Ethanol is a non-starter in the US, imo. No matter the source.
It has very poor cold weather performance, for one thing. Below about 60 degrees, you need gasoline to start an ethanol powered car. Even in Brazil, cars sold in the regions that have cool weather, have a gasoline tank added for starting the car.
Here in the US, E85 is actually reduced to E70 in areas with cool weather, but it is still sold as E85. E85 makes a flex fuel vehicle difficult to start in the cold, so they have to add more gasoline to the blend in the fall and winter.
Even in Florida, you would likely need a gasoline reservoir to start your ethanol powered car at times.
IMO, the problem is blending it with gasoline across the country. That created an artificial demand.