Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in Kentucky

Bourbon country, mid-sized loans

Kentucky producers borrow more than the national class. The median loan of $382,500 is 1.32x the national median for beverage manufacturing, and the 1.30x location quotient shows breweries, wineries and distilleries taking more weight in the state's approvals than they carry nationally. Inside Kentucky the class holds slot 14 of 39, and on volume the state stands at 28 of 53, with 39 approvals totaling $32.9 million across FY2017 to FY2026. Half of the approvals run from $146,900 to $1.1 million. The cell separates itself on size and concentration, while cancellation and charge-off rates are withheld.

Where the loans are

Programs lean to 7(a), with 33 loans against 6 under 504, and franchising is 2.6% of loans. No lender reaches the five-loan threshold, so lending is spread among many institutions and none is named. Geography is concentrated in two urban counties: Jefferson County holds 13 loans and Fayette County 5, followed by Kenton and Scott counties with 3 each and Campbell, Henry and Pike counties with 2 each. Annual counts ranged from 2 loans in FY2018, FY2023 and FY2024 to 6 in FY2025, and the largest dollar years were FY2022 at $8.7 million and FY2020 at $6.7 million.

Under the code a borrower produces beer, wine or spirits, and taproom, tasting room or event income stays hidden. This class also includes wineries and leaves out the rest of manufacturing. A reader cannot tell a production brewery from a brewpub or a visitor-oriented distillery, so a study must say which model applies.

Kentucky has no published cancellation rate or charge-off rate, because each early cohort is too thin. Nothing should be inferred from the blanks.

What a Kentucky producer study must test

Before the building, a Kentucky distillery, brewery or winery plan should be tested on its product and who will buy it. For spirits, that includes the aging period, since inventory ties up cash for years, and the study must show how the operation survives until the first product ships. Distribution is the next question: sales through distributors, direct to consumers and on-site visitors. Equipment and building cost should be set against a loan near $382,500, with stills, tanks, barrel storage and fire-code requirements shown. The payment has to be covered even if sales build slowly, and since a lender would recover on specialized equipment and property only over time, the study should document alternative uses.