There’s a pecking order among barrels. Mizunara casks sit at the top, unassailable on their lofty peak. After those come the pipes and puncheons that once held fortified wines: Pineau, Port and Pedro Ximenéz. Then there are the massed ranks of lowly ex-Bourbon casks, a staple of the barrel-ageing starter pack.

I rank them like this based on their rarity and the effects they can have on the spirits they contain. A barrel’s former contents can give a spirit a boost. So too can the type of wood from which it’s made. But that’s not the whole story. There’s also fire.