Blue Run Spirits announced a strategic multi-year agreement with Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE: TFC) to finance company growth and the acquisition of barrels from third-party whiskey partners and contract distillers. It is the first company to access Truist’s new asset-based barrel financing program.

Truist’s barrel financing program provides the company with financial flexibility to purchase barrels on the open market or those produced through contract distilling. As the company’s whiskey ages and rises in value, Blue Run’s barrels can be independently appraised, allowing the company to access more capital by tapping into the increase in barrel asset value. This provides Blue Run with the funds it needs to fuel its rapid expansion without expensive equity capital or pricey private debt solutions.

“Our industry-first barrel lending program allows for a complete paradigm shift for ascendant spirits companies like Blue Run to approach funding and growth through an entirely new lens,” said Joe Goode, Truist Beverage Industry Manager. “Our innovative program helps spirits companies and brands leverage the value of their barrels to finance their businesses without raising equity or expensive private debt solutions.”

“Truist presented us with a holistic program that will help Blue Run grow across the board by providing flexibility and increased opportunity,” said Mike Montgomery, cofounder and CEO of Blue Run Spirits. “By providing funding for the company to continue scaling while fulfilling demand, this deal will allow Blue Run to grow at a rate and pace to match our exponential annual growth projections.”

Blue Run Spirits has introduced twelve bourbon and rye whiskey releases since the company launched in October 2020. The company’s most-recent offering, launched in November, is Emerald Rye – the company’s first barrel proof rye whiskey and the first rye whiskey contract distilled at Castle & Key Distillery by Bourbon Hall of Famer and Blue Run Liquid Advisor Jim Rutledge.

The company recently joined Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear in announcing a new whiskey operation in Georgetown with a nearly $51 million investment which will include a 35,000-square-foot distillery and a 20,000-square-foot rickhouse, set to serve as the company’s first vertically integrated distilling operation and future headquarters.

Blue Run Spirits can be purchased in California, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas (Republic National Distributing Company); Georgia (Savannah); South Carolina and Tennessee (Advintage); Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C. (Prestige-Ledroit); Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, and Wisconsin (Breakthru); New Jersey (Fedway Associates); New York (Park Street); Kansas (Worldwide Beverage Group); and online at www.bluerunspirits.com/shop powered by Seelbach’s.

For more information, visit www.bluerunspirits.com.