by Michael Shoer | Jul 20, 2026 | The Ascent--Coming of Age
Trust, but Verify the Mash Bill The mash bill is the load-bearing fact of a barrel deal — and the easiest thing in the transaction to assert and the hardest to check. That gap is where the seller has always lived. Every barrel trade rests on a claim. This is an...
by Michael Shoer | Jul 6, 2026 | The Ascent--Coming of Age
The federal excise tax is the largest line item most barrel buyers treat as fixed. It isn’t. And the money left on the table doesn’t vanish — someone collects it. There is a number attached to every proof gallon of distilled spirits that...
by Michael Shoer | Jul 1, 2026 | The Ascent--Coming of Age
The boom pulled a decade of production forward. What comes next is not a crash — it is a repricing, and it favors whoever can find the inventory a home. Booms end the same way. Demand climbs, everyone lays down more than they can sell, and the barrels keep aging on a...
by Michael Shoer | Jul 1, 2026 | The Ascent--Coming of Age
Every other asset class has a number you can check. Whiskey has a phone call. Here is what it would take to fix that. Ask three people what a barrel of four-year MGP high-rye is worth and you will get three answers, each delivered with total confidence and none of...
by Michael Shoer | Jun 30, 2026 | The Ascent--Coming of Age
MARKET STRUCTURE · ISSUE Nº 01 The Last Opaque Market Bulk whiskey is the final great commodity inefficiency. It is about to become someone’s opportunity. Here is how a barrel of aging whiskey changes hands in 2026. A broker hears that a distillery has surplus...
