What Florida Beverage Law Says About Getting Beer to Go From the Brewery
By Trevor K. Brewer, Beverage & Business Attorney
Alcoholic beverages in Florida are regulated by the Florida Beverage Law, Chapters 561 through 568 of the Florida Statutes. Most of the statutes contained in the Florida Beverage Law, as well as the regulations that expand on them, pertain to the operations of Florida's alcoholic beverage manufacturers, distributors, and retail vendors. However, some of the statutes directly impact consumers as well. One area of impact affects how consumers can get beer home from Florida breweries.
Florida Beverage Law Limits Which Breweries Can Sell Beer to Consumers
In Florida, not all breweries can sell beer directly to consumers. Florida's Three Tier System is designed to keep separate the operations of alcoholic beverage manufacturers, distributors, and retail vendors, unless an exception applies. One of those exceptions--the Taproom Exception--allows production breweries to sell beer directly to consumers from a taproom (tavern, restaurant, tasting room--the name doesn't matter) that is connected to the brewery or directly across the street. For this, the taproom must have its own retail vendor license.
A number of retail vendor license are available in Florida, although most of them are for very specific situations. A brewery taproom will in most cases have one of four types of licenses: (1) 2APS, (2) 2COP, (3) 4COP-QUOTA, or (4) 4COP-SFS.
The 2APS license allows the holder to sell beer (and wine) to consumers for consumption off premises only. This is appropriate for a gift shop or to-go counter only, without seating.
The 2COP license allows the holder to sell beer (and wine) to consumers for consumption on premises or packaged for off premises consumption. This is the most common retail vendor license for brewery taprooms in Florida.
The 4COP-QUOTA license allows the holder to sell beer, wine, and liquor. Unlike the other retail vendor licenses, the number of quota licenses is limited per county. That makes these licenses extremely valuable. The holder of a quota license can sell it for hundreds of thousands of dollars in some case.
The 4COP-SFS license allows the holder to sell beer, wine, and liquor, but only in connection with the operations of a restaurant. There are a number of requirements for the 4COP-SFS, including the requirement that a majority of retail revenue must come from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
To-go sales are no problem for holders of the 2APS, 2COP, or 4COP-QUOTA license. All of those licenses specifically authorize sales of packaged beer for consumption off premises without limitations. It's a different story for the 4COP-SFS license. The 2021 Cocktails-to-Go law authorizes 4COP-SFS license holders to sell beer, wine or alcoholic beverages to-go, but only if it is accompanied by the sale of food in the same order.
Florida Beverage Law Controls Beer Packaging
The Florida Beverage Law includes restrictions on beer package sizes. Pre-packaged beer must be in individual containers containing no more than 32 ounces or more than 1 gallon (that is, 128 ounces). This means that individual cans or bottles must be contain no more than 1 quart of beer, and kegs and barrels must be at least 1 gallon. Beer cannot be sold in containers that hold between 32 ounces and 128 ounces (except for 64-ounce growlers, discussed below). It is entirely legal in Florida for a consumer to buy beer by the keg or barrel, as long as it contains at least 1 gallon of beer. There's no upper limit.
Brewery taprooms--including restaurants with the 4COP-SFS license--are also permitted to fill and sell growlers, including their modern form, CrowlersTM. Growlers must be filled at the point of sale. They must hold 32 ounces, 64 ounces, or 128 ounces. Each growler must include an imprint or label stating the name of the manufacturer, the brand, and the anticipated percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV). At the time of sale, growlers must have an unbroken seal or otherwise be incapable of being immediately consumed.
Florida Beverage Law Prohibits Deliveries by Breweries
Florida breweries are prohibited from delivering beer the same way that other retail vendors can. While licensed alcohol vendors are generally allowed to accept remote orders from retail customers and deliver the ordered products, Florida Beverage Law specifically prohibits breweries from doing this.
What about delivery services like Grubhub, Uber Eats, and Instacart? Whether these services can get beer from a Florida brewery to a retail customer depends on whether the delivery person is legally the agent for the brewery or the agent for the customer. If the delivery person is legally the agent for the brewery, then the brewery is prohibited by Florida law from using the service to delivery beer. On the other hand, if the delivery person is legally the agent for the customer, then the delivery person can deliver beer from the brewery to the customer.
Whether the delivery person is agent for the brewery or for the customer, the delivery service's terms of service should make this clear. Examining the terms of services of some major delivery services (as of November 2021), Uber Eats and Drizly are "agent of the seller" services, meaning that breweries cannot use them. Instacart and Doordash/Caviar are "agent of the customer" services, meaning that they can delivery beer from Florida breweries. For Grubhub and Minibar, the terms of service are not clear, but they are probably "agent of the seller" services too.
BrewersLaw.com: All About the Laws Affecting Alcoholic Beverages in Florida
Since 2013, we have focused on understanding the laws that affect the alcoholic beverages industry in Florida. Most of what we have learned can be found at our beverage-focused website, and blog, brewerslaw.com. This is a great place to start if you have additional questions about how alcoholic beverage laws work in Florida.
Because we’re attorneys: Disclaimer.
