Barrel Proof Technologies
Confidential · Under NDA · Prepared for Marshall Wine, Hylant Insurance
How do you adequately price risk
if you don't know what you're covering?
With Barrel Proof, you do.
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A Note for Marshall & the Hylant Team

The old way of insuring spirits
is quietly ending.

For a century, distillery policies have been written on disclosure, depreciation schedules, and trust. Carriers are stepping back. Premiums are climbing. The gap between barrel value and coverage has become structural, not occasional. Brokers who recognize this first will define the next era of spirits insurance. The brokers who don't will inherit the one that's leaving.

Why Now What Comes Next
The $50 Billion Blind Spot

An entire asset class
that no one can see.

83%
Underinsured by year 5
$50B+
Managed by spreadsheets
Carriers are quietly retreating. When risk can't be quantified, capacity contracts. We're already watching markets soften on spirits — and the brokers feel it before anyone else.
Claims live inside a black box. Adjudicated on policyholder word, sample dips, and goodwill. There is no independent data trail — every claim is a negotiation rather than a verification.
Barrels appreciate. Policies don't. A barrel worth roughly $500 at fill becomes a $3,000+ asset by year five. The policy still reflects fill value. The structural underinsurance is no one's fault — the data simply hasn't existed.
Capital is locked away from this category. Banks demand 40–60% haircuts on barrel-backed loans because nothing is independently provable. Billions of dollars sit dormant inside rickhouses your clients already own.
Documentation that should exist, doesn't. Angel's share losses, contamination events, even simple inventory audits all require proof that no one can produce. Real money is left on the table every quarter — not because anyone is hiding it, but because the instrument to capture it has not existed.
Where Insurance Is Going

The asset finally
becomes legible.

Sentinel is a non-invasive sensor that sits beneath the barrel chime. Radar and dielectric signals pass through the oak, read the liquid, and return continuous data on fill, proof, loss, and contamination — without ever opening the barrel. This is not a device pitch. It is the moment the asset class becomes underwritable on something other than trust.

Sentinel on bourbon barrel
FILL LEVEL 94.2%
PROOF / ABV 126.4
CONTAMINATION CLEAR
ANGEL'S SHARE 2.3%/yr
▲DATA STREAM
SENTINEL · BARREL PROOF TECHNOLOGIES
Continuous non-invasive verification
Rickhouse Alpha — Insurance View
34,560 barrels · 4 floors · Barrel #KY-2024-08472
LIVE
Coverage Status
VERIFIED
Last verified: 0 seconds ago
Current Barrel Value
$1,247
▲ +$747 since fill (Year 3)
Policy Value
$1,247
▲ Appreciating — matches barrel value
Claims Risk Score
LOW
All parameters within normal range
Angel's Share Loss Rate — Parametric Trigger
2.3%/yr
Trigger threshold: 4.0%/yr
0%Normal▼ Trigger: 4.0%6%
Quarterly trend — well below threshold
Contamination Status
CLEAR
Dielectric fingerprint: normal
Proof (ABV)
126.4
▲ +1.2 from fill — concentrating
Floor-by-Floor Risk Assessment
Floor 4 (Honey Floor)
Loss: 3.8%/yr
ELEVATED
Floor 3 (Upper Middle)
Loss: 2.6%/yr
MODERATE
Floor 2 (Threshold Zone)
Loss: 1.8%/yr
LOW
Floor 1 (Ground Floor)
Loss: 1.1%/yr
LOW
⚠
Floor 4, Row 12: Loss rate elevated to 3.8%/yr — approaching parametric trigger. Recommend barrel rotation to lower floor. Potential savings: $312/barrel.
This is what your distillery clients see. This is what your carriers underwrite against. Every barrel — a verified, financially legible asset. The data doesn't just describe the barrel — it is the barrel's financial identity.
$5/mo
Per Barrel
15 yr
Battery Life
<45s
Install Time
10K
Devices/Node
ATEX
Certified
NFC/RFID
Food-Grade
The Signal Path

From barrel to verified record
in real time.

→
Sense
Radar + dielectric signals pass through the barrel wall. Electromagnetic fingerprint captured.
→
Transmit
LoRaWAN mesh to edge node. Encrypted. No cell signal needed. 10K devices per node.
→
Compute
Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs). AI trained on actual physics, not just data patterns.
→
Record
Immutable blockchain ledger. Timestamped. Tamper-proof. The record predates any loss event.
Verify
Every barrel becomes a verified, financially legible asset. Insurable. Lendable. Tradeable.

"You cannot underwrite or loan what you cannot verify."

The Foundation Beneath the Partnership

The physics is owned.
So is the stack above it.

Six issued USPTO patents. Six CIP filings in active prosecution. PCT filed across all member nations. More than 180 total claims. We share this not as a wall, but as a floor — the foundation a partner builds on once, with no one able to replicate it later.

Why This Matters for a Partner
The intelligence layer itself is patented — not just the device.
Patent 5 (US 12,609,185) covers the AI/ML training architecture for predicting proof, volume, contamination, and maturation from raw sensor data. Combined with Patent 6, which secures sixteen forms of radar-based container sensing, the methodology a partner co-develops with BPT cannot be quietly cloned by a follower. A first partner doesn't just get a head start — they get a category position that holds.
Issued Patents — 6 Granted
Patents 1–3 · Core Sensing
Non-Invasive Measurement of Fill Level, Proof & Loss
Issued▼
US 12,117,329 · US 12,228,445 · US 12,228,525. The foundational patents covering non-invasive radar and dielectric sensing for liquid measurement through sealed container walls — fill level, proof/ABV, and loss rate. These own the physics layer — the actual method of seeing inside without opening. Named inventors: Brian Anderson, Keith Smith.
For Hylant: This is the foundation. No one else can legally measure what's inside a sealed barrel. Every insurance product built on verified barrel data starts here. Without these patents, there is no verified data — and without verified data, there is no smart insurance.
Patent 4 · Backscatter Tags
Near-Zero Power Chipless RFID — Powered by a Grain of Sugar
Issued▼
Near-zero power chipless RFID tags whose electromagnetic response changes based on container contents. Can be powered by a grain of sugar. Lasts indefinitely. Works on wine, cigars, collectibles, any sealed container. Extends the sensing platform into provenance verification for luxury goods, spirits authentication, and supply chain integrity.
For Hylant: This extends the insurable universe far beyond barrels — wine collections, luxury goods, any high-value sealed inventory your clients hold. Provenance verification means fraud prevention, which means lower claims and better underwriting.
Patent 5 · The Toll Booth
AI/ML Training Architecture — The Moat Within the Moat
Issued▼
US 12,609,185. Covers the modalities of training AI/ML models on container sensing data — Physics-Informed Neural Networks predicting proof, volume, contamination, and maturation from raw multi-modal sensor data. ANY competitor using machine learning on barrel/container data must go through BPT. This is the toll booth. It doesn't matter if someone builds different hardware — the moment they apply ML to the data, they infringe.
For Hylant: This protects your investment at the deepest level. Any insurance product you build with BPT data is differentiated not just by data access — it's differentiated by patented methodology. No other broker can replicate the product structure, because the intelligence layer itself is BPT IP.
Patent 6 · Radar Blocking
16 Forms of Radar Sensing — All Blocked
Issued▼
Secures 16 different forms of radar-based container sensing — FMCW, pulsed coherent, UWB, CW Doppler, and 12 others. We closed the most obvious design-around. If you can't use radar without infringing, there IS no alternative path. Combined with Patent 5 (the toll booth on ML), the entire technology stack is locked.
For Hylant: Even if a well-funded competitor tried to build an alternative sensing device, they can't use radar (Patent 6) and they can't apply ML to the data (Patent 5). The physics are locked. Your first-mover advantage is permanent.
Patent 7 · Contamination & Degradation
Early Warning Before a Loss Event
Issued▼
Detecting contamination and degradation in sealed containers via dielectric fingerprinting. Identifies contamination before the barrel is opened — before the liquid is ruined, before the loss event becomes a claim. This changes the entire loss prevention paradigm from reactive to predictive.
For Hylant: This changes the claims game entirely. Early warning means loss prevention, not loss recovery. Imagine telling a carrier you can reduce claims frequency by detecting problems before they become catastrophic. That's not an insurance product — that's a competitive weapon.
Patent 8 · Installation & Deployment
Sub-45-Second Install — Scalable to Millions
Issued▼
Patents the sub-45-second installation process: food-grade adhesive, magnetic attachment, smoke-detector-clip tamper evidence. This is what makes scaling to millions of barrels economically viable. No specialized labor, no production line changes, no disruption to operations. Install on the fill line and forget it for 15 years.
For Hylant: Scale is everything in insurance. A technology that can't deploy at scale is a science project. Patent 8 ensures that every barrel in every rickhouse can be monitored — which means every policy you write can be backed by verified data. This is the patent that turns a pilot into a platform.
Filed Applications — Portfolio Still Growing
CIP 9 · Sump Pump / Universal Liquid Integrity
Core Sensing Applied to Flood Prevention & Water Infrastructure
Filed · 20 Claims▼
Application 19/532,912. Takes the core non-invasive sensing technology and applies it to sump pump monitoring and flood prevention. 20 claims. Proves the platform works beyond spirits — the physics are universal, and the patent portfolio is expanding to match.
For Hylant: This is proof of concept for your broader P&C book. Water damage is one of the largest claim categories in commercial property. If BPT's sensing can prevent flood losses, that's a new product line for every commercial property client you have.
CIP 10-A · AI Training / Digital Twin
Synthetic Data, Federated Learning, GAN, Edge Computing
Filed · 12 Claim Areas▼
12 claim areas: synthetic data generation, federated learning, GAN (generative adversarial networks), sim-to-real transfer, OTA updates, reinforcement learning for sensor optimization, edge computing, cloud orchestration, API/platform claims. This is redundant protection on the AI layer — ensuring the toll booth (Patent 5) has multiple layers of defense.
For Hylant: More layers of AI protection mean the data intelligence that powers your insurance products is defended from every angle. Competitors can't replicate the sensing, can't replicate the AI, and can't replicate the training methodology.
CIP 10-B · Adjacent Verticals / Universal Platform
Military, Pharma, Water, 5G, Luxury Goods, Collectibles
Filed · 15 Claim Areas▼
15 claim areas: military fuel logistics, pharmaceutical containers, water infrastructure, 5G connectivity, handheld device as reader, mesh networking, chipless RFID tags, backscatter sensing through any container wall, phone as reader, collectibles, luxury goods, cigars, trading cards. This filing ensures the platform IP extends to every vertical the physics can reach.
For Hylant: This is your roadmap. Every vertical listed here is a client segment you already serve — military contractors, pharma companies, food & ag, water utilities. As BPT expands, so does the insurable universe you can offer verified coverage for.
CIP 10-C · Platform Infrastructure
Software-Defined Architecture, Modular Sensor Design
Filed▼
Software-defined platform, modular sensor architecture, multi-industry deployment framework. This patents the infrastructure layer — the way the system is built and deployed across industries, not just the sensing itself.
For Hylant: Platform patents mean the deployment model is protected. As you scale from spirits to other verticals, the infrastructure you build on is proprietary and defensible.
CIP 11 · Advanced ML Pipeline
Synthetic Data, Federated Learning, Generative AI for Simulation
Filed▼
Synthetic data generation, federated learning, generative AI for simulation, reinforcement learning for sensor optimization. Redundant protection on the ML layer — if CIP 10-A is the belt, CIP 11 is the suspenders. The AI toll booth has multiple locks.
For Hylant: Defense in depth. The more layers of protection on the intelligence layer, the more durable your competitive advantage. No one is getting through this.
CIP 12 · Blockchain / InsurTech / FinTech / Sustainability
The Insurance Product Layer — Patented
Filed · 19 Claims▼
19 claim areas covering: parametric insurance triggers, dynamic risk scoring, automated premium adjustment, automated loss quantification, NFT-linked asset provenance, collateral monitoring for lending, ESG/sustainability credits, tax compliance automation, smart contracts for collateral verification, and barrel-backed securities with real-time monitoring.
This is the patent that matters most for Hylant.

CIP 12 patents the exact financial product layer that sits on top of the data — the parametric triggers, the dynamic premiums, the automated loss quantification. This means the insurance innovation you bring to market isn't just differentiated by data access — it's differentiated by patented methodology. No other broker can replicate the product structure, because the product structure itself is BPT IP.

If you partner with BPT now, you're protected. If you wait, someone else gets there first — and CIP 12 ensures they own the product framework. Your first-mover advantage is protected by physics, by data, AND by the financial products patents.
PCT · International Protection
Global Coverage — All Member Nations
International▼
WO2025160557. PCT filed in all member nations. The patent language was designed for this — it covers "container measurement" broadly, not just "barrel measurement." Global protection for the core sensing technology.
For Hylant: Global protection means this scales with your international practice. Scotland, Mexico, Japan — wherever spirits age, BPT's IP follows. Your carrier partners can underwrite globally with the same verified data framework.
Total Portfolio
6 issued USPTO patents · 6 filed applications · PCT in all member nations · 180+ claims issued/pending
IDF v5 was split into 3 separate filings to maximize claim coverage. The fortress is still being built.
CIP 12 · The Product Layer

The product layer above the data
is also patented.

CIP 12 protects the financial product layer that lives on top of the verified data — nineteen claim areas spanning every way this signal becomes an insurance or capital-markets product. A partner who helps shape these products does so on protected ground. The work is co-authored, but the position is durable.

⚡
Parametric Insurance Triggers
Automatic payout when sensor data shows loss exceeding threshold. No investigation. No dispute. The data predates the event and the claim pays itself.
📈
Dynamic Risk Scoring & Premium Adjustment
Real-time data adjusts premiums continuously. Barrels with lower loss rates get lower premiums. Carriers price risk accurately for the first time in the history of spirits insurance.
📊
Automated Loss Quantification
No more manual claims investigation. The sensor data tells the exact story: what was lost, when, how much, and the verified value at the time of loss. Claims resolved in days, not months.
📈
Appreciating Insurance Policies
For the first time, insurance coverage can track barrel value as it increases during aging. As proof concentrates and the spirit matures, the policy grows with it. No more chronic underinsurance as barrels appreciate.
🔗
Smart Contracts for Collateral Verification
Blockchain-verified barrel value enables institutional lending at fair value. No more 40-60% haircuts. The collateral is independently verified in real time.
🌍
Barrel-Backed Securities
Real-time monitoring enables indexed financial products — ETPs, securitized barrel portfolios, tradeable liquid assets. A Bloomberg terminal for spirits.
🌿
ESG & Sustainability Credits
Verified loss reduction = quantifiable carbon credits. Distillers who reduce angel's share through data-driven barrel rotation earn sustainability credits. A new revenue stream from existing data.
📝
Tax Compliance Automation
TTB loss documentation is automatic and irrefutable. No more manual proof that doesn't exist. The blockchain record satisfies regulatory requirements without human intervention.
🏷️
NFT-Based Provenance Certificates
Every barrel gets a verifiable digital identity. Provenance, aging history, and quality metrics are tokenized. Authenticity verification for premium spirits and collectors.
These are not ideas on a roadmap. They are patented claims. The insurance products built on this foundation are differentiated not by data access alone — they are differentiated by patented methodology. The structure cannot be replicated by a follower, because the structure itself is BPT IP.

The partner who shapes this layer with us shapes the category. Once it is shaped, the next entrant inherits a market that is already defined.
An Invitation, Not a Pitch

We are not looking for a customer.
We are looking for a partner.

The technology is built. The patents are filed. The pilots are running. What is still open is who helps shape the insurance and capital-markets layer that sits on top of it. The first broker to walk this road with BPT does not buy a product — they help define a category and carry the position that comes with it.

01
Co-Author the Products
Parametric triggers, dynamic premiums, verified-collateral lending products — designed alongside Hylant's underwriting and carrier relationships. Your judgment goes into the framework, not just the distribution.
02
Carry the Category Position
Become the broker the spirits industry calls about smart, data-backed coverage. Not a vendor relationship — a market position. The patent stack is what makes that position hold once it is built.
03
Lead an Era, Don't Inherit One
The carriers stepping back from spirits today are stepping back from the old way of underwriting it. The next era is being designed right now. Hylant has earned the chance to help design it.
Why we're sharing this with you first
Marshall, your reputation in commercial P&C and Hylant's depth across the categories around spirits is the reason this conversation begins here rather than anywhere else. We have other doors to walk through, but the right partner matters more to us than the first available one. We would rather build this with the broker who wants to own the next era — than ship it through one who only wants to sell the current one.
Voices Already in the Room
"Keep your eye on the barrel. Infrastructure and ancillary services will become the most valuable businesses in the spirits ecosystem."
— Jeff Hopmayer, Retired Founder, Brindiamo Group
One of the world's largest bulk bourbon trading businesses
Lloyd's of London
Indicated interest in the framework. Advised BPT they only need fronting capital and a willing carrier partner.
Barclays
Validated the lending framework. Verified data unlocks institutional capital for barrel-backed assets.
6 Pilot Agreements
Jack Daniel's, Isa Distillery (Scotland), Don Julio (Mexico), Gordon McFiel. 85% expected conversion.
The Momentum

This is not a concept.
It is already moving.

$50B+
Aging Inventory
$5.4B
Data/Monitoring TAM
$20B+
Insurance & Financial
17.1M
Barrels in Kentucky
$185M
Year 5 ARR Model
79%
EBITDA Margin
85%
Pilot Conversion
$10M
Raise in Progress
Leadership
Brian Anderson — 20+ years IoT/AI, sole/named inventor on foundational patents
Keith Smith — Named inventor on first 3 patents, scaled $36M→$330M
Aaron Linden — 25 years insurance, 17 years spirits inventory, designed national carrier endorsement forms
Mariojose Palma — Former Microsoft & Citrix, 15+ years AI/ML, published researcher
Advisory & FinTech
Josef Schaible — FinTech pioneer, $1B+ assets managed, multiple exits
Jeff Hopmayer — Founder, Brindiamo Group (world's largest bulk bourbon trader)
James Hyatt — Lloyd's of London, advised on carrier framework
Gordon McFiel — Scotland, actively engaged in pilot deployment
The Conversation
The question is not whether this data will be required.

It is who builds the next era of insurance with it.

If this resonates, we would like to sit with you and your team for a working session — not a sales meeting. We will walk through the patent portfolio, the live pilots, and the product framework, and listen carefully to where Hylant sees the partnership taking shape.

Brian Anderson · Founder & CEO, Barrel Proof Technologies
barrelprooftech.com
CONFIDENTIAL · PREPARED FOR MARSHALL WINE · HYLANT INSURANCE · 2026