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TTB segregation of Tasting Room


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The TTB permit tutorial states:

Did you know that tasting rooms for Distilled Spirits Plants:
Cannot be on bonded premises nor can they be on general premises. You must have an area that is completely segregated from the distillery.
Any information regarding tasting rooms/retail areas should not be listed in the application information. It should be shown on the diagram so we can ensure sufficient segregation and separate entrances for that area and the distillery. 

I have attached a basic sketch of my proposed layout for my micro-distillery. I have a 50 gallon tower still and the space I am leasing used to be a micro-brewery, FYI the footprint of the space is 375 SF. It's inside a mill building with other retail units, the space is already up to fire codes with sprinklers etc. However, where I plan to have the still is not separated by a wall. I was curious if the fact that the production area is in one corner away from the tasting if that would meet the TTB demands.

Any help on this topic would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

layout.pdf

Edited by thebottle
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It might.

I've been in distilleries with zero walls, markers, nothing between the tasting area and the stills (New Deal Distillery in Portland, OR); with a ~3' high iron fence between the tasting area and distillery (Thunder Road Distillery in Kodak, TN). I don't know if the first one ever had a TTB visit but I do know the second one did and was never asked to fix it. But the only answer to your question is: it might. Whatever you come up with "might" be ok for the TTB.

One thing they may notice right away though, is there is not a unique or separate distillery entrance. I think if you had a "separate" tasting room entrance and a separate distillery entrance they may not notice. Maybe run a dividing wall or fence down the right side of yellow entrance area to the purple tasting area. Mark that area is non-dsp. It may not have a fully separate entrance but may look better on the drawings you have to submit.  Good luck, it's a crap shoot.

 

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On a similar note, what is the occupancy class of your tasting room and production area.  I am assuming the the production area is F-1?  How are others dealing woth occupancy and fire separation??

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This space used to home to 2 start-up micro-breweries. Each one was very successful to the point that they had to move out into larger facilities. When their was a brewery in the space I believe it was F-1 and they could fit about 15-20 people inside for a tasting.

 

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Probably not. In the end it depends on who reviews your submission, but based on our review it would no fly.  As others have said, I have been in a distillery where you could touch the stills from the tasting area. 

Ii would check the occupancy. Brewery is only F2, up to 16 % alcohol production. 

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  • 3 months later...

I have my approved distillery in the same building as my distillery. The bonded area is separated from the tasting room by a wall with a door. Dark Horse Distillery has a glass wall that separates the bonded area from the Tasting room. Dark Corner Distillery had the same thing in their downtown distillery location......

 

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For my approval I had to show that the distillery DSP and the tasting room are two separate entities, with two different entrances, with the ability to lock from the DSP side. Pictures and diagrams were included with my application to the TTB agent. 

 

Cheers,

-ilias

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  • 1 month later...

I had a local distiller tell me that someone from the TTB told him to have his unbounded tasting room listed as an office on the application.  Said they can't approve tasting rooms on same premises, but unbonded office is ok and once approved they don't care what you use it for.  Sounds crazy, but this is the TTB we're dealing with. Thoughts?

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On 12/29/2016 at 3:41 PM, thebottle said:

However, where I plan to have the still is not separated by a wall. I was curious if the fact that the production area is in one corner away from the tasting if that would meet the TTB demands.

I am a bit surprised that folks are responding with these maybe and could be type answers.  The answer your dont want, but the correct answer is no. There needs to be physical separation (floor to ceiling wall or partition and not just a railing) between the bonded distillery production area and the (not part of your DSP premises) tasting room/serving area/sales area.  Yes, there are many examples of distilleries breaking this rule.  Yes you might get away with breaking this rule yourself.  No, your layout would not meet TTB demands if they chose to make demands or they chose to start enforcing these clearly communicated layout rules.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah, I basically took the safe route. I'm making sure that the production area is completely separate from the retail and tasting room areas. I don't want to take any chances on my application being tied up. Thanks for the help and advice.

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