Friday Flick: The Samuel Smith Cooperage

The video's quite rough, and you may have to put your ear next to the speaker to hear some of the conversation--but still, it is rather rare footage of an almost-extinct profession.



Of course, at one time, every brewery had a team of coopers on hand to make vats and casks. I haven't made enough of a study to know for sure how many working full-time coopers are still on staff in Britain's breweries, but it is certainly no more than the number of fingers on your two hands. If I had to bet, though, I'd say this is the footage of the last one.