Bookkeeping for breweries and bars
A brewery sells over its own bar, to distributors and in packaged form, with excise taxes and ingredient costs on top. A bar carries inventory, tips and heavy card volume. Mispar separates the revenue streams, tracks inventory and excise as your records allow, and prepares monthly books in your own QuickBooks Online or Xero file. Plans start at $229/mo.
Best for: Craft breweries and taprooms, bars and pubs, and small distillery or cidery tasting rooms.
Reconciled
Taproom sales
Tracked
Distributor sales
Itemized
Excise
Categorized
Inventory
Where brewery and bar books usually go wrong
- Ingredient, packaging and labor costs not tied to batches.
- Taproom, distribution and event income combined.
- Excise and state reporting kept apart from the books.
How Mispar keeps your brewery and bar books clean
Industry-specific accounts and categorization, with the reporting scope agreed before work starts.
Taproom and bar sales
Match point-of-sale reports to deposits, with card fees and tips kept off the sales line.
Distributor and wholesale invoices
Record distributor sales and keg or case deposits separately from taproom revenue, with open invoices listed each month.
Excise and alcohol taxes
Track excise and related taxes in their own accounts, using the figures from your filings.
Ingredients, packaging and inventory
Group grain, hops, glass, cans and kegs by type so cost of goods is visible, with counts from your records.
Tips and staff pay
Reconcile bartender and server pay and tip payouts to payroll reports.
Licenses and insurance
Categorize liquor licenses, permits and liquor liability insurance, which are large and recurring.
Events, tastings and merchandise
Keep taproom events, tours and merchandise as separate lines so side businesses can be judged on their own.
Loans and brewing equipment
Record tanks, kegs and bar buildout financing as loans and assets, with interest and principal kept apart.
Reports a brewery or bar can use
- Cost by batch or product.
- Revenue by channel.
- Inventory on hand.
A simple, predictable process
From kickoff to your first clean close, here is exactly what happens.
Map your revenue streams
We list the bar, distributors, events and online or packaged sales.
Set up cost and tax accounts
Ingredients, packaging, excise and licenses get their own accounts.
Reconcile each month
Register totals, distributor payments, payroll and bills are matched to the bank.
Deliver monthly statements
Monthly statements arrive ready for your CPA with an open-items list.
Illustrative example
A distributor pays for forty kegs delivered in March with a keg deposit held back. Recording the deposit as owed back keeps the sale and the returnable deposit from blurring together. This is an illustration of the method, not a customer case or a guarantee.
Breweries & Bars bookkeeping — your questions
Can you track taproom and distributor revenue separately?
Yes. They are set up as different streams so each can be reviewed on its own.
How is excise tax handled?
We record it from your filings and keep it in its own accounts. We do not prepare or advise on alcohol tax filings.
Can you handle keg deposits?
Yes, as amounts owed back to the distributor until kegs return.
Do you do inventory?
We categorize purchases and use counts you provide. Physical counting is done by your team.
Can you help with tips?
We reconcile tip payouts to payroll records and keep them apart from sales.
Can you handle a bar with no brewery?
Yes. The same setup works for a bar, with the distributor and excise lines left out.
Can you track cost by batch?
Yes. Ingredients and packaging are tied to batches.
What do you need each month to keep breweries & bars books?
Register exports, distributor statements, excise filings, payroll reports and access to your bank and card feeds.
Explore other industries
Restaurants
Prime cost, tip pools, POS reconciliation, and food/beverage COGS — booked the way a restaurant actually runs.
Learn more →E-commerce
Multi-channel reconciliation, FIFO/weighted-average inventory, COGS at ship date, and sales-tax nexus done right.
Learn more →Retail
POS reconciliation, COGS, shrinkage, vendor payables, and sales-tax remittance — clean end to end.
Learn more →Customers slow to pay?
Our in-house collections team calls and emails customers who owe your company money, so you can stay focused on the work.