Amid ongoing lawsuits by multiple lenders claiming Sarasota's Big Top Brewing owes more than $4.6 million in unpaid loans, the popular brewery was closing one of its locations in Lakewood Ranch on Oct. 30.

In recent court filings in the Sarasota County Circuit Court, at least two lenders filed separate lawsuits against the Sarasota-based brewery, its owners and an affiliated liability company. Both lawsuits state that the company defaulted on loan agreements by failing to make timely payments and owes more than $4 million loan to Berkeley Alternative Income Fund and more than $600,000 to SouthState Bank.

Big Top alleges in a counterclaim against Berkeley Alternative Income Fund, a Mississippi-based limited liability company, that it was overcharged on a construction loan and thus it

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