Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in Vermont

A state where beverage manufacturing punches far above its weight

Vermont records 68 brewery, winery and distillery loans from FY2017 to FY2026, totaling $29.3 million. The location quotient of 5.72x is the leading fact: Vermont's share of these loans is a multiple of the national share. Among Vermont's financed classes it stands 2 of 39, while for loan count the state is 20 of 53, a modest position that owes more to Vermont's size than to any lack of activity. For a lender outside the state, this cell shows a market where craft producers are routine borrowers, not exotic ones.

Small loans, the distinctive metric

The median loan is $152,000, only 0.52x of the national median, and ticket size is where Vermont departs from the country. Half of all loans fall between $87,250 and $420,000. Vermont producers borrow in small pieces, probably for equipment, inventory and working capital, and not to build large production plants. Of the 68 loans, 54 are SBA 7(a) and 14 are SBA 504, so there is a real minority of real estate and fixed-asset financing. The franchise share is 0.00%. Community National Bank dominates the lender list with 21 loans and $4.8 million, National Bank of Middlebury follows with 6 loans and $1.7 million, and SBA CLSC Servicing appears with 5 loans and $699,900, as SBA reports the current holder.

All the code establishes is that the borrower produces drinks; a taproom, tasting room or event use cannot be seen, and a lender cannot tell from the data how much revenue comes from visitors. The yearly record shows a sharp fall: 13 loans in FY2017, 15 in FY2018 and 11 loans with $10.3 million in FY2021, then 1 loan in FY2023, none in FY2024, 1 in FY2025 and 3 in FY2026. We read that as a pullback in SBA lending to the sector, not proof of closing breweries. Cancellation is a floor of 9.4%, and the ceiling is the same 9.4%. No disbursed FY2017 to FY2021 Vermont loan in the 51-loan cohort has been charged off (0.00%), and none inside five years either (0.00%).

What a Vermont study must test

The study should test demand in terms of tourism and local draw, the distribution plan and the share of sales that happen at the taproom. Chittenden County has 23 loans, and Addison and Washington each have 8, so competition is densest around Burlington and Middlebury. Cost must cover brewhouse or still equipment, cold storage, wastewater handling and licensing. Coverage of debt service has to survive a seasonal sales pattern. The valuation should treat production equipment as separate collateral from the building, since equipment resale values are far below cost. Because recent lending has thinned, a borrower should expect lenders to ask why this project would be funded when few others were.