Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in Idaho

Beverage manufacturing in Idaho is a small-ticket business in SBA's records. From FY2017 to FY2026 there were 31 approvals worth $12.7 million, ranking the state 31 of 53 for the class and with the class sitting 17 of 39 inside Idaho. The location quotient of 0.79x says breweries, wineries and distilleries take a slightly smaller part of Idaho's SBA portfolio than they do across the country. At $167,700 the median loan is only 0.58x the national mark for the class, while the middle half of loans lies from $50,000 to $537,500. The middle half of loans is modest in size, so the typical loan is small.

Program mix and where the loans land

SBA 7(a) dominates with 27 loans against 4 under SBA 504, and franchising touches only 3.2% of loans. Washington Trust Bank holds the most 7(a) loans in this cell, 6, for $1.3 million. Ada County has 18 of the loans, well ahead of Kootenai with 5 and Bonner with 3, while Canyon has 2 and Boundary, Elmore and Twin Falls 1 each. FY2021 stands out with 4 loans totalling $5.7 million, the largest single year by dollars, while FY2024 and FY2026 each show only one loan, at $167,700 and $50,000.

What the class includes and leaves out

Idaho's file says the borrower brews, ferments or distils and no more; a bar counter or event space attached to the plant never shows. The class holds breweries, wineries and distilleries only, and the rest of manufacturing is not counted, so the page speaks only of brewing, wine and distilling. A hospitality-heavy project with a restaurant or event barn may be financed under a different code and will not show here. Loan Analytics shows neither outcome floor, cancellations or charge-offs, because under its own rule a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort, and readers should not fill the gap with an assumed figure.

Testing the producer plan

A study for an Idaho producer has to separate the manufacturing case from the retail case. On the production side it should test equipment cost, barrel or tank capacity, distribution channels and the licensing sequence, because revenue cannot start until the permits do. On the retail side it should test visitor volume to a taproom or tasting room and how sales vary through the year. Debt service coverage should be modeled at modest early volumes given the small median loan, with a downside case for a slow ramp. The appraisal is the sticking point: special-purpose production buildings are hard to value, so the study should price the building as a place another operator could use.