Brian Anderson, CEO of Barrel Proof Technologies, joins J.D. Durkin to explain how the company is turning aged spirits barrels into bankable assets by combining IoT, AI, and blockchain to improve insurance, lending, and risk management for distillers.
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J.D.: Brian Anderson joins us now here on the show at the FINTECH.TV booth. He is the CEO of Barrel Proof Technologies. Great to have you here.
Brian: Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
J.D.: So you and I were talking during the break we just had. I was fascinated with the work that you and your firm do. Break it down. What is Barrel Proof all about? For anyone a bit unfamiliar?
Brian: Absolutely. So Barrel Proof is making aged spirits barrels bankable assets by really paying attention to infrastructure level, infrastructure level, banking, insurance and financial assets. So we're really paying attention to what distillers need for better insurance, better lending rates, and just optimizing the entire system.
J.D.: That is fascinating. Talk to me a bit about what was missing in the marketplace previously. Where are kind of those pain points for the industry that you felt? Aha. Hold on. I've got a new idea that could help a lot of people.
Brian: Absolutely. So the distilling space is unique, that it is based in tradition. And we're bringing a little bit of art and science to this by merging the use of IoT, AI and blockchain. So the industry does not really know what's in their barrels after year one because of evaporation. They could lose up to 10% year one and 1 to 6% year after year. So in five years you could lose upwards of 25% or more of your barrels. Industry doesn't know what's in their barrels other than weighing it. So we're coming into the space saying, you don't need to do all this labor because they don't. Now it's at your fingertips.
J.D.: When you're working with these distillers. Does this take a lot of convincing for them? Because I imagine you deal with a lot of these family legacy brands. They're used to doing things a certain way for a long time. Or are they pretty eager to comparably much like yourself, be forward thinking and sort of embrace a lot of these new technologies?
Brian: The industry has welcomed it. I think they realize that data is going to be king as we move forward, and patronymics really paying attention to welcoming the use of IoT. Because if you don't know what's in your barrel, you're not going to be able to make better decisions. So when it's indexed and we know what's in the barrel, we can make better financial decisions.
J.D.: What most exciting about where the technology is right now and are there, is there still more work to be done?
Brian: Yes. So at the end of the day, the industry for spirits is just our first beachhead. We're looking at other industries as well. But if you can know what's inside a sealed container space, you can better insure it. can reduce risk.
Insurance companies go from, you know, loss avoidance to loss prevention. So we're not loss modeling anymore. We can just say, okay, we know what's happening. How can we monetize financials and collateralized this on the blockchain and using AI to really hit home things that just they've never been able to see before.
These are unparalleled insights into the barrel.
J.D. Yeah. What sort of feedback are you getting in real time from the clients. And really the distillers themselves, as maybe for a lot of them, this is kind of their first foray into a lot of this technology.
Brian: So the industry has been looking at technology for a while. Ours is just the first one with the moat that beats everybody else.
We are completely noninvasive. Our sensors sit on the barrel head, and so the sensors measure hard data points. The AI takes that information and sets up. We give the barrels a voice. So the AI takes that information, spits out unparalleled insights, and then the blockchain keeps it real.
J.D.:Brian, I'm about out of time. Quickly if we can. What else is on the horizon for you in the firm in 2026?
Brian: So we're looking to finish, you know, getting devices on barrels and looking at other industries like oil, pharmaceuticals, looking at, you know, consumer packaged goods, any high end luxury, you know, liquids, whether that be other spirits in, you know, consumer packaged goods.
J.D.: That's awesome. Brian Anderson, CEO of Barrel Proof Technologies, Congratulations. Thanks for visiting us here at The Big Board. Come back anytime.
Brian: Thank you J.D.