View source for Hogshead

{{Short description|Unit of volume for tobacco, wine or beer}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:English wine cask units.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|A hogshead in relation to other barrels]]
A '''hogshead''' (abbreviated "hhd", plural "hhds") is a large [[Barrel (storage)|cask]] of liquid (or, less often, of a food commercial [[Product (business)|product]]) for manufacturing and sale.  It refers to a specified [[volume]], measured in either [[Imperial unit|imperial]] or [[United States customary units|US customary]] measures, primarily applied to [[alcoholic beverage]]s, such as [[wine]], [[ale]], or [[cider]].

==Etymology==
[[File:US-Stamp-Beer-1867-2 dollars (1 hogshead).jpg|thumb|United States [[revenue stamp]] (proof) for the $2 tax on one hogshead of beer in 1867.]]

English [[philology|philologist]] [[Walter William Skeat]] (1835–1912) noted the origin is to be found in the name for a cask or liquid measure appearing in various forms in [[Germanic languages]], in Dutch {{lang|nl|oxhooft}} (modern {{lang|nl|okshoofd}}), Danish {{lang|da|oxehoved}}, Old Swedish {{lang|non|oxhuvud}}, etc. The [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|''Encyclopædia Britannica'' of 1911]] conjectured that the word should therefore be ''oxhead'', ''hogshead'' being a mere corruption.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Hogshead |volume=13|page=507}}</ref>

==Varieties and standardisation==
[[File:Sugar-Hogsheads - Ten Views in the Island of Antigua (1823), plate X - BL.jpg|thumb|"Sugar hogsheads" from ''Ten Views in the Island of Antigua'', W. Clark, 1823, plate X.]]
A '''tobacco hogshead''' was used in British and American colonial times to transport and store tobacco. It was a very large wooden barrel. A standardized hogshead measured {{convert|48|in|m|2}} long and {{convert|30|in|cm|2}} in diameter at the head (at least {{convert|550|L|impgal USgal|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}, depending on the width in the middle). Fully packed with tobacco, it weighed about {{convert|1000|lb|kg|0}}.

A ''' hogshead''' in Britain contains about {{convert|300|L|impgal USgal|0|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.apjohn.com.au/Upload/PrintPages/AP%20John_Technical_Specifications.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110215212133/http://www.apjohn.com.au/Upload/PrintPages/AP%20John_Technical_Specifications.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2011-02-15 | title =AP John Technical Specifications}}</ref>

The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (OED) notes that the hogshead was first standardized by an [[act of Parliament]] ([[2 Hen. 6]]. c. 14) in 1423, though the standards continued to vary by locality and content.  For example, the OED cites an 1897 edition of ''[[Whitaker's Almanack]]'', which specified the gallons of wine in a hogshead varying most particularly across fortified wines: [[claret]]/[[Madeira wine|Madeira]] {{convert|46|impgal|USgal L|0}}, [[Port wine|port]] {{convert|57|impgal|USgal L|0}}, [[sherry]] {{convert|54|impgal|USgal L|0}}. The ''[[American Heritage Dictionary]]'' claims that a hogshead can consist of anything from (presumably) {{convert|62.5|to|140|USgal|impgal L|0}}. A hogshead of [[Madeira wine]] was approximately equal to 45–48 gallons (0.205–0.218 m<sup>3</sup>). A hogshead of [[brandy]] was approximately equal to 56–61 gallons (0.255–0.277 m<sup>3</sup>).{{cn|date=May 2022}}

Eventually, a hogshead of [[wine]] came to be {{convert|52.5|impgal|L|6|lk=on}} (or 63 US gallons), while a hogshead of [[beer]] or [[ale]] came to be 54 gallons (249.54221 L with the pre-1824 beer and ale gallon, or 245.48886 L with the imperial gallon).

A hogshead was also used as unit of measurement for sugar in [[Louisiana]] for most of the 19th century. [[plantations in the American South|Plantation]]s were listed in sugar schedules by the number of hogsheads of sugar or molasses produced. Used for sugar in the 18th and 19th centuries in the British West Indies, a hogshead weighed on average {{convert|1792|lb|kg}}. A hogshead was also used for the measurement of [[herring]] fished for [[Sardine (food)|sardines]] in Blacks Harbour, [[New Brunswick]] and Cornwall.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001617/18601205/057/0004?browse=true |title= |newspaper= |location= |page= |issue= |date= |url-access=subscription |via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=May 2022}}

==Whisky maturation==

Hogsheads are a common form of cask used for maturing [[Scotch Whisky]], typically with a volume of around 250 litres.<ref>{{cite web | title=Whisky Casks: The Hogshead &#124; Whiskipedia | date=24 July 2020 | url=https://whiskipedia.com/fundamentals/hogshead-whisky-barrel/ }}</ref>

These casks are usually made from the [[stave (wood)|staves]] of ex-[[Bourbon whiskey|Bourbon]] or [[Tennessee whiskey]] casks, which are plentiful due to US law requiring a new barrel for each batch of whiskey. The staves will be mated to new, larger heads which results in a higher volume - this means that five whiskey barrels are needed to make four hogsheads as the [[circumference]] is greater.

Using just the staves means that barrels can be shipped across the Atlantic in their component parts, which is much more space-efficient than shipping barrels whole. The new heads may be of [[Quercus alba|American white oak]] similar to the recycled staves, or may be of other woods such as [[European oak|European]] or [[Mizunara oak]].

==Charts==
{{English wine casks}}
{{English brewery casks}}

==See also==
* [[English units of wine casks]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Imperial units}}

[[Category:Imperial units]]
[[Category:Wine packaging and storage]]
[[Category:Brewing]]
[[Category:Units of volume]]
[[Category:Containers]]
[[Category:Alcohol measurement]]
[[Category:Customary units of measurement in the United States]]