Distillery Insurance to Protect Your Operation
Running a distillery involves significant investment in equipment, ingredients, aging inventory, and your brand. You work with heat, pressure, flammable liquids, and visiting customers, which means one incident can quickly become very costly if you are not properly insured.
Ingram Insurance Group helps distilleries in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida secure insurance that reflects how you actually operate. As an independent agency, we can help you align your coverage with your unique mix of production, tasting room, tours, retail sales, and distribution so you are not left exposed when you need protection most.
Insurance Solutions Tailored to Distilleries
Distilleries face exposures that go far beyond a standard retail or office business. You deal with high-proof alcohol, specialized stills and bottling equipment, stored barrels, and often on-site visitors and events. If something goes wrong, you need insurance that responds to the real financial impact on your business.
We focus on helping you build a coordinated insurance program that addresses property, liability, and business interruption risks that are common in the distilling industry. Whether you operate a small craft distillery or a growing regional brand, the right combination of coverage can help you keep moving forward after a loss instead of starting over.
Key types of coverage distilleries often consider include:
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Property coverage for buildings, stills, fermenters, bottling lines, barrels, and finished inventory
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Liability coverage for on-site operations, tours, tastings, and products you sell or distribute
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Business income coverage to help replace lost revenue if a covered loss forces you to slow or stop production
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Commercial auto coverage for owned delivery vehicles or business use of vehicles
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Workers’ compensation coverage where required for your employees
Our goal is to help you understand what is at stake in different areas of your operation so you can make informed decisions about insurance that fits your risk tolerance and long-term plans.
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Equipment Breakdown
Risk Factor
When it comes to manufacturing liquor, there is a lot of specialized and expensive equipment involved. If that equipment no longer works, liquor can no longer be distilled. You lose valuable time and profits while repairs are being made.
Solution
In many cases, equipment breakdown and malfunction is not covered under a standard commercial property insurance policy. Obtaining systems breakdown insurance can help cover the costs of repairs to damaged equipment and even replacements if it is beyond repair. Some policies can also reimburse you for potential lost profits.
Environmental Liability
Risk Factor
Environmental liability exposures are not just for oil companies, nuclear power plants, and industrial mining and logging operations. Distilleries have wastewater and waste management concerns. Depending on the location of your distillery, previous use of the property and impact on surrounding land could also be a concern. Strict liability laws apply to the distilling industry, and the costs of violating those can add up quickly.
Solution
The majority of general and commercial liability policies have environmental and pollution exclusions. Obtaining a standalone environmental insurance policy can help provide coverage for the environmental liabilities your distillery faces. It can also be a good public relations tool to show your commitment to protecting our environment.
Liquor Liability
Risk Factor
If you sell your liquor, offer tastings, operate a bar, or in any way serve alcohol to patrons on your premises, your distillery is open to liability claims. A lawsuit can arise if a patron gets inebriated at your distillery and causes injury or property damage, even after they leave your property. Those costs can add up fast.
Solution
It’s important that if you in any way serve or sell alcohol to your patrons that you obtain the proper liquor liability insurance to protect your distillery from potential financial losses. Having the proper coverage in place can help cover the costs of lawyers, court fees, and any civil and criminal damages that arise from an incident involving liquor.
Spoilage and Contamination
Risk Factor
Spoilage and contamination of your craft liquors, both before and after delivery, are risks your distillery faces. Whether it is from a machine breaking down or a foreign substance entering your latest batch, costs can add up fast. From loss of revenue to purchasing additional materials to remake the product and more, your business could be faced with a significant financial burden.
Solution
Spoilage and contamination insurance can help your distillery cover the costs associated with a ruined batch of product, both before or after delivery. This coverage can supplement your standard commercial property and general liability policies.
Product Recall
Risk Factor
Every manufacturer, including distilleries, faces the possibility that an issue can arise with a product after it has been distributed. The costs of dealing with a recall can add up, involving lost time, extra shipping costs, and lost revenue. Your reputation can also suffer because of a recall, adding even more strain to your distillery’s finances.
Solution
Having the proper product recall coverage in place can help your business prepare for the event of a product recall. This coverage can help cover the costs of removing the recalled product from the marketplace. Some policies even cover the costs associated with restoring your brand’s reputation, including things like advertising and promotions.
Supply Chain
Risk Factor
When it comes to distilling craft liquors, ingredients matter. Often it is more about quality than quantity, and in some cases this can put your business at risk. If a supplier cannot deliver what you need on time, your business could be faced with a potential loss of revenue due to the interruption.
Solution
There are many risk management methods your distillery can put into place to avoid potential losses due to supply chain interruptions—such as maintaining relationships with back-up suppliers and monitoring the resource environment—but even the most diligent business cannot always prevent an interruption. Supply chain coverage can help compensate your distillery for certain financial losses during the interruption to your business.
Stock and Inventory
Risk Factor
As a distillery, your business is all about producing a finished good, in your case, liquor. That means not only does you have stock and inventory in the form of the raw materials for production, you also have it in the form of your finished goods. If something happened to either your raw materials or your finished liquors, your business could face significant financial losses.
Solution
Stock and inventory are typically covered under a general commercial property policy, but you’ll want to make sure your policy has the right amount of coverage you need. Especially since insuring stock and inventory can be tricky, since values can be hard to pin down due to a variety of factors. You’ll want to make sure your policy offers you the right amount of coverage with flexibility to handle value fluctuations.
Employment Practice Liability Insurance (EPLI)
Risk Factor
On average, it’s estimated that three out of five businesses will be sued by their employees. While there is nothing you can do to prevent someone from filing a lawsuit, you can limit the costs of defending a legal claim with proper insurance coverage.
Solution
Obtain employment practice liability insurance (EPLI) to protect your business from alleged employment-related acts such as wrongful termination, failure to promote, discrimination, and sexual harassment.
Premises Liability
Risk Factor
If your distillery is open to the public, you are responsible for the well-being of patrons. This risk is amplified if you offer distillery tours. One accident can see your business facing significant costs.
Solution
Avoiding accidents often comes down to thorough risk management, such as keeping tours to pre-planned routes through the safe areas of your distillery. However, accidents do happen, and general liability insurance can help provide coverage for your business to cover costs associated with personal injury-related claims.
Tank Leakage and Tank Collapse
Risk Factor
If one of your tanks leaks or collapses, you could be facing the loss of a lot of product and the costs to reproduce it.
Solution
An extension of your commercial property insurance, tank leakage and tank collapse coverage can help your distillery cover the costs associated with malfunctions of your tanks. They can help reimburse you for the lost raw materials and can also help cover replacements so you can make a new batch of liquor.
Stills and Property
Risk Factor
Fire, theft, and other disasters can cost your distillery thousands upon thousands of dollars in damages, especially if it impacts your stills and other expensive equipment. With risks like explosion from secondary fermentation, water damage from wastewater, and more, it is important to have the right coverage in place.
Solution
Commercial property insurance can help protect the property your business owns or leases, including things like equipment, inventory, furniture, and fixtures. Whether you own your building or lease the space, commercial property insurance can be purchased separately or can be combined with other necessary coverage to protect your business’ physical assets. However, there are limits on what commercial property insurance typically covers, so be sure you get any additional policies you may need to cover things like equipment breakdown and inventory.
Business Auto
Risk Factor
Automobile exposures are significant, especially if you handle your own distribution. Bodily injury and property damage to both your employees and others involved in accidents can put your business at serious financial risk.
Solution
Business auto insurance protects vehicles owned by your distillery and provides coverage for damages related to the use of the vehicle for business purposes. If you use a fleet of vehicles, fleet insurance can help to cover numerous vehicles at once. Also, if your employees use personal vehicles for business purposes, you’ll need hired and non-owned auto liability insurance.
How Our Distillery Insurance Process Works
When you reach out about distillery insurance, we start by learning how your business is set up. We ask about the layout of your premises, production volume, barrel storage, tasting room or bar operations, retail sales, distribution, and any special events or tours you host. This helps us identify the types of loss scenarios that could affect you the most.
From there, we discuss your current insurance, any contracts with landlords or distributors, and any coverage concerns you already have. We then look for policy options that reflect your specific risks and the states where you operate. Throughout this process, we explain coverage in clear terms so you understand what is and is not included, and we help you compare options so your final program aligns with your priorities and budget.
Why Distilleries Work with Ingram Insurance Group
Distilleries are not generic businesses, and your insurance should not be generic either. Ingram Insurance Group is an independent insurance agency that provides both personal and commercial insurance, with particular focus on property-related and business risks. This perspective helps us look at your distillery as a complete operation, not just one policy at a time.
Because we serve clients across Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida, we are accustomed to helping businesses that work in multiple states or that distribute their products regionally. We take the time to understand how your distillery runs, then help you coordinate the coverage types that matter most for your size, location, and growth plans. Our role is to be a long-term resource as your operation expands, adds new offerings, or changes direction.
Distillery Insurance FAQs
What types of distilleries can you help insure?
We work with a range of distillery operations, including small craft distilleries, larger production facilities, and distilleries that combine production with tasting rooms, tours, and on-site retail. The key is understanding how your individual operation works so coverage can be tailored appropriately in the states where we are licensed.
Why is general business insurance not enough for a distillery?
General business insurance often does not reflect the fire, explosion, and liability risks that come with high-proof alcohol, specialized equipment, and public tours or tastings. Distilleries usually need coverage that accounts for production equipment, aging inventory, and product-related liability in a way standard office or retail policies do not.
Do I need separate coverage for my tasting room or bar area?
In many cases, yes. If you have a tasting room, bar, or event space, it introduces additional liability exposures related to serving alcohol and hosting visitors. Coverage needs can vary depending on your exact setup, whether you charge for tastings, serve cocktails, or host events. We can help you evaluate how your current policy treats these operations and what additional coverage may be appropriate.
How does insurance address losses to aging barrels and inventory?
Distilleries often have significant value tied up in aging barrels and finished product. Property coverage can be structured to help protect that value from covered causes of loss such as fire or certain types of accidental damage. The exact treatment of aging stock, leakage, and spoilage depends on the policy, so it is important to review how your inventory is valued and what triggers coverage.
Can you help if our distillery operates or distributes in more than one state?
Yes. Ingram Insurance Group serves clients across Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida. If your distillery produces in one of these states and distributes or has operations in others we serve, we can help you consider how your coverage should respond across state lines, subject to regulatory requirements and policy terms.
Protect Your Distillery With Coverage Tailored To You
Safeguard your craft, your team, and your investment with specialized distillery insurance designed around the real risks you face every day. At Ingram Insurance Group, we take the time to understand your operation and build coverage that fits, so you can focus on growing your business; reach out to contact us to get started.
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