Since I stomped all over poor Sapo’s “Trees in a Barrel” thread, it occured to me that while wooden barrels are still being manufacturered today, it seems that most of the production is either for Alcohol production/transportation use (wine, ale, etc), or for decorative purposes (garden planters, rustic patio tables, and so on).
Granted steel drums and metal/plastic kegs have sapped a lot of the original purpose of barrels (storage/transportation), but are wooden barrels still used in significant quantities in other fields ?