The B2B market is opening for buyers and sellers of whiskey

Nowadays, it seems like there is a B2B market for every industry, and whiskey is no exception.

Advanced Spirits, a Houston distillery and services company, has launched Barrel Hub, an e-commerce platform for the wholesale bulk whiskey market.

Rob Arnold, president of Advanced Spirits

Registered users can search available resources using familiar filtering and sorting functions. Email notifications can be set up so that users are notified when interesting barrels are listed for sale.

Each user also has their own online account where they can register personal information, list inventory for sale, track active transactions/offers, and view sales/purchase history.

“Thanks to our soft launch, we know that one of the most pressing questions buyers and sellers are asking is about purchase price,” says Advanced Spirits CEO Rob Arnold. “What is the current value of this barrel of whiskey?”

But he adds: “The lack of transparency in the wholesale bulk whiskey market makes this question difficult to answer. That’s why Barrel Hub introduced a bidding feature that allows buyers and sellers to work together to determine fair market values.

Each transaction involves a purchase agreement between a buyer and a seller, in which buyers send money exclusively to Barrel Hub and sellers receive payment from Barrel Hub.

Barrel Hub’s latest update is a digital barrel verification tool. Sellers can send Barrel Hub an inventory report (for old barrels) or a supplier’s distillation forecast (for new fills) for the barrels they list, the company says.

If the specifications in the report/forecast match the listings in Barrel Hub, the entries will be checked in green and automatically sorted at the top of the inventory page.

Barrel Hub has a long-term goal to make the wholesale bulk whiskey market more open and transparent.

To introduce more flavor-based data, Barrel Hub entries include details such as proof of entry into the barrel, cooperage, wood type, storage location, and toast/char level. The company says buyers can also purchase samples on the site to directly evaluate quality and taste.

“I was surprised to realize that barrels on the wholesale market are often sold with relatively few details known to the buyer,” Arnold says. “The still, the mash bill, the type of whiskey and the date the barrel was filled – these may be the only specifications known to the buyer. But there are many other factors that influence taste and the stories we tell our consumers.”

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