Thank you for the replies gentlemen. No need for unlimited storage, I am starting out small in quantity and budget. The 240 gallon limitations should serve me alright along with the wood cask exception. Our big focus is whiskey and rum, so the majority of the stored spirits will be in processing (and I if I recall there might be an exception for that as well?). Bluestar, do some fire marshals really require anything in direct line of sight be explosion proof? Being that the space is a rectangle, that would get pricey extremely fast. Is there a certain thickness of Lexan that qualifies as explosion proof?
3dog, from what it sounds like talking to the city we would be classified F1, but I'm not sure on the tasting room. Is there fire ratings for glass in general? I have seen two distilleries with glass walls separating the cocktail room and production area.