My new to me 5 gallon Whiskey barrels

MightyMosin

Today I picked up two 5 gallon oak whiskey barrels.
One of them is going to get my Pinot Noir Pyment that is currently undergoing Malo-Lactic conversion (probably done).
For the other I'm taking inspiration from an old post on Got Mead where I will be making up a must with bocheted honey and a cold steep marshmallow root tea for the water portion. There will be some vanilla beans at the end.
I'm looking forward to getting these into use!

SimPilot

Where / for how much did you get barrels?

MightyMosin

My local brew store here in So Cal gets them in occasionally and he had these last two that had been sitting a while. I had previously purchased one that had rum; that barrel has a Cabernet Sauvignon pyment in it that is tasting great, but I need a little more oak in the mead.
He had them marked at $159 each but I got a considerable discount from that price.
I'm guessing the steep discount was because they had been sitting for a bit, I purchase a lot from him and I simply asked for what the best price he would give me.

SimPilot

Thanks for the answer, Are you able to post a picture of it? Is the lid removable (to clean it) or there is just a hole?

MightyMosin

Just the bung hole