Mission

A distilled spirits consulting firm, focused on whiskey related business strategy and operations, quality control and distillery engineering. From barrel modeling and forecasting to blending and process design, we offer a complete suite of services that ensures quality on both the production and business side of the industry. Our private, hands-on team offers more than a decade of experience across the industry in the service of helping you define, hone, and execute your goals.

monica wolf, co-founder and managing partner

Monica specializes in strategic plan and pro forma development for whiskey brands and distilleries, sales forecasting and related barrel modeling, bulk whiskey sales and distillery/aging inventory valuations.

She was previously with Wolf Consulting LLC where she performed in-depth market research, including white papers on the state of the whiskey industry, development of pro formas, related barrel models and craft distillery business plans, brokered the sale of bulk whiskey and assisted in craft distillery M&A work. Prior to returning to the spirits industry, she was a senior financial analyst at Deloitte Consulting and Northrop Grumman Corporation.

Monica serves as a judge at the American Distilling Institute and American Craft Spirits Association spirits judging events, is the Treasurer for Bourbon Women Association and board member for Historic Locust Grove. She is also the former Bourbon Ambassador for Churchill Downs and plans and executes private dinner/bourbon tasting events at her space in Louisville, Kentucky. She holds a B.S. in Business Management and an M.B.A from Mount Saint Mary’s University.

Ashley barnes, co-founder and master blender

Ashley specializes in warehouse profiling, flavor profile projections, blending, product development and quality control.

She was previously with Four Roses Distillery as the Assistant Quality Control Manager where she performed flavor profiling, formulation and blending. Ashley started working for a pharmaceutical company as a Raw Materials Chemical Analyst early in 2012 and a few months later accepted a position as a Quality Control Technician for Buffalo Trace Distillery. There she worked alongside several experts learning the inner workings of blending and quality control in the bourbon industry.

Ashley serves as a judge at the American Distilling Institute and American Craft Spirits Association spirits competitions, using her knowledge and experience to critique and provide educational feedback to craft distillers. She holds a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Eastern Kentucky University. 

Heath towery, Distillery Specialist

Heath specializes in distillery process design, production planning, equipment sizing, equipment appraisals, utility and piping design and project management/oversight.

He was previously with VITOK, the 52-year-old, preeminent engineering firm to the distilled spirits industry in Louisville, Kentucky. Heath managed projects at several heritage distilleries including Jim Beam and Buffalo Trace where he gained experience estimating capital expenditures and managing large distillery projects, contractors and associated project budgets. Heath began his career working for Alltech, serving as project manager during the construction and startup of a yeast and ethanol recovery facility which recycled spent yeast from macro-breweries and converted it into dried yeast and fuel grade ethanol. It was this initial experience with continuous distillation that led him to pursue a career within the distilling industry. 

Heath holds both a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Kentucky as well as his Project Management Professional (PMP) certificate.