You've perfected your recipe, found your location, and ordered your equipment. Now comes the part most brewery and winery owners wish they could skip: insurance. But here's the reality—your first batch isn't just hops and barley or grapes and yeast. It's also liability, equipment risk, and regulatory compliance. Get your insurance wrong from day one, and a single customer injury or equipment failure could shut you down before you've made your first sale.
This guide walks you through exactly what coverage you need at launch, when to add more protection as you grow, and the mistakes that trip up most new brewery and winery owners. Whether you're opening a 3-barrel microbrewery or a boutique winery with a tasting room, you'll know exactly what to buy and when.
Day One Coverage: What You Need Before Opening
Before you brew your first batch or crush your first grapes, you need three non-negotiable insurance policies. These aren't optional—they're required by law or by your landlord, and they protect you from the most common catastrophic risks.
First is general liability insurance. This covers third-party bodily injury and property damage—think a visitor slipping on your wet brewery floor or a delivery driver damaging a client's property. You'll need at least $1 million in coverage, and most small breweries and wineries pay between $77 and $109 per month for this foundation policy. Your landlord will almost certainly require proof of this coverage before handing over the keys.
Second is liquor liability insurance, which federal law requires if you're selling alcohol. This policy protects you when customers become intoxicated and injure themselves or others. An overserved patron who crashes their car on the way home? That lawsuit lands on your business without liquor liability coverage. This is especially critical if you plan to operate a tasting room or taproom where customers consume alcohol on-site.
Third is commercial property insurance covering your building, equipment, and inventory. Your brewing system, fermenters, bottling line, barrels, and finished product represent hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets. A fire, flood, or theft could wipe out everything you've invested. Property insurance replaces these assets and often includes business interruption coverage, which pays your ongoing expenses if a covered disaster forces you to temporarily close.
Equipment Breakdown: Your Most Overlooked Vulnerability
Here's what surprises most new brewery and winery owners: standard property insurance doesn't cover mechanical breakdowns. If your glycol chiller fails from a power surge or your pump seizes from normal wear and tear, you're paying for repairs out of pocket. That's where equipment breakdown coverage comes in.
This endorsement, added to your commercial property policy, covers sudden and unexpected equipment failures from causes like electrical issues, mechanical breakdowns, and improper installation. For breweries, that means your temperature control systems, HVAC units, walk-in coolers, and brewing equipment. For wineries, it covers your presses, pumps, crush pads, and barrel room climate control.
The cost is relatively small—usually a few hundred dollars annually—but the protection is enormous. A failed glycol system during fermentation could ruin an entire batch worth thousands of dollars. Equipment breakdown coverage handles both the repair costs and often the spoiled product.
Growth Phase Coverage: When to Add More Protection
As your operation grows, your risk profile changes. Here are the key triggers that signal you need additional coverage:
When you hire your first employee, workers' compensation insurance becomes mandatory in almost every state. This covers medical expenses and lost wages if an employee gets injured on the job—and brewery work involves plenty of hazards from heavy equipment to hot liquids to slippery floors. For operations with less than $300,000 in annual payroll, expect to pay around $62 per month, though rates vary significantly by state.
When you start distributing beyond your tasting room, product liability coverage becomes critical. This protects you if someone gets sick from your product due to contamination or allergic reactions. It also covers contamination and spoilage insurance, which reimburses you for product losses from unexpected contamination like wild bacteria or cleaning solvents that make their way into a batch. As you scale production, these losses can easily reach six figures.
When you expand distribution to retail stores or restaurants, you'll want product recall insurance. If contamination or mislabeling forces you to pull product from shelves, this coverage pays for the notification costs, product retrieval, and disposal expenses. A recall can easily cost $50,000 or more even for a small producer.
For wineries with estate vineyards, crop insurance protects your grape vines from weather damage, disease, insects, and other perils during growing season. This coverage is separate from your commercial property policy and is essential if you rely on your own fruit rather than purchasing grapes from other growers.
Common Mistakes New Owners Make
The biggest mistake is underinsuring your equipment. New owners often insure their brewing or winemaking equipment at purchase price, forgetting that replacement costs include installation, shipping, and production downtime. Always insure at replacement cost, not actual cash value.
Second is skipping commercial auto insurance if you use any vehicle for business purposes—even your personal truck. If you're making deliveries, picking up supplies, or driving to farmers markets, you need commercial auto coverage. Your personal policy won't cover business use.
Third is overlooking cyber liability insurance. If you accept credit cards, maintain customer email lists, or operate an online store, you're collecting data that cybercriminals want. A breach can cost tens of thousands in notification costs, credit monitoring, and regulatory fines. This coverage is cheap insurance against an increasingly common risk.
Finally, many new owners forget about intellectual property coverage. If you're creating unique labels, brand names, or proprietary blends, you could face lawsuits claiming you've infringed on someone else's trademark or design. Intellectual property insurance covers your legal defense costs for these claims.
How to Get Started
Start by finding an insurance agent who specializes in brewery and winery coverage. These operations have unique risks that generic business insurance agents don't understand. A specialized agent knows which carriers offer the best terms for craft beverage producers and can package your coverage into a Business Owner's Policy (BOP) that bundles property, liability, and business interruption coverage at a lower cost than buying policies separately.
Get quotes from at least three carriers. Premiums vary widely based on your location, production volume, and whether you operate a tasting room. For a small operation, expect to pay $150-$200 monthly for basic coverage including general liability and property insurance. Add workers' comp, liquor liability, and specialized endorsements, and you're likely looking at $300-$400 monthly in total insurance costs.
Review your coverage annually. As your production grows, your distribution expands, and your revenue increases, your insurance needs change. Don't wait until you file a claim to discover you're underinsured. An annual policy review with your agent ensures your coverage keeps pace with your business growth.
Getting your insurance right from the start protects everything you're building. It's not the most exciting part of launching a brewery or winery, but it's the safety net that lets you focus on making great beer and wine instead of worrying about financial catastrophe. Start with the essentials on day one, add coverage as you grow, and work with an agent who understands your industry. Your future self will thank you.
