I was invited to Jameson Distillery in Midleton in Cork and was given special access to the cooperage where over one million barrels of whiskey are made and fixed. I met the master cooper Ger Buckley who started as an apprentice cooper aged 17 in 1977 under his father. Ger comes from 5 generations of coopers and is continuing on the tradition. He uses tools which look like they could be from Game of Thrones, the same style tools used for thousands of years. "When I go to work I escape into a different era, the world just stops its a great feeling for me to work traditionally"

Ger showed me a document from 1890 from the Coopers Society where a mother signed over her son to a cooper, which said he couldn't get married or use a playhouse or gamble.

Ger talked to me about the special skills needed in his job and how a new apprentice has been taken on continuing the tradition. At one point even cats were on the payroll to catch rats. Take a listen to the podcast below going behind the scenes of what makes a good bottle of whiskey.