View Rule

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has received requests to expand the meaning of "oak container" for purposes of meeting the standard of identity for certain types of distilled spirits and for meeting the labeling requirements for optional "age" statements on those distilled spirits.  Under the regulations in 27 CFR part 5, to meet the standard of identity for certain types of whiskies, and thus to be eligible for labeling as that type of whisky, the distilled spirits must, among other things, be stored in an oak container.  Similarly, any "age" statement on the labels of such distilled spirits is, under the TTB regulations, a reference to the period of time during which, after distillation and before bottling, the distilled spirits have been stored in an oak container.  Historically, the term "oak container" has been understood as being generally a standard whisky barrel of approximately 50 gallons.  TTB has received requests from industry members to use, for purposes of meeting the standard of identity and age labeling requirements, containers of other sizes, shapes, and compositions, and TTB is seeking comments on these requests.