Equipment damage, worker’s compensation claims, spoiled stock, and loss settlements are just a few of the key potential damages breweries face every year. And if you don’t have the right protections in place, you may be stuck replacing equipment or product or paying hefty fees in claim or lawsuit settlements out of pocket if you’re held responsible for accidents.
To avoid these financial challenges, or at least minimize their impact on your business, you may want to invest in craft brewer’s insurance.
To better understand brewer’s insurance and what exactly it covers, let’s dive into the business types that may most benefit from brewer’s insurance, the eight most important coverage plan options for your policy, and the costs associated with this insurance type.
Who Needs Craft Brewer Insurance
Craft brewer insurance, specifically craft brewer insurance, can benefit a wide range of relevant businesses, but it is most effective when applied to highly specific business types. These include craft brewers, distillers, microbreweries, and other related small businesses.
Craft Brewers & Distillers
Craft brewers are typically those small or independently owned breweries and distilleries that produce less than six million barrels of beer per year. These breweries rely on industry-specific insurance options to ensure that they’re protected from as many relevant potential damages as possible including property damage, general liability, equipment breakdown, and much more.
Microbreweries
Microbreweries are typically even smaller than average craft breweries or distilleries. To be classified as a microbrewery, they can’t make more than 15,000 barrels of beer per year, and they must sell at least three-quarters of what they make off-site.
However, these businesses tend to face the same risks and insurance challenges that craft breweries and distilleries face, so choosing to purchase a craft brewer policy for your microbrewery can be an excellent choice.
Industry-Relevant Businesses that Don’t Need a Craft Brewer Policy
Small wineries and alcohol manufacturers may benefit from many of the similar insurance offerings provided in a craft brewer insurance policy, but it’s important to note that there are alternative policy types that are better suited to these businesses.
They face specific challenges and risk factors that may need more, less, or different coverage than a craft brewer policy provides, so it’s important to do your research well to ensure you get winery- or manufacturer-specific insurance.
Which Insurance Coverage Options to Consider for Your Brewery
There are so many different insurance coverage options that can be included in a brewer’s insurance plan. These may be tailored to your needs, or you may invest in a pre-selected package option. Whichever you choose, make sure that you’re getting all of the key coverages you need.
Let’s take a look at eight of the most commonly pursued insurance options for brewer’s insurance policies.
General Liability
General liability is the most basic insurance coverage option for businesses of any kind. Breweries, distilleries, and other related businesses can greatly benefit from having a public liability policy as they help when you’re faced with lawsuits and injuries that other policy types may not cover.
Liquor Liability
Unlike a few other policy types on this list, liquor liability insurance is non-negotiable for breweries, distilleries, and other businesses that sell alcoholic products. Specifically, this coverage works to provide financial protection if your business is faced with claims of injury as a result of alcohol consumption.
This is especially important because a business like yours may still be held liable for an individual’s level of intoxication even if you as the owner are not considered to be personally liable.
Property Damage
Property damage coverage works very similarly to your average homeowner’s policy. It can help you cover costs associated with weather damage, accidents, wear-and-tear coverage, and other damages that affect your property. As with other policy types, make sure you carefully stipulate exactly what you need to be covered in this policy–especially if you have outbuildings, basements, or other things that may require specialized coverage.
Worker’s Compensation
As with many job types, there are risks inherent in operating brewing machinery and conducting other normal tasks relevant to an employee’s work in a brewery. To ensure your employees have financial protection and you have the correct protective policies in place, make sure you have a good worker’s compensation plan. These policies can help cover a wide range of costs including slips, falls, cuts, burns, and other accidents.
Equipment Breakdown
Equipment is one of the biggest and most costly investments a business can make. This is especially true if you work with equipment that needs frequent maintenance work or part replacement to function properly.
There are several different kinds of equipment your brewery may need, so make sure that the equipment breakdown policy you choose has coverage that meets your specific requirements. It’s important to note that a good equipment breakdown policy will also include repair coverage for equipment.
Tank Collapse and Leakage
While this may seem like it should fit within the confines of an equipment breakdown policy, tank collapse and leakage policies are very serious insurance types that breweries need to invest in. Almost all beer made in craft breweries and distilleries is stored in tanks, so having an insurance plan catered to their care and maintenance can be a huge help.
Product Contamination and Spoilage
Brewers, distillers, wineries, and many others have to deal with certain headaches and problems that other businesses may never have to face. This means you need to be extra vigilant to ensure you’re getting the right policy for your brewery, not just a solid general policy that may not work for your business.
Product contamination and spoilage is one specific example of a coverage type that many small businesses may not need, for example, those in the fashion industry, jewelry industry, or automotive industry. This insurance add-on can help alleviate the headache you may face when dealing with bad or spoiled beer, wine, or other alcohol. That way, you can safely dispose of the unusable product without completely losing your income on it.
Commercial Auto Insurance
If you own or have to drive commercial vehicles for your business, you need to invest in a good commercial auto policy. This insurance type can help you offset financial burdens associated with accidents if you’re dealing with a business-owned delivery van, a rented vehicle, or even a personally-owned car that’s being used for business purposes.
Cyber Insurance
For modern businesses, it’s almost impossible to escape the need for computers and the internet. Unfortunately, using these tools leaves your business vulnerable to data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber security threats that may hurt your business. Cyber insurance works to combine several different digital protections into a convenient package to ensure your business is protected if such a breach occurs.
Costs of Craft Brewer Insurance
Craft brewer insurance can, to a certain extent, be a one-size-fits-all policy type in its most basic form. And it may cost more or less for different businesses based on the exact about of coverage they need. Typically, this will depend on how much equipment you have, how much beer you produce, and what your inherent risk level is.
Because of this range, it can be hard to determine exactly how much craft brewer insurance may cost your business.
Key Takeaways
If you own a brewery, distillery, winery, or other related business, you may consider investing in a good brewer-specific insurance policy today. They can go a long way in helping you offset damage and accident costs relating to a wide range of incidents including employee injury, property damage, lawsuit, or product loss.
If you’re interested in buying a craft brewer insurance policy or learning more about how they work, reach out to speak with one of our skilled agents today.