Today’s guest is no stranger to the show. We’ve had the privelege of knowing Blake Riber of Seelbach’s for many years. However, before he had Seelbach’s he was a past guest on episode 007 when he was running one of the premier bourbon blogs on the internet called bourbonr. I wanted to invite Blake on the show to talk about the past few years because building an e-commerce business on bourbon, is no easy task. We talk about legal licensing, his first Purchase orders, and being scrappy by growing into his warehouses. Now he helps kickstart brands’ success by giving them an online presence. He finds new customers through content marketing and builds loyalty through customer service. It’s a story about passion, knowledge, and a little bit of luck.

Show Notes:

• Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) asks if barrel proof will last in the bottle over time
• Are you going to give us an updated shirtless picture we can use on our website?
• What opportunity presented itself to go from a blogger to a whiskey e-commerce business?
• What was some of those early hurdle of getting people to order online?
• How are you finding new customers?
• What legal hurdles have been the toughest to overcome?
• Can you share what your warehousing situation was like versus today?
• Is it gratifying to look back and think about what’s like to help kickstart some brand’s success?
• How do you figure out inventory management and the challenges of doing this on e-commerce versus brick and morter?
• Were you searching for brands or are brands coming to you now to have that online retail presence?
• How are you trying to connect the brands and the consumers?
• How are you building customer loyalty?
• Can you share your initial investment to get your licenses and first POs to get your first sales?
• Are you see a trade down with de-premiumization and how consumers are shifting?
• What does growth look like now?
• Support this podcast on Patreon