Stranhan’s Colorado Whiskey is ready to send a lucky few up a creek… with a canoe. The Denver-based distillery has teamed up with Sanborn Canoe Co. to launch a bespoke Merrimack + Stranahan’s Blue Peak Canoe – custom-built from the former’s whiskey barrels.
From the staves, to the lids and even the metal hoops, Sanborn utilizes all parts of the Stranahan’s barrels in the building process to recreate its 14’6” Tennessean Tandem / Solo. Weighing 46 lbs with two seats, the canoemaker has repurposed the oak barrels and transformed them into a canoe that embodies the essence of the two brand’s shared values.
To complement the custom canoe, Sanborn used leftover staves and merged them with cedar stripes to create wilderness canoe paddles, which are then hand-shaped before receiving the same resin and fiberglass treatment used in the other canoe parts.
To prepare the barrel’s wood for all parts of the canoe that it will be used in, Sanborn starts by pulling the barrel apart, draining any remaining whiskey and drying out the staves. Once dry, the staves are steamed for about one hour to straighten them out. The staves are then pulled from the steamer and clamped between a couple of big thick boards to flatten them all out. By the next day, the staves are typically stable enough to pull the clamps, resulting in oak boards. At this point, the leftover char is ready to be cut off. Depending on what each stave will be used for, some will be cut down to the clean oak underneath, while others will keep some of the darkened wood from the char in place.
As oak is very porous, Sanborn coats every exposed surface in resin to make it durable long term and smooth to the touch. The structural pieces like the deck plates and the carrying yoke are also reinforced on the underside with fiberglass, which will leave them in perfect condition for hundreds of years. Sanborn also utilized the staves to make hand-woven seats. While the staves had to be steamed flat to make the cuts needed to build the seat, they were then re-steamed to bring back the staves’ original form. The lids of Stranahan’s barrels are pulled off, planned to thickness and cut into triangular pieces for the deck plates. These parts connect the upper edge of the canoe’s sides into one piece, known as the football. The metal hoops used to hold the whiskey barrel together are also repurposed by Sanborn, as both the end caps of the canoe and as loops to connect the brass rings to the end of the canoe for tie-down purposes.
Blending the realms of canoeing and whiskey together, this collaboration is a fusion that celebrates the brands’ shared appreciation for quality, innovation and the great outdoors.
The Merrimack + Stranahan’s Blue Peak Canoe is now available for made-to-order purchase for $5,845. Given the process and care that goes into hand-crafting each canoe, there is a 6-8 week lead time until they are ready.
