Pursuit Spirits, the Louisville 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 their 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 craft a proprietary product unlike anything else.

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 $6 million financing plan has been developed with Town & Country Bank & Trust Co., based out of 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,” says Co-Founder Kenny Coleman. “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.”