Is bourbon a forest product? Most of the flavor of bourbon comes from the wooden barrel it's aged in. By law, bourbon must be aged in a new charred white oak barrel, but like with all oaks, regenerating white oak is becoming increasingly challenging. Fortunately, industry has taken notice and has formed the White Oak Initiative, a diffuse group of stakeholders ranging from academics, industry professionals, and government, to head off this issue and bring white oak regeneration back to our eastern woods. On this week's episode of The Hardy Woods Podcast, we talk to Dr. Jeffery Stringer of the University of Kentucky to talk about white oak's role in landscape and what it means for the wine and spirits industry.