One of Scotland’s newest cooperages is celebrating a double awards success as it builds an ambitious new business around one of the country’s oldest and most important traditional crafts.
Trossachs Cooperage, based at Cambusmore Estate near Callander, has been named New Business of the Year at the Stirlingshire Business Awards and is now a finalist for Newcomer of the Year at the Made in Scotland Awards.
Founded in 2024, Trossachs Cooperage is bringing together generations of traditional coopering knowledge with modern rejuvenation technology to support Scotland’s world-renowned whisky industry.
Led on the craft side by second-generation cooper Gary Drummond, who brings 18 years’ experience from Diageo’s Carsebridge and Cambus cooperages, the business repairs, restores and rejuvenates oak casks, helping distillers extend their working life while reducing waste and the environmental impact associated with replacing them.
The award recognition comes during a period of growth and investment for the young company, which has established a modern cooperage on the edge of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.
Its operation combines traditional hand skills and STR – shave, toast and rechar – techniques with automated rejuvenation machinery, alongside cask repair and hardening, storage, logistics and a mobile coopering service for distilleries and warehouses across Scotland.
Gary Drummond said:
“Winning New Business of the Year is a huge achievement for everyone at Trossachs Cooperage, particularly at such an early stage in our journey.
“Coopering has been part of Scotland’s whisky story for generations. Our ambition is to protect those skills and that heritage, while showing that a traditional craft can also be innovative, sustainable and commercially relevant to the modern whisky industry.
“To follow the Stirlingshire award by becoming a finalist in the Made in Scotland Awards is particularly special. We’re proud to be building this business here in the Trossachs, creating skilled employment and investing in the future of a craft that is so closely connected with Scotland around the world.”
Extending the life of Scotland’s casks
Casks are fundamental to Scotch whisky maturation, but Trossachs Cooperage believes many barrels can have their useful lives extended through skilled repair and rejuvenation rather than being discarded.
Its facilities allow casks to be inspected, repaired, hardened, pressure tested and rejuvenated before being returned to service.
The business operates both automated rejuvenation and traditional STR processes, combining modern machinery with the judgement and hand skills of experienced coopers.
Trossachs Cooperage has also developed substantial cask storage and logistics capability at its Callander site, with a secure barrel park capable of handling more than 100,000 casks, as well as facilities for import, export, transhipment and storage.
Sustainability has been incorporated into the development of the operation, with renewable energy, the reuse of wood by-products within the traditional rejuvenation process and a commitment to reducing waste.
Investing in the next generation
Alongside investment in equipment and facilities, Trossachs Cooperage is focused on the people needed to secure the future of the trade.
Its team combines experienced coopers with plans to develop the next generation through apprenticeships, helping ensure specialist skills continue to be passed on rather than lost.
The company is also continuing to expand its services and facilities as it responds to demand from Scotland’s distilling industry.
Gary Drummond, Master Cooper, said:
“These awards are welcome recognition, but we’re still at the beginning of what we want to build.
“Our ambition is to establish Trossachs Cooperage as a highly respected partner to the Scotch whisky industry – known for craftsmanship and reliability, but also for investing in people, technology and more sustainable ways of working.
“Every cask we can successfully repair or rejuvenate is a valuable resource kept in use, and every person we can train in the cooper’s craft helps safeguard skills that Scotland should be proud of.
“Being recognised by both the Stirlingshire Business Awards and Made in Scotland gives the whole team enormous encouragement as we move into the next stage of our growth.”
Trossachs Cooperage is now looking forward to October’s Made in Scotland Awards, where they are a finalist in the Newcomer of the Year category.