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Black Friday is an unofficial beer holiday filled with special releases.

Meet the Creators Who Make Craft Whiskey Possible Heidi Korb and her father, Russ Karasch, provide craft distillers with custom barrels from Black Swan Cooperage. (Photo by Peter Garritano) “Folks in the craft spirits industry are looking to make differentiated products,” says Dave Green, president and CEO of Skagit Valley Malting in Washington. “You can’t do that with commodity ingredients.” Green supports small-scale distillers, valuing flavor over yield, with locally grown grains like Obsidian, an exotic barley variety originally from Egypt, and Skagit white club wheat, introduc...

The Builder of Barrels: Black Swan Cooperage Workers at Minnesota's Black Swan Cooperage transform oak trees into finished barrels, and offer customization options for individual distillers. (Photo by Peter Garritano) Heidi Korb can’t remember a time when she wasn’t listening to her dad talk about oak or watching him build barrels. The second-generation cooper co-owns Black Swan Cooperage, which she opened in 2009 under the tutelage of her father, Russ Karasch, a cooper of 30 years who continues to work with his daughter. Among his innovations is the patented Honey Comb stave. His Honey ...