FAMILY WITH HISTORY: THEY PARTICIPATED IN THE MAKING OF THE CHERRY GUN AND BARRELS FOR PIVARA SKOPJE
Poured by
Lambro Patce
Whomever you ask when you go to Krushevo, each and every one of them will proudly tell you something about their famous ancestors from the Ilinden era and their fight for existence and freedom of the Macedonian people. Grandpa Mile Taleski is the grandson of the famous barrel maker Tale Kukun who together with the blacksmith Todor Toda Borjar and few other people made the famous Cherry Cannon (Creshovo Topche), one of the most famous symbols of the macedonian revolutionary struggle. Grandpa Mile says: “As my father told me, and his father told him, that is how I will tell you.”: “To make the cannons they used the thickest and straightest logs from the trees. The logs were crafted to get the look of a pipe. But, the day of the uprising was near so the logs had to be set quickly to dry on the hot summer sun, so the raw cherry logs cracked. Those logs that that didn’t crack as much were hidden in the shadows, and used them to make 3 cherry cannons although they were not fully dried. To increase the resistance, the cannons were enforced with iron hoops same as for the barrels. They filled them with large gunpowder, and as they did not have iron shot puts, they used nails and metal scales as ammunition.” In comparison with the the Ottoman military cannons, ours didn’t have firepower, but it still encouraged the people to express their rebelliousness and to send a strong message that they are ready to fight the war regardless of the power the opponent had. The only Cherry gun that survived the uprising is the one that the Ottoman army took after the battle with the rebels close to the village Sliva in Krushevo when all the rebels lost their lives defending the city of Krushevo. That particular Cherry gun as a trophy is taken to the Army Museum in Istanbul and can be still found there.
The barrels from Taleski also served for transporation of gunpowder for the partisans. After WW II they continued to make barrels that were used for various reasons i.e. for maturing and transport of the beer, to store rakija, meat, oil, flour, salt, sugar. Grandpa Mile remembers: “Then, my father and I had many orders for beer barrels from 50L and 200L. For the beer, we cut the “blagun” (tree type) even to 15cm so the barrel can take the pressure of the beer while storing. We loaded the barrels on carriages and because of the bad weather the transport sometimes took up to few days. Even at that time the restaurants had special machines to pump beer from the barrels. According to grandpa Mile, SKOPSKO had a very unique taste back then because the transport to Pivara Skopje was in wooden barrels exclusively which transferred part of their arome to the beer.
As grandpa Mile says at times he had up to 6 apprentices in his shop who learned the craft there. If they wanted to open their own shops, they had to take the master exam in front of the experienced master consisted of theoretical and practical part. Grandpa Mile says that a good master goes to the woods to choose the best trees on his own. Good quality barrels, according to grandpa Mile, are made from the oak tree “blagun”. The drying and treatment of the tree is a special craft and a longterm process. The tree is cut, dries for 2 years, the sticks are layered in a cross. To make good quality barrels, as grandpa Mile says, Macedonia can stand just next to the French and American trees. It is little known that in the XVIII century wooden logs are taken from Macedonia, through the Thessaloniki port to Scotland for making of barrels to store the famous Irish whiskey.
Today, the craft is almost non existent and young people are not interested in continuing this centuries old tradition. Yet, orders are still coming because many people go back to the traditional way of storing in barrels. Luckily, grandpa Mile says that his son Anastas is of great assistance. He is the fifth generation of barrel makers in the Taleski family. The patriotic spirit grandpa Mile has and the strong wish to see Macedonia independent, brought many troubles in his live. He doesn’t receive retirement compensations. He says: “Since I’ve known, this is my only revenue source and as long as I can why will work to see the smiles on my grandchildren’s faces”.
