Mercantile Occupancy

[twardena]

Has anyone been successful classifying your distillery as a Mercantile occupancy? We have a 2,400 sq. foot building with neighboring buildings attached on each side. We are mashing, distilling, bottling and cask aging spirits onsite, but NOT milling grains onsite. We have a 740 sq. foot tasting room where we plan to sell bottles, merchandise and serve cocktails by the glass. We requested an F1 occupancy, but our local building officials are trying to push us into a Group-H occupancy (they are refusing to recognize the IFC exception to spirits in wood barrels from being classified as flammable storage). As an alternative we were considering requesting a Mercantile occupancy for the entire facility with an incidental use for the still, mash cooker, bottling, etc. If that doesn't work we were going to try a Mercantile occupancy for the tasting room as well as a separate barrel storage room with an F1 occupancy for the rest of the facility. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Tonya

[Salishseaorganicliqueurs]

Have you tried quoting them the specific clause of the IFC exception to spirits in wood barrels? It might take an attorney to translate it into language that they understand.

[Roger]

What state ?