When Jeremy Stanton couldn't find a beard oil he liked, he created his own using high quality ingredients.
"I never even imagined putting it into a barrel," he said.
He also never imagined turning it into a business.
"I've been asked so many times, how'd you think of this, where'd you get this idea?'
One day, Jeremy tried something on a whim.
"I was making some beer with a friend and we decided that we wanted to put it in a barrel. Well, at the time I was making some oils for myself and my friends and I thought, as a joke, what if I put some in some of those barrels," he said.
He hunted down a used barrel for his beard oil experiment.
He said, "I got one and I tried it and 6 months later, I took the plug out of the barrel and it was magic."
He found that the barrel changed the scent of the oil.
Jeremy said, "People were asking me everywhere I went, what's the cologne you're wearing... I would give it to friends, family, and next thing I knew, I was getting calls and emails from people I'd never even met, asking me for it. "
The company Barrel Beard & Tattoo was born. The barrel-aged hair and skin oils have many uses.
He said, "I was putting it on my face, tattoos, any dry patches, and next you know everything was looking really vivid."
About half his customers are female and use it on their face or hair. Pure vitamin e oil is the base of every blend he makes. He adds ingredients like raw Madagascar vanilla beans he cuts and scrapes himself. The oil is made in Troy, Illinois, using whiskey barrels from St. Louis Distillery Still 630.
"Most whiskeys are said to have a caramrelly note or buttery note, that's what it adds, almost a sweet characteristic," he said.
When the product became available to the public for the first time this year, it almost immediately soldout.
"We had an amazing response, many champions of the brand, and now we're in multiple states. So basically from February to now, it's turned basically into a monster," he said.
Since then, Jeremy has made more, but can hardly keep up with the demand.
The oil ages for 6 to 12 months.
He said, "It is a very long process but its worth it."
To purchase, go to barrelbeardandtattoo.com. For information on a launch party coming up on August 11th at The Cabin at Judy Creek, go to facebook.com/BarrelBeardandTattoo.
