A spreadsheet of owners
Over the years you have sold private casks. The owners are in a spreadsheet with cask number, purchase date and contact details, some of them out of date. One owner emails asking for a sample for a birthday. Another says they sold their cask to a friend and wants it transferred. A third wants to know how much is left in the cask and when it could be bottled. Each question sends someone to the spreadsheet, the warehouse and old emails.
Why owner records drift
A private cask lasts many years, and the owner relationship lasts with it. Contact details change. Ownership changes, sometimes informally. Storage and insurance terms are in a contract PDF. The cask's own history, fills, samples, moves, is in your production records, not linked to the owner. Staff who sold the cask leave.
- Owner details are in a spreadsheet updated occasionally.
- Ownership transfers are handled by email.
- Contract terms are in PDFs, not linked to the cask.
- Sample and visit requests arrive in the general inbox.
- Owners cannot see anything about their cask without asking.
What it costs
Slow, inconsistent answers to people who have invested in your spirit. Staff time looking things up. Risk in ownership transfers handled informally. Storage fees not invoiced when they should be. And owners who feel forgotten, which is the opposite of what a private cask is supposed to feel like.
Owners are often your best advocates. They bring friends on tours, buy releases and talk about the distillery. A slow answer to a simple question about their cask undoes a lot of that goodwill, and the person answering usually knows it but cannot find the record fast enough.
The legal terms of ownership, transfer and storage are for your contract and your adviser. We make sure what they say is attached to the right cask and followed.
An owner register and portal
- Each private cask is linked to its owner record, contract documents and your cask register entry.
- Owners get a portal login showing their cask's details, fill date, cask type, location summary if you choose, and the sampling history you decide to share.
- Requests for samples, visits and bottling are made through the portal, go into a queue for the right person and are tracked to completion.
- Ownership transfers follow a set process, with the documents and checks your contract requires, and are recorded with dates.
- Storage and other fees are scheduled against each cask and invoiced through Xero or your accounts package.
- Owners are reminded to keep their contact details current.
| Owner need | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| See cask details | Email and wait | Portal |
| Request a sample | Email to general inbox | Portal request, tracked |
| Transfer ownership | Informal emails | Set process with records |
| Storage invoices | Raised when remembered | Scheduled |
| Plan bottling | Long email thread | Request and quote in the portal |
Owners who feel looked after
Owners can see their cask whenever they like. Requests go to the right person and are not lost. Transfers are recorded properly. Fees are invoiced on time. Staff answer questions from a complete record. And when an owner finally bottles their cask, the whole history is there for the label or the story they want to tell.
Is this how you manage cask owners?
- Owners are tracked in a spreadsheet.
- Ownership transfers are handled by email.
- Sample requests land in the general inbox.
- Storage fees are sometimes missed.
- Owners have no way to see their cask without asking.