Commercial industry

Winery and Brewery Insurance

A winery or brewery is production first and hospitality second. Barrel and tank inventory, refrigeration, and the crush or brew house are property and equipment-breakdown. The tasting room is liquor and premises. Treating the whole campus as a bar is how production claims get argued under a hospitality form.

We place commercial wineries (including those that sit on farm acreage) and breweries that are real production accounts. We do not claim brewery as a preferred class we invented; we write it because operators in our states ask, and we place it on a manufacturing-plus-hospitality structure. Hobby or homebrew clubs are not this page.

Risks we actually schedule

  • Tank, barrel, or cooler failure and the spoilage of a vintage or a brew cycle.
  • Tasting-room liquor-law and guest-injury claims.
  • Recall or contamination on packaged product.
  • Farm or vineyard equipment if you grow, plus L&I for WA tasting-room and cellar staff.

Frequently asked questions

Should a tasting room be on a restaurant policy?

The pour and the food program look like hospitality; the cellar does not. We schedule both so a tasting-room claim and a tank claim do not fight about which form applies.

Do you write taprooms with no production on site?

That is closer to a restaurant / liquor account. Tell us where the beer is made.

Is the vineyard farm insurance?

The acreage and the equipment can sit on a commercial farm structure; the winery building and the liquor still need to be scheduled as production and hospitality. See also our commercial farm coverage page.