Florida Beverage Legislation: 2021 Post-Session Review of Beverage Bills

The 2021 Session of the Florida Legislature will result in major changes to the Florida Beverage Laws affecting how craft distilleries and restaurants sell alcoholic products.

Both houses of the Florida Legislature passed two major bills related to alcoholic beverage sales: SB 46 and SB 148. As of this writing, neither bill has been sent to the Governor, but expectations are that the Governor will sign both bills into law. More complete evaluations of both bills will be coming in the following weeks, but here are brief descriptions.

SB 46: Craft Distilleries Finally Get to Sell Drinks

Senate Bill 46 (along with its companion, House Bill 737) gives several boosts to Florida’s craft distillery industry, starting with an increase in the production limits required to qualify as a craft distillery, from 75,000 gallons to 250,000 gallons. Effective July 1, 2021, SB 46 would allow each craft distillery to sell up to 75,000 gallons per year of its branded products (whether distilled, rectified or blended) to adult customers at its distillery, in bottles for consumption off premises or in drinks on premises. The “six bottles per person per brand per year” requirement is eliminated. Senate Bill 46 also authorizes certain craft distilleries, located within authorized “destination entertainment venues”, to hold vendor quota licenses that would allow them to sell not only their own branded products but also alcoholic beverage products acquired from distributions.

SB 148: Restaurants Can Keep Selling Cocktails to Go

Senate Bill 148 (along with its companion, House Bill 329) makes permanent the Governor’s COVID-19 “cocktails-to-go” executive order allowing restaurants to deliver mixed drinks together with food orders. The bill provides directions about how these alcoholic beverage products must be packaged and stored during transportation to customers.

The following chart provides a summary of this session’s beverage-focused bills and where they ended at the conclusion of the session.

2021 Florida Beverage Bills - Post-Session

wdt_IDNUMBER   TITLESUMMARYFILED BY    LAST ACTION
1SB 46Craft DistilleriesCraft Distilleries; Authorizing craft distilleries to be licensed as specified vendors under certain circumstances; requiring certain alcoholic beverages to be obtained through a licensed distributor; prohibiting a distillery from operating as a craft distillery until certain requirements are met; authorizing persons to have common ownership in craft distilleries under certain circumstances; requiring a minimum percentage of a craft distillery’s total finished branded products to be distilled in this state and contain one or more Florida agricultural products after a specified date, etc.Hutson4/15/2021 House - Message sent to senate
2SB 134Beverage LawBeverage Law; Authorizing certain food service establishments to sell or deliver alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption if specified requirements are met; revising provisions that authorize a restaurant to allow patrons to remove partially consumed bottles of wine from a restaurant for off-premises consumption; revising requirements for the sale of alcoholic beverages by certain vendors, etc.Brandes4/30/2021 Senate - Died in Regulated Industries
3SB 142Beverage LawBeverage Law; Repealing provisions relating to limitations on the size of individual wine containers and the size of individual cider containers; revising provisions that authorize a restaurant to allow patrons to remove partially consumed bottles of wine from the restaurant for off-premises consumption; revising the requirements for the sale of branded products by a licensed distillery or craft distillery to consumers; revising requirements relating to the shipping of distilled spirits to consumers by a craft distillery, etc.Brandes4/30/2021 Senate - Died in Regulated Industries
4SB 148Beverage LawBeverage Law; Authorizing certain food service establishments to sell or deliver certain alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption under certain circumstances; providing requirements for such establishments to sell alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption; requiring that such alcoholic beverages be transported in a specified manner; specifying that certain alcoholic beverages sold by such establishments are not open containers for the purposes of the prohibition on possessing open containers of alcoholic beverages in vehicles, etc.Bradley4/28/2021 House - Message sent to senate
5HB 329Alcoholic Beverage LicensesAlcoholic Beverage Licenses; Authorizes food service establishments to sell or deliver alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption if requirements are met; revises provisions that authorize restaurant to allow patrons to remove partially consumed bottles of wine from restaurant for off-premises consumption; revises requirements for sale of alcoholic beverages by certain vendors.Tomkow4/13/2021 House - Laid on Table, refer to CS/SB 148
6HB 385Alcoholic Beverage Licenses, Lake and Sumter CountiesAlcoholic Beverage Licenses, Lake and Sumter Counties; Revises criteria for special alcoholic beverage licenses for certain entities operating within Lake & Sumter Counties; revises boundaries.Hage4/29/2021 House - Ordered enrolled
7HB 449Sale of Frozen or Mixed Alcoholic Beverages for Off-premises ConsumptionSale of Frozen or Mixed Alcoholic Beverages for Off-premises Consumption; Authorizes certain vendors to sell frozen alcoholic beverages or mixed alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption under certain circumstances.Overdorf4/30/2021 House - Died in Regulatory Reform Subcommittee
8HB 737Craft DistilleriesCraft Distilleries; Authorizes craft distilleries to be licensed as specified vendors under certain circumstances; requires certain alcoholic beverages to be obtained through licensed distributor; prohibits distillery from operating as craft distillery until certain requirements are met; authorizes persons to have common ownership in craft distilleries under certain circumstances; requires minimum percentage of craft distillery’s total finished branded products to be distilled in this state & contain one or more Florida agricultural products.DiCeglie4/13/2021 House - Laid on Table, refer to CS/CS/SB 46
9SB 1106Sale of Frozen or Mixed Alcoholic Beverages for Off-premises ConsumptionSale of Frozen or Mixed Alcoholic Beverages for Off-premises Consumption; Authorizing certain vendors to sell frozen alcoholic beverages or mixed alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption under certain circumstances, etc.Rodriguez4/30/2021 Senate - Died in Regulated Industries
10HB 6051Tied House EvilTied House Evil; Repeals provisions relating to tied house evil.Sabatini, Andrade4/30/2021 House - Died in Regulatory Reform Subcommittee
11HB 6073Individual Wine ContainersIndividual Wine Containers; Repeals provisions relating to limitation of size of individual wine containers.LaMarca4/30/2021 Senate - Died in Rules
NUMBER   TITLESUMMARYFILED BY    LAST ACTION

Do you have questions about how these changes to Florida Beverage Law could affect our business or your plans for a new beverage business? Contact us at contact@brewerlong.com to schedule a consultation.

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