The parent of contract brewing company Great Southern Beverages filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to stop an eviction process and reorganize its business.
Great Southern Copackers LLC, which previously brewed craft beers for clients including Orange Blossom Brewery, Cigar City Brewing, and Publix Super Markets’ 1300 Mile Brewing, filed its Subchapter V petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida on Aug. 20, listing $1 million to $10 million in assets and debts.
The Lakeland, Fla., beverage manufacturer’s largest unsecured creditors include Lakeland Industrial 1 LLC, owed over $364,000 on a lease agreement, and Sea Isle Spiked Iced Tea LLC, owed $100,000 on a business contract, according to its petition.
The debtor’s bankruptcy filing imposes an automatic stay on any legal actions against Great Southern Copackers while its case proceeds in court. The company’s brewery faced a threat of eviction by its landlord and contract disputes, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
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Landlord files eviction process
The commercial property owner of Great Southern Beverages’ facility, The Becker Organization, filed an eviction proceeding on June 11 in the Polk County Court, alleging that the defendant owed $364,118 in back rent and property insurance, the Lakeland Gazette reported.
The debtor also owes over $89,000 in delinquent wastewater and electric accounts to Lakeland Electric, which led to warnings and temporary service cut-offs, according to the report.
Great Southern Beverages’ CEO Jeremy Roberts acquired the brewery, formerly known as BrewHub, in 2025. The brewery had financial issues before Roberts bought the company, according to Lkldnow.
Owners operate another contract brewer
Roberts and his business partner Andrew Phillippe, who operate Florida-based contract brewery Brew Theory, brought in more partners to complete the BrewHub deal, which had been negotiated for about 10 months and closed in May 2025, according to Brewbound.
The 75,000 square-foot Lakeland facility can produce up to 3.5 million cases per year.
Roberts will attempt a turnaround as Great Southern Beverages ceases its beer production and will shift to making ready-to-drink products.
“Obviously, craft beer isn’t gonna be it. You know, the consumer demand isn’t there, but RTDs are still strong,” Roberts told Lkldnow.
Founded by former Busch workers
BrewHub was founded in 2014 by former Anheuser-Busch employees Tim and Diane Schoen during the craft beer boom. Over the next 11 years, the brewery faced the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects on the industry and changing consumer behavior as young adults were not drinking as much as the age group had in past decades, according to Lkldnow.
Older adults also began to shift their preference toward drinking spirits.
Alcohol consumption at all-time low
Craft breweries continue to suffer from a national trend of American adults drinking less alcohol, as a Gallup Poll survey found, for the second year in a row in 2026, that 54% of U.S. adults ages 18 and over drink alcohol, matching the all-time low from 2025, which was the lowest number since 1939.
The share of American drinkers has fallen sharply since 2022 when 67% of U.S. adults drank alcohol, according to Gallup’s Consumption Habits survey.
Several craft breweries have filed for bankruptcy protection in 2026, including Anniston, Ala.-based brewery and restaurant Coldwater Mountain Brewpub LLC, which filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama on July 15 and Burnsville, Minn.-based beer brand Trove Brewing LLC, which filed a Subchapter V petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota on June 3.
