An inventory-planning process that forecasts future product needs, reserves suitable age and flavor components, and prevents current releases from consuming stock needed for later age targets.
Mature-spirit inventory is both present product and future production capacity.
Purpose
Reserve enough suitable liquid to meet forecast demand and age or flavor targets without allowing near-term releases to consume components required later.
Inputs
- Cask-level inventory, age, proof, volume, provenance, location, and sensory records
- Forecast product volumes and release dates
- Target age, flavor, proof, and blend roles
- Expected evaporation, loss, rejection, and yield assumptions
- Current reservations and commitments
Sequence
- Translate the release plan into required alcohol-equivalent volume and component roles.
- Segment inventory by age path, flavor function, quality status, and earliest suitable use.
- Apply conservative loss and yield assumptions.
- Reserve components for future dated targets before assigning surplus to current products.
- Review actual maturation and yields against the plan.
- Reforecast, move reservations, or adjust production and purchasing decisions when gaps emerge.
- Preserve an audit trail for every reservation and release.
Outputs
A dated inventory allocation showing committed, reserved, available, at-risk, and shortfall volumes.
Controls and cautions
Chronological age is not a complete maturity measure. Reservations should use both age path and sensory suitability. Alcohol-equivalent calculations prevent nominal liquid volume at different proofs from distorting supply estimates.
Evidence
Matt Strickland, Cask Management for Distillers, PDF pp. 181–184 / ebook pp. 149–152, verified in the complete 247-sheet review.
Corrected worked-example boundary
Fresh full-source audit: the book's 8,000 L × 0.96^5 calculation should yield 6,522.98 L, not 7,100 L; removing 4,000 L leaves 2,522.98 L. Compound proportional losses consistently and model proof drift separately. These illustrative assumptions are not forecasts or actual production results. 
