The only barrel-making apprentice left in England hopes to keep the 700-year-old tradition alive amid fears it could die out.
Joseph Dunlop, 20, began a four-year traineeship last November to become a cooper', the name given to a craftsman skilled in creating wooden kegs by hand.
But he admitted feeling a weight on his shoulders' as there are just five professionals left in the country - and he is now the only person in the running to succeed them.
He said: "I feel some responsibility. I'm the only apprentice in England, and there's some sort of weight on your shoulders. "
"But also, I love what I'm doing, and I loved this trade before I even started working here."
"So after I found this was my calling, that weight lifts off a bit because I know if I'm pouring my heart into it, I should not have any reason to worry about it."
The ancient skill goes back thousands of years to the Egyptians, although craftsmen in England are believed to have started organising into groups during the 1200s.
Masters at Jospeh's firm, Jensen's Cooperage, near Thirsk, North Yorks., now take six to eight hours to make the barrels - mostly for the whisky, cider and wine trade.
The kegs are created from 32 pieces of mostly oak wood, often sourced from sustainable forests in Staffordshire or the Allier region of France.
Joseph spent two years making cabinets before he applied to become an apprentice and was thrilled when he was accepted.
He said: "It was the happiest day of my life, to be perfectly honest. I'd been interested in traditional crafts that go back years and years or even millennia."
"But to be a part of it, and to hopefully, knock on wood, be the start of the next generation that can keep the trade going is an honour."
Joseph's tutor, head cooper at Jensen's Cooperage, Alastair Simms, 61, said it was important that the craft was preserved for years to come.
He said: "It takes a lot of skill, but it's a satisfying skill because it's tactile. We're hands-on. "
"We've got circular saws and planing machines, but we've got no machines where you put a piece of wood in one end and you get a barrel out the other end."
"We're the only independent cooperage left in England. There are two brewery cooperages left Samuel Smith's and Theakstons. "
"But we have three of the coopers and the apprentice. It's a good job to have."
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