The Florida Breweries Report – May 2019

A whopping seven new Florida breweries joined the ranks in May 2019, bringing the count of new breweries this year to 28.

It is possible for a Florida brewery to both sell liquor and fill growlers, and there are two ways to go about it.

Florida’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.

Florida Breweries lost ground in monthly taxpaid sales, even while positive LTM growth continued in April 2019.

From 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.

For the first time, Florida Breweries sold over 10,000 barrels of taxpaid beer in March.

Zero out of 9. All 2019 Florida beverage bills fell flat. Nine beverage-focused  bills were introduced at the start of the 2019 Florida legislative session.[…]

Florida Breweries rebounded from a tough January with nearly 9% monthly taxpaid sales growth in February 2019.

A rough start to 2019 for Florida breweries, as last-twelve month (LTM) growth went negative for the first time since September 2017.

The 2019 Session of the Florida Legislature will include consideration of a number of bills affecting breweries, wineries, distilleries, distributors, and consumers.