheStave in 2019 with a clear mindset: if we’re going to build a business on oak, we need to do our part to protect it. What started as a simple idea is now a full-blown initiative. Through #SaveTheStave, we:

• Give barrels a second aging life (and sometimes a third or fourth) by recovering freshly emptied barrels directly from distilleries and getting them into the hands of brewers, distillers, and winemakers around the world who give them another purpose. With proper care, those same barrels can be reused for up to 40 more years, aging Scotch whisky, tequila, beer, maple syrup, and more.
  
  

• Repurpose barrels that can’t be refilled into decor, BBQ smoking wood, or creative builds. Whether they’re adding mouth-watering flavor to your grilled meats or starting conversations as an eye-catching piece of furniture, barrels have a lot left to give, even after their aging days are over.
  
  

• Fund targeted reforestation projects through our partnership with Arbor Day Foundation, planting trees across the U.S. in places where revitalization is imminent to restore ecosystems, reduce watershed, and improve local communities. 

Through #SaveTheStave, we live out our commitment to sustainability and ensure the legacy of every barrel lives on well beyond its first fill. Every barrel we help rehome is one less brand-new barrel being made — and one more tree left standing.

Respect the barrel = respect the oak.

Since 2019, our partnership with Arbor Day Foundation has helped plant 53,635 trees across nine reforestation projects in the U.S. But this initiative isn’t about counting trees… it's about what those trees are doing.

Here’s the impact that can be contributed to those nine projects:

• 97 acres of land restored
  That’s 97 acres where forests are growing again. This provides habitat for wildlife, stabilizes the soil, and brings life back to damaged lands.
  
  

• 39,191 metric tons of CO₂ captured
  As trees grow, they naturally remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping slow down climate change. In fact, that’s the equivalent of taking 8,520 cars off the road for an entire year!
  
  

• 4 million gallons of water runoff avoided
  Tree roots soak up the rain and hold the soil in place, which helps prevent flooding of nearby communities and pollution of streams & rivers.
  
  

• 129 tons of air pollutants removed
  Trees act like natural air filters. They clean the air by pulling harmful pollution out of it, improving the air both humans & animals breathe every day.

To see the full breakdown from each planting project, check out our impact reports here:

• 2019 | Upper Altamaha River in Georgia
• 2021 | Manchester State Forest in South Carolina
• 2021 | Shawnee National Forest in Union County, Illinois
• 2022 | Shawnee National Forest in Union County, Illinois
• 2023 | Stony Creek Reforestation Project in Northern Kentucky
• 2024 | Tennessee Tree Day
• 2024 | Agricultural Lands in Delaware County, OH
• 2024 | Coal Mining Reforestation in Appalachian region of Eastern Kentucky
• 2025 | Legacy Coal Mine Reforestation in Appalachian region of Kentucky & West Virginia (coming soon)

East Pinnacle of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Middlesboro, Kentucky. Photo by Patrick Jennings via Adobe Stock.

We didn’t move to Kentucky just to be close to barrels. We moved here because this is the heart of the industry and we want to be part of it for the long haul.

But being here means more than that. It means paying attention to what’s happening around us and doing our part to support the land and the people of Kentucky — all of Kentucky.

Eastern Kentucky is one of the most economically challenged areas in the entire country. After generations of coal mining stripped the mountains and cleared the forests, the industry packed up and left. What was left behind was a broken economy, damaged land, and infrastructure that couldn’t withstand the pressure of a changing climate.

In July 2022, catastrophic flooding ripped through eastern Kentucky. Dozens of lives were lost. Homes and schools were washed away. Entire towns were left without running water, electricity, or a clear path forward. And then, just three years later, it happened again. In 2025, more deadly flash floods swept through the hills, a brutal reminder that this crisis isn’t over.

The region’s terrain (steep hills & narrow valleys) makes it prone to flash flooding, but the lack of deep-rooted forests makes it even worse. When the rain falls, there’s nothing to hold the land in place. The water doesn’t soak in, it rushes down.

We can’t undo the past, but we can help plant something better for the future.

That’s why our 2024 & 2025 #SaveTheStave projects focused on the Appalachian region. In partnership with Arbor Day Foundation, we’ve helped plant 11,000 trees across 17 acres of former coal mine land in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia.

The trees returned to these hills will help:

• Absorb rainfall before it turns to runoff, reducing flash flood risk
  
  

• Stabilize the soil, keeping hillsides intact and reducing erosion
  
  

• Rebuild forest ecosystems, bringing life back to the land
  
  

• Support local resilience, by improving water quality, creating wildlife corridors, and helping restore the natural systems that protect people, homes, and infrastructure

We’re not from here. But we’re here now. And this project is one way we can show up with care, not just commerce — for the land, the water, and the people of Kentucky.

Legacy coal mine reforestation site in the Central Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. Image courtesy of the Arbor Day Foundation.

This isn’t just the right work. It’s personal work.

Long before Midwest Barrel Co. called Kentucky home, it was planted in the heart of Lincoln, Nebraska — the same city where Arbor Day Foundation is headquartered, and where this whole barrel business began.

That shared home base became the foundation for a partnership that just made sense. We didn’t just find a reforestation partner. We reconnected with where we came from. Arbor Day Foundation has been planting trees and restoring forests for over 50 years. Today, it’s one of the most respected conservation organizations in the world.

What began as a shared zip code has grown into a partnership built on mutual values — sustainability, stewardship, and respect for natural resources. 

This April as we celebrate both Earth Day (4/22) & Arbor Day (4/25), we’re celebrating a milestone, but we’re also celebrating the people who made it possible. Our customers, partners, and supporters are the reason over 53,000 trees now stand where there was once nothing. We’re proud of what’s been planted and grateful to everyone who’s helped make it possible.

Thank you for choosing barrels; by doing so, you’re making this industry just a little more sustainable, one stave at a time. Here’s to the next 50,000!

Want to keep the momentum going? Here’s how you can stay part of the story:

• Explore our current barrel inventory

• Support Arbor Day Foundation’s work

• Share this blog and tag us with #SaveTheStave

Image courtesy of Arbor Day Foundation. Shows a young tree seedling emerging from rich soil, symbolizing new growth and reforestation.