Also called: Barrel Handler, Rickhouse Worker, Barrel Roller, Warehouse Associate (Distillery)
Fills, rolls, stacks and empties whiskey barrels in a distillery's aging warehouses.
You roll freshly filled 500-pound barrels onto rails and up into the ricks, then load a truck with barrels headed for bottling. Later you help dump aged barrels into a trough and smell eight-year-old bourbon pouring out.
Estimate anchored on BLS hand laborers and material movers ($40,240 median, May 2025); big distilleries often pay more, with overtime.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. High school diploma usually; trained on the job, including forklift driving.
Ways in: On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Growing about average. Hiring rises and falls with whiskey demand; most jobs are in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. Big plants are adding automated barrel lifts and pallet storage; older rickhouses still need people to roll and check barrels.
Age 18+. One way to start: Apply on distillery career pages or with staffing agencies near distilleries; forklift work requires 18
Classes: Shop class, Weight training or PE, Math.
Official data: O*NET occupation 53-7062.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.