I have a 7A on a different project (non distillery), and have had it for about 3 years now. It worked for us at the time, but it is a huge pain in the rear now. ALL of my assets are locked up by it.
We're looking at a 504 (green) for another project (also non-distillery), and that program looks very promising. Much easier to deal with once it is in place than the 7A, but harder to get initially.
To answer this question:
*** DOES PAYING CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS COUNT TOWARD JOB CREATION? DO WE QUALIFY AS A MANUFACTURER? ***
I believe you can use construction jobs toward the job creation requirements, however you don't get to count them 1:1. Depending on your area, you have to discount them since they're transient. We also have a HUD Sec. 108 loan, and that has stringent job requirements as well - more stringent than the SBA loan - and even that program allows partial counting of the construction jobs.
I don't know if a distillery would be qualified as a manufacturer, but I believe it would.
If you do go the SBA route, get ready for the *complete* exam. It's quite a bit more thorough than many regular bank loans I've received over the years.