Chris started a craft brewery in a Spokane industrial park with a small tasting room. Five years later, the taproom holds 120 people, hosts trivia and live music, has a patio, and parks a food truck out front every night. Production has tripled, with a canning line and distribution to fifty accounts.
The insurance had grown by renewal, not by design. A distributor asked for higher products liability limits, and Chris asked us to look.
What he asked for
Higher products limits for the distributor.
What the review found
The policy described a brewery with a tasting room, not a bar. Liquor liability limits and pricing were based on small tasting room sales. The taproom now generated a large share of revenue. Understating alcohol sales can create coverage problems when a claim arrives.
No umbrella. A taproom with live events and a patio produces the kind of alcohol-related claim that exceeds primary limits.
Brewing equipment had no breakdown coverage. A failed glycol chiller can ruin every tank of beer in production. Standard property forms exclude mechanical breakdown, and nothing covered the spoiled product.
The food trucks and events were unaddressed. Food truck operators were not required to carry insurance or name the brewery as an additional insured, and event nights had no special consideration.
What we put in place
We moved the brewery to a carrier that specializes in craft beverage producers. The new program accurately reports taproom sales with liquor liability priced for a bar-level operation, general liability including products for distributed beer at the limits the distributor required, and the distributor named as an additional insured.
We added a commercial umbrella at $3 million over general liability, liquor liability, and the delivery van's auto policy.
We rebuilt the commercial property coverage with equipment breakdown for the brewhouse, chillers, and canning line, spoilage and contamination coverage for beer in tanks and packaged inventory, and business income.
We created a simple requirement for food truck operators: their own general liability, with the brewery named as an additional insured.
Why it mattered
In August, the glycol chiller failed over a weekend, and three fermenters warmed past safe temperatures. The batches were lost. Equipment breakdown covered the chiller repair, and spoilage covered the beer, which on its own was worth more than the chiller.
If you run a brewery, winery, or distillery with a taproom
- Report taproom sales accurately; liquor liability is priced on them
- Add an umbrella over liquor liability and general liability
- Cover equipment breakdown and spoilage for product in tanks
- Require food trucks and event vendors to name you on their policies
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