The announcement of Brown Forman's decision to close its Louisville cooperage, and cut 210 jobs, could have a larger effect on the region's economy, according to Thomas Lambert, an associate professor at the University of Louisville College of Business.

The Louisville-based company's facility, where barrel makers — also known as coopers — produce the white oak barrels that hold Brown-Forman's whiskey brands: Jack Daniel's, Old Forester, Woodford Reserve and Coopers' Craft.