All Alberta liquor manufacturers need a Class E licence. In addition, some manufacturers require a Class A or Class D licence, depending on the intended use(s) of their products.
For information about all types of liquor licences (not just for manufacturers), see AGLC Liquor licences.
Required for all Alberta liquor manufacturers. Class E licences are for distillers, vintners or brewers that have a permanent facility. This facility cannot be a residence (such as a garage, basement or shed).
For more details, see Class E licences.
You need a Class A licence if you plan to serve your products at your manufacturing facility. Four types of Class A licences are available to manufacturers:
For more details, see Class A licences.
You need a Class D Manufacturer's Off-Sales licence if you plan to sell your products directly to the public, to be consumed off of your premises. For example, if you want to fill and sell growlers from your taproom or sell at farmers markets.
For more details, see Class D licences.
Tip: Contact your municipality before you apply for licences with AGLC. You need to be sure that municipal zoning and bylaws will allow for business at the proposed location.
You can apply for all of your licences at the same time. If you do this:
AGLC will work with you to process your application as fast as possible, Typically, the end-to-end process takes one to three months, depending on how fast your local municipality provides needed approval documents to open your business.
There are five general steps to getting licensed with AGLC:
We describe these steps briefly below. More details and the forms you will need are on AGLC Liquor website:
We recommend you meet with an AGLC staff member to discuss the licensing process and get you started in the right direction. This meeting can take place over the phone or in person.
While this step is not required, it is highly recommended as it can save you a lot of time and effort later on.
To start an assessment, get in touch with AGLC office in your area.
For the initial application, you must provide:
AGLC will post your application on AGLC website for 7 days. This gives affected third parties an opportunity to object to your application. For example, a neighbour might be concerned about your proposed location.
To finish the application process, you will need to provide:
When your application is complete and your site is fully functional, an AGLC Inspector will contact you to schedule the final inspection and approval. You cannot start production until after your final inspection. The inspection usually takes 30-45 minutes.
After your approved inspection, the Inspector will:
You can start production as soon as you're licensed. However, before you can start selling your products, you must set up your business with AGLC's systems. For more details, see AGLC system setup.