OUR STORY
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Everyone loves a good story and boy do we have a good one for you. I wish we could tell you it all started as college buddies drinking in the dorm room, when in a drunken stupor, we conceived American Oak Barrel. No, unfortunately it didn't happen that way. American Oak Barrel was founded by 2 spirited individuals passionate about enjoying quality, great tasting spirits. That's about as close as we get to that storyline before it takes a disturbing turn.
Our roots were based, for years, as an independent authorized re-seller for an existing unnamed mid-atlantic barrel company. This is where we had the opportunity to become intimate with the whole "aging process". During the good times, we had the pleasure of meeting, gaining and serving thousands of customers, however, as that unnamed barrel supplier grew, things began to get really weird. Our decision to finally part way was primarily due to customer service issues always taking a back seat to the "bottom line", but of course it was hard to overlook that phone call from my supplier informing us that they were raided, with service weapons drawn, by ATF agents. All computers confiscated, all employees handcuffed, arrested and oh, they may be coming to my home! Really?!! Don't know why, don't really care. What I do know is, you must be doing things you shouldn't for such extreme actions to be taken against your business.
We had to re-evaluate this business model. We had built a solid customer base and our supplier was self destructing. Yes, the writing was definitely on the wall and being affiliated with this company was trouble with a capital "T"! Needless to say, that was the fork in the road for us. After careful consideration and intense planning, we came to the conclusion that we love this product and need to BECOME our own supplier! We dropped back and punted.
8 months later, American Oak Barrel was born. Since that time we have become Maryland's premiere Oak Barrel company specializing in handcrafted oak barrels. We showcase our products at about 40 festivals a year, sell our products in malls during the Christmas season and service an evergrowing wholesale client base. Our experience as a re-seller has given us valuable insight into how to be a better supplier. That crazy chapter had a desirable ending for us after all. We were determined to get to a place where we could control the level of customer service our clients needed. Our customers know that when a problem arises, we will work with them diligently to resolve it. We have risen from that experience, battle tested and evermore dedicated to being more to you than what was offered us.
We are proud to have our own cooperage commissioned to manufacture our barrels to our specifications!!! Every single one of our barrels are charred to a medium toast. This is the industry standard and these vessels are built specifically to age spirits. American Oak Barrel Company is a full service barrel facility with our own inhouse laser engravers to offer you the highest quality customized personalization. Other barrel inspired products include our keystone "Outlaw Kits", Infusion Humidors, Barrel Dog Collars, Mugs & Authentic Engraved Barrelheads. We treat our individual customers the same as our wholesale clients. All of our customers are important us and we want you to know that as we grow, we will continue to strive for customer service excellence. These are wonderful products and we look forward to the opportunity to show you.
Thank you for believing in us.
