The Woodshop: A Conversation with Jason Cohen:
Re-imagined Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Barrels reflect the legacy of Pappy Van Winkle, Kentucky craftsmanship, and the artistry of bourbon barrel artisan Jason Cohen.
After working with artisan Jason Cohen on a few projects through the years, Pappy & Company was in a position to finally create our long-dreamed-about and planned in-house Woodshop, and there was only one craftsman we considered for the role. However, when we first floated the idea to Jason, he was busy finishing a large-scale project.
One that would eventually take him “two and a half years to finish.” That project was a dramatic sculptural ceiling crafted out of “over 3,000 staves” in the newly opened Hotel Bourré Bonnein downtown Louisville. Well, fortunately, being 4th-generation Van Winkles, we are patient. We are willing to wait for a good thing.
Working with Jason was a natural fit from the beginning. His vision, dedication, and desire to repurpose old wood, something that would otherwise be wasted or tossed away like garbage, spoke to our desire to reinvent our authentic Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Barrels. Once retired, bourbon barrels can’t be used again to age bourbon, rendering them, in other words, destined for the garbage.
It just made sense. Bringing Jason on to the team full-time, we didn’t skip a beat. It was as if we were joining a conversation mid-way through without having to get caught up first.
We align on values, everything from recognizing the beauty in the hidden stories held deep within forgotten materials to the willingness and drive to find a way to accomplish something. A will that comes from deep within, that, even when you don’t necessarily know what you are doing, as Jason, who has “taught himself everything,” is being willing to dig in and find the way.
There isn’t really a school for this sort of thing after all. Founding Pappy & Company, we simply followed our hearts and the lessons gleaned from four generations of self-taught, self-made Van Winkle bourbon makers as we had to carve out our entirely individual niche in the already well-established bourbon world. It was in knowing that we needed partners who not only shared that passion, but were willing to jump on board without knowing the final destination, who brought their own craftsmanship and skill, and were learning on the fly right alongside us. Fortunately, Jason provided all of this and so much more. Finding a partner who innately speaks your language, and never wavers from absolute perfection, only in dedicated craftsmanship and creativity.
He had his own incredibly unique start to being an artisan. While he was drawn to artistic endeavors, and likely comes by it somewhat naturally, he humbly refers to “following in the footsteps of his sisters,” who he describes as naturally “arty.” Yet he sees himself as being more drawn in by his devotion to countless “episodes of This Old House.”
However, it was an unexpected twist in the road, one that drastically altered his life, that led him to truly discover his artistic abilities. A car accident in 1988 forced him to “relearn” almost everything, as he lost the use of his dominant left hand. “Forcing his brain” to learn to be right-handed instead of left-handed during high school was, to put it mildly, a challenge.
Through his work in overcoming this difficulty, he found a wholly new creative path for himself, one that can certainly be attributed to his dedicated approach to craftsmanship. Discovering new materials (or rather, in the case of bourbon barrels, “really really old” ones) and a way to reinvent and repurpose them, if he didn’t “know how to do it. His motto is simply “I will teach myself.”
So when we approached Jason as we got closer to finalizing our plans for an in-house woodshop, we knew he would likely be in the middle of something incredibly original. Watching his dedication to that hotel project was only a further reminder that his passion, artistry, and vision would be worth the wait.
Back in the early days of Pappy & Company, we collaborated with Jason Cohen on our original “Pappy Stave Bowl,” consisting of four long Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Barrel Staves, curved and lacquered. Its popularity ensured that we were onto something special.
Asking Jason about the early days of working with Pappy & Company, he casually recounts us “reaching out” after he had “won the Garden & Gun Best in Home” furniture design. We recognized he could bring our original vision to life. When we pitched our idea of creating an entire collection of design-inspired, artistically infused lifestyle pieces out of our retired Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Barrels, it was an instant connection, as Jason simply describes, “that was already the way I was going.”
Truly collaborative, this partnership has been like no other. Evolving from a simple project to an in-house Woodshop that we couldn’t have even fully imagined when we first started. With Jason, product development is fun. It’s a true, in Jason’s own words, “never-say-no” approach, and watching his artistry and craftsmanship take over and allow the project to unfold as the wood opens itself under his careful craftsmanship will never cease to be amazing. At the end of the day, we all cede to the barrels, as “The wood always tells the story.”
Part design, part artisan woodworking, the result is always design-inspired, displays incredible craftsmanship, and shares the history of the material itself. It's poetry in motion.
Fortunately for us, when we asked Jason if he still had a dream project on his wish-list, he answered, “I’m already there. This is my dream project.”
Experience The Woodshop.
