Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in Maryland

One lender holds most of Maryland's beverage loans

Maryland beverage manufacturing is dominated by a single bank. Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company holds 28 of the 48 loans SBA approved between FY2017 and FY2026 for breweries, wineries and distilleries, with $7.0 million, and no other lender in the table reaches the threshold for being named. The class totals $24.0 million in gross dollars, with a median of $250,000, a figure at 0.86x of the class norm across America. Maryland's location quotient is 0.79x, the class sits 14 of 39 inside Maryland, and the state ranks 24 of 53 on volume. Taken together, the figures describe an ordinary cell rather than an outlier.

Programs, geography and size

The central half of loans runs from $86,250 to $507,500. The 7(a) programme carried 45 loans and the 504 programme 3. No loan carries a franchise: the share is 0.00%. Baltimore City leads with 10 loans, Baltimore County has 8 and Montgomery 7, then Carroll and Frederick 4 each.

What the code hides

Maryland's code says only that the borrower brews, ferments or distils. Whether a tasting room or event space exists is not visible, so the page cannot say how much revenue comes from on-site sales. Loan Analytics withholds Maryland's charge-off rate: fewer than 30 loans were funded in the cohort. No figure is given, and the blank is not a claim that losses are absent. FY2017 produced 15 loans and FY2019 10, against 1 loan in each of FY2018, FY2021 and FY2025, so the pattern is bursty.

Testing a Maryland beverage project

Maryland's cancellation floor is 4.8% for approvals through FY2024, with a ceiling of 9.5%. The study should test where revenue will come from: wholesale and distribution, taproom visits or tasting events, and how the permits for each affect timing. It should price brewing, fermenting or distilling equipment, tanks and build-out against a median near $250,000, and model debt service coverage with a slow ramp in volume and seasonality in visits. Inventory ties up cash for months in aging products, so working capital must be explicit. The appraisal will lean on equipment value and the lease, which the study should document.