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The Oak Scoop: December 2025

In December's edition, we announce our new product Boozy Boost Sticks, explore the latest news and tips for the winemaking industry, celebrate our employee of the month, and more!

by Brandon Haas

Published on 12/05/2025

by Brandon Haas

Published on 12/05/2025

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Welcome to The Oak Scoop, our monthly newsletter dedicated to keeping our customers informed on company updates, industry events, product education, the science behind oak in winemaking, and much more!

In this edition, we’re unveiling Boozy Boost Sticks, exploring their toast profiles, sharing early holiday wishes, reviewing industry updates, announcing our Unified Symposium appearance, spotlighting a standout team member, and highlighting November’s blog of the month!

Introducing Boozy Boost Sticks

We’re thrilled to introduce our newest product line: Boozy Boost Sticks, a series of small oak stave kits designed to help customers enhance their favorite bottles of liquor with rich, barrel-aged character.

Each kit contains five handcrafted oak staves made from premium American oak, perfectly sized to slip into a standard 750 ml–1 L bottle. Unlike traditional oak staves—made for barrels, tanks, or multi-gallon batches—Boozy Boost Sticks are created specifically for single-bottle aging. Whether it’s vodka, tequila, rum, gin, moonshine, whiskey, or scotch, each kit is tailored to complement the spirit’s natural profile.

Why Customers Love Boozy Boost Sticks

• • Add noticeable flavor, color, and aroma in just days and weeks to see true rich color and aroma.
  • Perfect for customers who want to age a low-shelf single bottle to capture a top-shelf bottle color and taste.
  • Leave the sticks in the bottle indefinitely to get a deeper, richer character for your bottle. Able to drink from day 1, the longer the boozy stick sits, the more aged the taste and color.
  • More affordable than traditional aging methods—no barrel, equipment, or large quantities needed.
  • For wineries, these make excellent tasting-room add-ons, gift shop items, and holiday gifts for customers looking to experiment beyond wine.

Understanding Boozy Boost Sticks’ Barrel Toast Levels

Each Boozy Boost kit includes expertly toasted staves, designed to produce distinct flavor outcomes as they rest in the bottle.

Medium Toast

Offers warm, balanced notes with gentle sweetness. Expect flavors such as vanilla, soft caramel, toasted sugar, and light baking spice as the stave slowly integrates with the spirit. Over time, this toast level enhances smoothness and roundness without overpowering the bottle.

Medium Plus Toast

Delivers deeper, richer complexity with more pronounced toasted character. As it rests in the bottle, you’ll notice toasted caramel, cocoa, richer vanilla tones, and hints of warm spice. This level adds fuller body and contributes to a more layered aromatic profile.

Heavy Toast

Bold and expressive, this toast produces intense flavor development over longer infusion periods. Look for dark chocolate, roasted coffee, rich smoke, charred oak, and subtle molasses. Heavy toast deepens color, enhances richness, and brings a dramatic, barrel-forward finish.

Merry Christmas from Our Team

As we head into the holiday season, our entire team at Oak Chips Inc. would like to extend a heartfelt Merry Christmas to the winemakers who trust our products in their craft. Thank you for allowing our oak to be part of your creations and traditions. We hope your season is filled with good wine, good company, and good cheer.

Health in Oak

While oak is well known for shaping flavor, its contribution to a cleaner fermentation environment is an often overlooked benefit. Toasted oak naturally interacts with certain unwanted compounds that can appear during winemaking—such as sulfur-derived aromas or harsh phenolics.

News in the Wine Industry

This month’s update highlights an emerging trend gaining momentum among both commercial wineries and home winemakers: micro-oxygenation paired with modern oak alternatives. With precise oxygen exposure and targeted oak adjuncts, producers can now replicate many of the benefits of barrel aging without the cost, storage requirements, or lengthy timelines of traditional barrels.

Recent studies show that combining micro-oxygenation with high-quality toasted oak segments or sticks can enhance color stability, reduce astringent tannins, and improve overall flavor integration during aging. As innovation continues, winemakers have more tools than ever to refine their wines with efficiency, consistency, and greater control over the final profile.

We’re Heading to the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium

We’re excited to announce that Oak Chips Inc. will be exhibiting at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, California, this year—one of the largest annual gatherings for winemakers, grape growers, and industry innovators like OCI

Employee Spotlight

This month, we’re proud to highlight Traci Clark, our Administrative Manager, who has been a member of the Oak Chips Inc. team since April 2024.

Traci oversees a wide range of responsibilities on a day-to-day basis, including but not limited to bulk order sales, processing orders, HR coordination, and ensuring communication across departments. Her ability to keep operations organized, efficient, and aligned has strengthened every area of our business.

One of her favorite memories at OCI so far was when our company achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification. She chose to highlight this company achievement because she takes pride in knowing that our warehouse and operational procedures run safely, smoothly, and to the highest standard.

We’re incredibly grateful for Traci and the professionalism she brings to Oak Chips Inc. every day. Thanks, Traci!

Tip of the Month

When working with oak sticks, remember: more contact time doesn’t always mean better results.

Start with a shorter infusion period—especially with heavy toast—taste periodically, and increase exposure time gradually until you achieve your ideal finish. Controlled tasting is the key to achieving balance and avoiding bitterness.

December's Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog explores how different oak formats enhance red and white wines in unique ways. From color stability in reds to creamy texture in whites, we break down how winemakers can leverage chips, cubes, and staves, to shape their ideal profile.

Read the full blog on our website to dive deeper into oak chemistry, flavor potential, and recommended usage ideas for each wine style.

Until Next Month!

As we wrap up the Oak Scoop for December, we hope these updates help you make the most of your wines and oak products. With Christmas right around the corner, it's the perfect time to explore our oak alternatives and get prepared for the new year!

Check back in January for new tips, product highlights, updates, and more from our team.

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