The Hidden Cost of Spreadsheets in Spirit Production

Written by Sam A'Bear | Feb 5, 2026 9:05:21 AM

There is a moment in almost every growing distillery when the team realises that their spreadsheets are no longer supporting the business. At first they feel harmless and flexible. A simple tool here, a calculation there, a tab for casks, another for bottling, a duty sheet, a planning sheet, a costing sheet. Before long the entire operation is leaning on a collection of files that no one fully understands and everyone secretly worries about.

Spreadsheets become part of the culture in a way that feels natural, but the risks they introduce are anything but natural. They quietly undermine accuracy, efficiency and confidence in a way that only becomes visible once the business begins to scale.

This is why the transition away from spreadsheets is not a technological upgrade. It is an operational evolution.

Why spreadsheets become a silent operational risk

In the early days of a distillery it is easy to rely on spreadsheets. They are quick to set up and give teams a sense of control. But spreadsheets do not scale with the business. The more production grows the more fragile these files become.

Here is what happens behind the scenes:

1. Logic becomes invisible

Spreadsheets store business rules in formulas that only one or two people understand. If they leave, the logic leaves with them.

2. Versions multiply

Someone updates the sheet. Someone makes a copy. Someone adds a column. At some point no one is sure which version is correct.

3. Errors hide in plain sight

A formula drags incorrectly. A reference cell breaks. A tab is copied incorrectly. The sheet still opens and looks fine, but the numbers are wrong.

4. Teams begin to mistrust the data

Production, warehouse and finance start working from different truths, each convinced theirs is correct. By this point the spreadsheet is no longer a helper. It is a hazard.

And the cost of that hazard is real.

Where spreadsheets cause the most damage inside a distillery

The challenges are not theoretical. They are operational. Every spreadsheet that touches LPA, strength, valuation, duty, bottling or stock introduces risk.

Production planning becomes reactive

Teams cannot rely on spreadsheet-driven forecasts because the numbers are not updated in real time. Production schedules get pushed. Materials run short. Bottling runs slip.

Cask management loses consistency

Fills, regauges, losses and parcel changes recorded manually become inconsistent. Two different people can make two different interpretations of the same cask.

Duty becomes a stressful guessing game

Duty calculations done manually or in isolated files often lead to inaccuracies that only surface during HMRC submissions. The financial exposure can be significant.

Valuation becomes unreliable

Strength changes, regauges and ageing directly influence the value of spirit in cask. If those numbers live in spreadsheets the business is making financial decisions on estimates rather than truth.

Month end becomes a reconstruction exercise

Finance teams spend days stitching together information from production, warehouse and spreadsheets just to build a picture of what happened.

The distillery is working harder, but not working smarter.

The deeper financial impact spreadsheets create

Spreadsheets do not appear as a cost on a P&L, but they create real financial drag.

Hours lost every month validating, comparing and correcting data
Delays in bottling because materials or casks were misrepresented
Incorrect duty that either overpays or risks penalties
Stock variances caused by manual entries
Unclear WIP valuation for maturing spirit
Slower decisions at management level because the data is never fully trusted

As production volumes increase, these issues expand with them. A spreadsheet that works at 20,000 LPA becomes dangerous at 200,000 LPA and catastrophic at 2 million. Spreadsheets scale operational risk, not operational excellence.

Why distilleries eventually abandon spreadsheets

No distillery decides to move away from spreadsheets because they suddenly dislike them. They move away because the business reaches a point where accuracy, speed and confidence matter more than convenience.

At this point leaders begin to ask bigger questions:

Can we trust our LPA?
Can we trust our stock?
Can we trust our valuation?
Can we trust our duty?
Can we trust our audit trail?
Can we grow with the systems we have?

Spreadsheets cannot answer yes to any of these questions.

How Bottle ERP replaces fragile spreadsheets with intelligent structure

Bottle ERP does not just remove spreadsheets. It removes the need for them.

The system provides controlled, connected, real time workflows that eliminate the manual work and risk that spreadsheets create.

All LPA changes are automatic

Regauges, strength adjustments, losses and extractions feed through the system instantly.

Valuations always reflect reality

Cask values update as the spirit matures, strengthens or loses volume.

Production and costing stay aligned

Material consumption, yield, losses and outputs connect directly to WIP and finished goods.

Duty becomes predictable

Duty calculations are tied to actual LPA movements, not manual formulas.

Warehouse operations become visible

Every cask movement updates bin, parcel, valuation and the general ledger.

Audit readiness becomes effortless

The system remembers every detail. No one has to explain what happened or when.

The result is not just better data. It is a better business.

The freedom that comes from leaving spreadsheets behind

When spreadsheets disappear, clarity returns.

Production trusts the numbers
• Finance trusts the reports
• Compliance trusts the audit trail
• Leadership trusts the strategy
• Teams work faster and with less stress

The business becomes scalable as its data stabilises. Bottle ERP gives distilleries the structure, accuracy and intelligence that spreadsheets can never match. It replaces risk with confidence and manual work with operational flow.

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