Board approves special alcohol license for Back Pocket Brewing at Reg Ride site

The Osceola County Board of Supervisors approved a special class C retail alcohol license for Back Pocket Brewing LLC to operate at the county’s Reg Ride event site after the company's representative joined the meeting by phone.

Jerry Helmberg, serving as chairman during the meeting, introduced the item and connected the board to Steve, a representative of Back Pocket Brewing. Steve described the vendor’s history, saying the company had run similar event sites since 2014 without issues and expected to serve at the Reg Ride location again.

Steve told the board Back Pocket Brewing would pay a $250 fee to May City and had no objection to the fee being made out directly to May City. "We do not have a problem with that," he said. He also offered to help May City with logistical questions drawn from the vendor’s experience running large event stops.

County staff explained the license process and said for Mesa City the dram-shop certification had not yet been received from the state; for Back Pocket Brewing the dram-shop (liability/training) verification was complete and the board moved to approve the license. Supervisors voted in favor by voice vote.

Staff noted the county follows state guidance on issuing licenses and that if the county were to deny a license in similar future cases the state could entertain an appeal, per staff remarks about state review. No conditions beyond the fee and state-required dram-shop verification were placed on this approval.