Just before Pesach 2022, my son and his fiancee married near our home in northern Scotland. I suggested that I could make their chuppah from whisky barrel wood. This was quickly accepted and the chuppah and side table for the wine, etc. are shown on the homepage. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that an Orthodox Jewish wedding has been held in the north of Scotland in recent years and also the first time such a chuppah has been made/used!
Having made this unique chuppah, it occurred to me that the whisky barrel wood could be used to craft a whole range of unique Judaica and that these items could appeal to whisky lovers. However, I have no wish to use this as an opportunity to start another business in my retirement. Instead, my intention is to make these unique items available to others after they make a donation to one of the charities I wish to see supported and there is more about them below. If the items cannot be collected personally I will ask for the cost of postage/delivery. Please bear with me if it is not possible to provide items immediately as each item is individually made by hand and any orders received will be dealt with in turn.
With the agreement of my son and his wife, the chuppah is available to others and we are currently considering how we can either sell or auction it to raise funds for charity. All the items I make are individual and unique. I do not try to hide that imperfect pieces of whisky barrel wood have been used but want to show each piece as coming from used whisky barrels. As for the smell of the raw unwaxed wooden pieces............... my wife tells me that this is the best air freshener we have ever experienced!
I have a very small number of barrel parts from known distilleries such as Caol Ila which are reserved for making "single cask" items. I also have a very small number of burgundy stained barrels previously used to give a secondary finish to whisky and these are beautifully purple stained, some of which were used at approximately eye height in the chuppah shown. Whilst I have to date made a small range of items, I am open to making bespoke items. For example, I was asked to make a compact tea light holder for someone who lights five shabbat candles each week - two for her and one for each of her three children. If you have something particular in mind please feel free to contact me to discuss this further. I will help if I can.