Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area

What SBA's own loan files show about beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) lending in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.

Daniel Smith, MAI

Beverage producer loans in Houston at a glance

Houston reports FY2017 to FY2026 approvals: 28 beverage producer loans, $16.4 million gross. Houston, on beverage producer loans, holds place 33 of 443 among areas. Inside Houston, beverage producer places 23 of 39. Houston has a quotient of 0.36x, beverage producer below the national share.

Houston loan sizes and mix

Houston shows half its loans at or under $295,400, with the middle half spanning $175,300 up to $759,000. Houston loans sit at 1.02x of the national class median. In Houston, borrowers draw bigger loans than nationally. Houston shows no 7(a) count. Houston shows no 504 count either. Houston: too few loans back either count. Houston prints no franchise share. Too few Houston loans support one. Houston loans run bigger. In Houston, a study must prove the payment.

Houston loan holders and counties

The Houston holder tables list no lender. Beverage producer loans in Houston sit with small holders, none listed. Houston borrowers open with the study itself. Houston puts all 19 loans under Harris County, TX.

Houston floors, limits and yearly record

Houston years print only in part. FY2018 brings Houston 6 loans, $1.5 million. FY2026 brings Houston 0 loans, $0. Other Houston years are withheld. Thin counts leave Houston totals unknown. In Houston, no blank is a zero, and Houston treats FY2026 as complete. Floors in Houston follow Loan Analytics' own rule. The Houston cohort holds fewer than 30 loans. Houston disbursements cover FY2017 to FY2021. No Houston cancellation floor prints. No Houston charge-off floor prints either. Houston blanks are no zero. Houston blanks are no clean book. Each Houston rate is a floor. Houston follows July 2023 boundaries. Houston places loans by project county. Houston drops loans lacking a placeable county. Houston note: Producer type is all the code reveals: a Houston brewery, winery or distillery looks the same whether or not it runs a tasting room or hosts events.

Houston: what a study must prove

Houston modelling starts from the $295,400 median, against the project in Houston. A Houston study tests the permit sequence: federal and state approvals, and whatever local zoning allows for production and tastings. In Houston, we would price tanks, barrels, bottling and cold storage from supplier quotes, and tie each to the output it enables. A Houston lender will want to see how much of the loan funds equipment and how much funds working capital for inventory. Daniel Smith, MAI, signs every Houston beverage producer study. For Houston, demand and cost are tested. In Houston, coverage and value are tested. Houston borrowers are promised no approval here.

SBA beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) loans in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	28
Gross dollars approved	$16.4 million
Median loan	$295,400
Middle half of loans, from	$175,300
Middle half of loans, to	$759,000
SBA 7(a) loans	withheld
SBA 504 loans	withheld
Franchise share of loans	withheld
Rank among metro and micro areas for beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) loans	33 of 443
Rank of beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) among the classes in this area	23 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	0.36x
Median loan against the national median for the class	1.02x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)	withheld

Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.

SBA beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) loans approved in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	withheld	withheld
FY2018	6	$1.5 million
FY2019	withheld	withheld
FY2020	withheld	withheld
FY2021	withheld	withheld
FY2022	withheld	withheld
FY2023	withheld	withheld
FY2024	withheld	withheld
FY2025	withheld	withheld
FY2026	0	$0

Where the loans are, by county

County	Loans
Harris County, TX	19

Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.

Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.

The code says the borrower makes beer, wine or spirits; a taproom, tasting room or event use is not visible. The class holds breweries, wineries and distilleries only; the rest of manufacturing is not in it.

Shared code: Wineries are in this class.

A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MA-26420-C08.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) project in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

Daniel Smith, MAI

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