Pursuit Spirits, the award-winning independent blender and bottler of bourbon and rye whiskeys, has financed $8 million in future bourbon and rye whiskey barrel purchases through a series of private funding and asset-backed loans. Pursuit Spirits founders will maintain full control and ownership of the company. 

Pursuit Spirits was founded in 2018 by Ryan Cecil and Kenny Coleman, creators of the highest-ranking whiskey podcast, Bourbon Pursuit. The company was self-funded for the first two years of business while creating its single barrel product line, Pursuit Series. Their flagship whiskey, Pursuit United Bourbon, was developed to blend a bourbon that wasn’t “more of the same” by working with multiple distilleries to create a proprietary product. 

After the successful launch of Pursuit United Bourbon, a roadmap was developed to scale the company into a national brand with new-make contract distillation agreements with four partner distilleries. $2M was raised through private individual funding without giving up any equitable stake. A $6M financing plan has been developed with Town & Country Bank and Trust Co., based in Bardstown, Ky., for the next five years of whiskey purchases. To date, the founders have still not taken a distribution and continue to invest back into the company.

“The whiskey business is very capital intensive. We scraped together enough money to buy our first three barrels of bourbon,” Co-Founder Kenny Coleman said in a news release. “We have continually reinvested every dollar into the business. With the help of family and friends and our new financing plan with Town & Country, we have forecasted our growth for the next decade with a strong portfolio of products.” 

“We’re a bank in the heart of bourbon country,” said David Greenwell, President of Town & Country Bank and Trust Co. “When Ryan and Kenny approached us for financing options we were eager to hear more about the business. I’m happy that we can be a valued resource for growing a business that impacts our local community.”

Pursuit Spirits has received accolades from the industry’s most well-known critics. Pursuit United Bourbon won Best Overall Bourbon at the Spring 2022 John Barleycorn Awards while Pursuit United Rye earned Double Gold at the 2022 San Francisco International Spirits Competition. Pursuit Spirits is currently distributed in 9 states and is available online at pursuitspirits.com.

Editor’s note: Fred Minnick is associated with the Bourbon Pursuit podcast but is not affiliated with Pursuit Spirits or its products.