Commercial coverage
Liquor Liability Insurance for Restaurants and Hotels
Liquor liability — dram-shop coverage — responds when a person you sold or served is later involved in injury or damage, and a statute or a lawsuit says your service was a cause. General liability forms typically exclude alcoholic-beverage business. If a restaurant or hotel pours, you need the liquor form or a liquor endorsement that actually removes the exclusion.
We place liquor liability for restaurants, hotels with a bar, room service, or banquet pour, and tasting rooms tied to a commercial winery, brewery, or hotel. We do not place nightclub, late-night entertainment, or surplus liquor programs. If the room is a club first and a kitchen second, this is not the page and we are not the market.
Limits should follow both the liquor license and the lease. Landlords often require liquor liability at the same limit as GL, sometimes with the landlord as additional insured. We match certificate wording to the license class — beer-and-wine versus full pour in a restaurant or hotel.
Assault-and-battery treatment, employee-service conditions, and catering away from the dining room are the endorsements that decide real claims. A hotel banquet team, a neighborhood restaurant, and a winery tasting room do not share one risk story. We ask where the alcohol is served, who is trained, and whether you close the pour when you close the kitchen.
We write the coverage for hospitality that serves food or lodging. We do not publish another company's underwriting ratio as if it were a rule of our agency. Your mix of food versus alcohol is a fact we will report accurately; it is not a slogan on this page.
- Restaurant service Dining rooms, cafes, and food-service operations that pour beer, wine, or spirits with a meal.
- Hotels and banquet pours Hotel bars, room service, and banquet or catering pours under the hotel or restaurant license.
- Tasting rooms Tasting rooms attached to a commercial winery, brewery, or hotel — not a standalone late-night club.
- Defense and indemnity Lawsuits under state dram-shop or liquor-liability statutes, not just a claim that you have GL.
Frequently asked questions
Our restaurant GL says it includes liquor. Are we fine?
Only if the form has a liquor-liability endorsement that removes the alcoholic-beverage exclusion and the limit is real. Many package mentions are not a dram-shop policy. We read the endorsement number.
Do I need liquor liability if I only sell beer and wine with food?
If you are in the business of selling or serving it in a restaurant or hotel, yes. The statute does not care that you do not pour whiskey.
Do you write nightclubs or late-night clubs?
No. This page is restaurants, hotels, and tasting rooms attached to hospitality or production. Nightclub and entertainment liquor is a different market and not a class we promote.
What about a one-day special event for our restaurant or hotel?
Short-term liquor liability and special-event permits are available for hospitality accounts we already understand. Tell us the date, the venue, and who is licensed to pour. Do not rely on the venue's policy unless you are named and the form covers your service.
Related coverage, industries, and locations
General Liability
Third-party injury, property damage, and products/completed-operations protection for shops, offices, and jobsites.
Coverage detailsBusiness Owner's Policy
A packaged policy that pairs general liability with commercial property and business income for eligible classes.
Coverage detailsCommercial Umbrella
Extra liability limits over general liability, the BOP, and commercial auto when a serious claim exceeds primary.
Coverage detailsRestaurant and Food Service
Kitchens, dining rooms, delivery, and liquor — packaged for restaurants that actually cook and serve.
Industry pageHotel
Guest premises, property, liquor, garagekeepers, and the income story of a limited-service or full-service hotel.
Industry pageWinery and Brewery
Production, barrel and tank inventory, tasting-room liquor, and a commercial farm or manufacturing chassis — not a bar policy.
Industry pageNevada
Licensed commercial insurance broker serving Nevada.
State page