Distillery Economics: Proof Gallons, Angel's Share, Cask Inventory & Ageing Cash Flow

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Convert a distillery's spirit stock into US proof, litres of pure alcohol and proof gallons, and work out how much water brings a cask-strength whisky down to bottling strength.
• Follow six mashes from malt to spirit: alcohol in the wash, distillation efficiency, yield in LPA per tonne and the malt cost per LPA.
• Model how a cask loses alcohol every year, turn the remaining LPA into bottles, find when 20 % is gone and chart the decline.
• Value a cask register at cost: LPA left after the angel's share, production cost plus warehousing to date, book value per cask and the cost per LPA that is really left.
• Compare the cash conversion cycle of gin and five-year whisky, the working capital each ties up, and how many months of gin profit it takes to carry the whisky.
• Calculate the LPA in every product sold, the excise duty per product line and per bottle, and the share of wholesale revenue that goes to duty.
• Build the cost of a 70 cl single malt from spirit, dry goods and filling, add duty, set the distillery price with a margin and follow it through distributor and retailer to the shelf.
• Build a six-year cash plan, find the peak funding need before the first whisky is sold, test pre-selling casks and chart both cash curves.