Breweries | Read Time: 3 minutes

Marijuana Beer: Still Not Legal in Florida

For 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...

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ABT | Read Time: 6 minutes

The Compliant Florida Beer Festival

Craft 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...

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Breweries | Read Time: 3 minutes

Perfect Pairing: 5 Myths About Florida Breweries and Restaurants

Nothing 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.

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Breweries | Read Time: < 1 minute

Florida Property Owners Want Breweries

More 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.

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Breweries | Read Time: 5 minutes

Choosing Trademark-Safe Names: 5 Questions

There 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,...

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Beverage Legislation | Read Time: 3 minutes

How to Take Advantage of Florida’s 2015 Beverage Law

When 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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ABT | Read Time: 2 minutes

Clarification on ABT’s New Taproom Licensing Policy

As previously reported, the ABT has adopted a new policy requiring all taproom license applications to be reviewed in the Tallahassee district office. The new policy was announced in an email from Marie Fraher, the ABT’s Chief of Licensing, in an email to ABT licensing personnel. We obtained a copy of Ms. Fraher’s email by public records request, and...

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Breweries | Read Time: 12 minutes

The Florida Breweries Report – November 2014

Three new breweries join the ranks of Florida breweries, and monthly retail sales were up in November 2014. Monthly Highlights Three new breweries are included in this edition of The Florida Brewery Report: Stilt House Brewery in Palm Harbor, Bowigens Beer Company in Casselberry, and Barley Mow Brewing Company‘s new production brewery in Largo. In November 2014, the total...

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ABT | Read Time: < 1 minute

FISA Lawsuit Prompts ABT to Immediately Change Licensing Procedures

Shortly after before the Florida Independent Spirits Association (FISA) and the Florida Retail Federation (FRF) filed lawsuits accusing the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (ABT) of improperly licensing Florida brewery taprooms (discussed in Q&A for Breweries: The FISA Lawsuit), the ABT quietly changed its procedure for how brewery applications are to be handled.

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