Ale-8-One was approved for state tax incentives Thursday for a possible expansion, but company officials say negotiations are still in the early stages.

“There is nothing that is finalized,” Ale-8-One public relations manager DeAnne Elmore said Friday. “We applied for a grant and a loan.”

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Administration approved $685,000 in incentives for the proposal.

Elmore said the company is exploring an opportunity to package another company’s product.

“We don’t know if it’s going to happen or not,” she said. “It’s very early in the process.”

The state does not allow companies to apply for incentives retroactively, she said, so Ale-8-One had to apply before anything is finalized.

The application said 40 jobs could be created

“All we have is an approved application,” she said. “We hope this comes to fruition at some point. It’s a very big opportunity for us.”

The company, which makes Ale-8-One, Diet Ale-8-One and a cherry flavor, was founded in Winchester in 1902. It presently employs about 95 people.