Beverage manufacturers–breweries, distilleries, and wineries–are ideally suited to bring valuable investment to rundown neighborhoods and distressed communities. These are the exact areas targeted by the Opportunity Zone tax incentives created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Some new and existing beverage manufacturers might benefit from locating in “O-Zones.”
Continue ReadingIt is possible for a Florida brewery to both sell liquor and fill growlers and CrowlersTM, and there are two four ways to go about it. Four Options for Filling Growlers and CrowlersTM The first option is for a Florida brewery (actually, the taproom attached to the brewery) to get a 4COP quota license. This license allows a retail...
Continue ReadingFlorida’s new Hemp Law became effective July 1, 2019, and with it “hemp” beer (and other products) is now legal in Florida. However, federal and state regulations still limit use of hemp in alcoholic beverages.
Continue ReadingFrom a regulatory standpoint, making beer and wine (including cider or any other fruit-derived alcoholic beverage) is possible, but it requires a couple of extra steps especially if the same equipment or premises will be used in production of both beer and wine.
Continue ReadingFor several months, we’ve been hearing about the introduction of marijuana-infused beer. Most of these products feature non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD), but beer brewed with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)–the compound that gives marijuana its best-known quality–will soon reach the market. So, is marijuana-infused beer legal in Florida? In June 2018, the answer is no. Update: As of July 1, 2019, the answer...
Continue ReadingCraft beer festivals are tremendously popular in Florida. The multiplication of beer festivals throughout the state has caused the state’s principal regulator of alcoholic beverages–the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (the ABT)–to take a closer look at how beer festivals are operated. Like all activities involving alcohol beverages, Florida beer festivals are subject to a confusing web...
Continue ReadingNothing goes better with fresh brewed beer than a fresh cooked bratwurst–or pizza, or a burger, or a million other foods. So why don’t more Florida breweries have restaurants attached? For some breweries, it could be because of one of the several myths that persist about that perfect pairing: brewery and restaurant.
Continue ReadingMore and more property owners want to include breweries in their commercial spaces. As one example, here’s a listing for a commercial development in Eustis looking for a brewery tenant. Property owners recognize that brewery/taprooms bring in people.
Continue ReadingThere are only so many hoppy, reserve, barrel-aged names to go around. This means that more and more otherwise happy, brotherly-loving brewers, vintners and distillers are taking aim at each other over company names and product names that may or may not be infringing on one another. Before deciding your next beer MUST be named Brewers’Law Lager, or whatever,...
Continue ReadingWhen Governor Rick Scott signed into law CS/SB 186, he largely ended Florida’s state of growler confusion. However, the 2015 beverage law–which is now known as Florida Law 2015-12–will do much more to improve the status of craft beverages in Florida when it becomes effective July 1, 2015. This article describes how Florida’s breweries, distilleries, distributors, and vendors can...
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