BARDSTOWN, Ky. — Bourbon fans accustomed to hunting for rare bottles or participating in private barrel picks now have another option: buying an entire barrel and deciding when it is ready to drink.
BarrelPick.com, a new platform designed to give individual consumers access to full-barrel bourbon ownership, officially launched during the 2026 Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown.
The concept allows enthusiasts to purchase a specific barrel of bourbon, keep it aging in Kentucky, request samples as it matures and ultimately decide when — and how — to bottle it.
“Most people experience bourbon only after every important decision has already been made,” said Steve Scheidecker, founder of BarrelPick.com. “We wanted to give people the opportunity to experience bourbon from the other side of the barrel. You can choose the whiskey, follow it as it ages and ultimately decide what that barrel becomes.”
BarrelPick.com currently lists more than 1,000 barrels from more than 20 distilleries and whiskey producers across the United States. Inventory ranges from newly filled barrels to whiskey that has already spent more than a decade in oak.
Rather than buying a finished bottle or participating in a traditional private barrel selection, customers can purchase a barrel earlier in its life and continue aging it.
Once a barrel is purchased, its owner can monitor its specifications and status, request samples and decide when to begin bottling.
Owners can choose to bottle the whiskey at barrel strength or select a desired proof. They can also develop their own bottle and label design, creating a private single-barrel release from the whiskey.
And buying a barrel doesn’t necessarily mean bottling all of it at once.
BarrelPick.com allows owners to bottle a portion of their whiskey — beginning with as few as 48 bottles — while leaving the remainder in the barrel to continue aging.
That creates an interesting opportunity for bourbon enthusiasts who want to experience how the same whiskey changes with additional time in oak.
“A barrel can spend years developing before it ever reaches a bottle,” Scheidecker said. “Owning one gives you something a bottle never can: time. You get to decide whether to bottle it now, give it another year or continue following it as it changes.”
Kentucky plays a central role in the new operation.
BarrelPick.com has partnered with Kentucky Artisan Distillery in Crestwood, just outside Louisville, to provide storage and bottling services for participating barrels. The platform also coordinates compliance and logistics associated with moving whiskey from barrel acquisition through eventual bottling.
The company sees potential customers extending beyond individual collectors. Families, bourbon clubs, companies and organizations can purchase barrels to create private whiskey releases associated with anniversaries, celebrations or other milestones.
BarrelPick.com made its public debut during the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, giving festivalgoers an opportunity to taste single-barrel whiskey from its inventory and view examples of customized bottles and labels.
The company also offered sample sets containing five barrel-strength single-barrel samples pulled from its inventory.
Before the festival, BarrelPick.com hosted its first Single Barrel Showcase at Kentucky Artisan Distillery. Guests toured the bottling operation, sampled bourbon directly from barrels in the warehouse and got a look at the process of turning a barrel into a finished private release.
The launch arrives as interest in Kentucky bourbon experiences remains strong. Kentucky Bourbon Trail destinations recorded approximately 2.7 million visits in 2025, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.
BarrelPick.com says its program is centered on owning and eventually consuming the physical whiskey rather than purchasing barrels as financial investments.
For bourbon enthusiasts, the concept offers something considerably different from adding another bottle to the collection: the opportunity to follow a whiskey through part of its maturation and have a say in what ultimately comes out of the barrel.
“Bourbon has always been about patience, place and the people behind it,” Scheidecker said. “BarrelPick.com gives more people the opportunity to become part of that process instead of simply seeing the finished product.”
For more information, visit BarrelPick.com.
