Innovating Alcohol eCommerce Since 2013 With DRINKS

WHAT WE BELIEVE

It Should Be Simple & Easy

We believe selling alcohol online should be as compliant and straightforward as selling anything else. That’s why we built DRINKS.
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Since being founded in 2014 as a direct-to-consumer pioneer in the wine industry, we've been trying to break down the barriers of selling alcohol online. We've truly been eating, sleeping and breathing alcohol eCommerce for over 10 years.

Today, DRINKS powers the emerging 4th Tier of alcohol eCommerce, enabling platforms, retailers, marketplaces, and creators to sell wine and spirits legally, compliantly, and at scale. We built the only Drinks as a Service platform designed specifically for alcohol: from tax and compliance to consumer AI and retention marketing.

It’s the engine behind the future of the $285B alcohol market.

Here’s How We Got Started

2014 – Direct to Consumer

DRINKS launches with the goal of reimagining how people buy wine. We acquire Wine Insiders, initially founded in 1982, and bring it into the digital age - operating the largest DTC wine marketplace and serving 55M bottles to over 2M households, bringing us closer to the consumer and laying the foundation for everything to come.

2018 – WaaS®: Wine as a Service

We launch our proprietary Wine as a Service platform, helping other retailers enter the Ship-to-Home alcohol market. This becomes the backbone of DRINKS’ technology infrastructure.

2019 – Introducing PAIR

Our patented Predictive AI Retailing (PAIR) technology goes live, optimizing the digital wine shopping experience based on how consumers really buy—visually. PAIR leverages AI to make discovery smarter and conversion easier.

2021 – Trusted by the Fortune 500

Major retailers including Sam’s Club and Macy’s begin using DRINKS to enter alcohol ecommerce legally and efficiently, proving our infrastructure works at enterprise scale.

2022 – Amplifying Execution

We acquire Electriq, a Shopify Plus Certified agency, and launch DRINKS Amplify. This team leads customer success and product implementation, turning complex compliance requirements into elegant customer experiences.

2022 – Partnership with Shopify

Shopify selects DRINKS to embed real-time alcohol tax and compliance (DRINKS Assure) into its native checkout. We bring full RegTech functionality to the best-converting ecommerce platform in the world.

2023 – All In on SaaS

We exit our legacy DTC business and fully commit to SaaS with a focus on B2B. DRINKS is now a platform company, enabling others to sell alcohol compliantly—without holding licenses, inventory, or risk.

2024 – Launching DaaS

We introduce DRINKS as a Service (DaaS) — a fully connected product suite including:
DRINKS Anywhere for embedded alcohol eComm for any business
DRINKS Assure for real-time tax and compliance for producers and retailers
DRINKS Amplify for professional services for customer success
DRINKS AI for predictive AI for alcohol eCommerce

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Where We’re Going

We’re building the 4th Tier: a new model for alcohol sales that works within the law, empowers modern retailers, and aligns with how today’s consumers’ shop. This isn’t about disruption for the sake of it. It’s about evolution.

About giving merchants of all kinds—from global retailers to lifestyle creators—the tools to offer alcohol legally and easily, with zero compromise on compliance or customer experience.

This market should be open. Accessible. Modern. And we’re building the infrastructure to make that possible.

Meet the Team Powering DRINKS

Get to Know the Experts Shaping the Future of Online Alcohol Commerce

Bringing deep expertise, bold ideas, and a shared vision to everything we do.

Zac Brandenberg

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Zac drives the DRINKS vision in disrupting the traditional beverage alcohol ecosystem. A serial entrepreneur and digital advertising innovator, he was the founder and CEO of Hydra, a $100mil+ digital ad platform (acquired by Adknowledge in 2010) that delivered 25 million digital leads and sales a year.

Kelly Martin

EVP & Chief Compliance Officer

Kelly is a beverage alcohol industry veteran, with more than 25 years of experience spanning all three tiers of the industry. Prior to DRINKS, she served as VP, Compliance for Direct Wines (WSJ Wine & Laithwaites Wine), where she led national DTC expansion. She is a regular speaker at national and state liquor conferences.

Barry Collier

Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer & Chief Technology Officer

With over 25 years in high-growth tech, Barry leads product strategy and innovation at DRINKS, including its patented PAIR technology. Previously, he was founding CTO at Hydra, CTO at Meteor Games, and the lead engineer at NeoPets that scaled the site to more than 30 million players within 2 years.

Matt Wolf

Chief Financial Officer

Matt has 20+ years of finance experience spanning M&A, fundraising, FP&A and economic analysis, including at Morgan Stanley and AB InBev, and Roadster. In the last decade, his focus has been on ecommerce and SaaS financial and operational leadership.