When aging wine, scotch and many other things, why do they use only oak?

Question

Could they use cedar or other woods? Why not?

Answer 1

Oak will flavor and help color the alcohol.  The barrells are "fired" on the inside before using and this is what helps lend to the "smokey" finishes of both wine and scotch.

Answer 2

Cedar is best when used to make closets that moths will not want to inhabit.  So, aging scotch in it would probably also repel anyone who wants to drink it.  All joking aside - some woods are conducive to the human palate, however, most aren't.  Sorry for the simplistic answer, but that's the reason.

Answer 3

Amphoras were the containers of choice for wine before barrels were used.

In ancient times, palm wood was also used to make wine containers but are hard to bend and fashion into barrels.

Oak was widely available in most of Europe and had been in use for wine barrels for more than 2,000 years. Along the way, people found that aside from availability and ease of use of the material for coppering, the oak also improves the wine.

Scotch are aged in used wine, port or sherry barrels to improve the taste by adding complexity.

Answer 4

Without oak, many wines as we know them would not exist.  They would not taste the same, smell the same or have the same texture.

Many other woods can be made into barrels, but none would enhance wine the way oak does.

Oak has been used for over 2000 years and will continue to be used because technology has yet to find an alternative.

Oak wood is composed of several classes of complex chemical compounds, which leaves it's mark on a wine's aroma, flavor and texture. The most notable of these are phenols, some of which impart vanilla-like flavors, notes of tea and tobacco, and impressions of sweetness.  One of the most important classes of phenols are the substances commonly called tannins.