I can't speak for specifics to the alcoholic drink itself, but I can speak to your "protections" for the recipe.

There are none.

Anyone, including Seagrams or Jack Daniels, can at any time purchase your product, chemically analyze it, figure out what is in it and start producing it commercially, without your permission. That is the reality of competition in the recipe world. The only protections you have for a written recipe are copyright, and that only pertains to someone else publishing your words, as if it were a poem. They can rewrite your recipe, changing the way it is written and it becomes their copyright.

That said.

My suggestion to you is to create the product, market it in florida and own the florida market, then once you have established that market move out of state, state by state building your customers as you go. And don't be surprised when your product comes up on the big boys radar and they start to copy your recipe... it WILL happen. Count on it. Every time we come out with a new product our "competition", within 6 months, copies (or rather, attempts to copy) our product. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

That said, I will make note of the fact that simply using a church kitchen is only good if the kitchen is registered and approved for such a commercial use.

Your local food inspection agency will help you with the details and rules you need to follow.

Good luck with it.

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!