Pour Cost Benchmarks for Bars (Beer, Wine, Liquor Split)

Every operator asks the same question: what should my pour cost be? Most consultants answer 20%. They’re wrong. Beer, wine, and spirits run on completely different cost structures, and a single number jams them together so you can’t see which one is bleeding. The blended figure is fine for a back-of-envelope gut check. The category numbers are what actually tell you where the leak lives.

Why a single target is wrong #

Say a bar does 50% beer, 25% wine, 25% spirits and chases a 20% blended target. It might be running 26% on beer (bad), 24% on wine (slightly hot), and 18% on spirits (great). The blend averages out to something that looks healthy. Meanwhile two of your three categories are quietly leaking and the one good number is covering for them.

Run category-level targets. Use the blended number as a cross-check, not the scorecard.

Spirits / liquor #

Industry target: 14-18% pour cost (Backbar, BinWise, Sculpture Hospitality)

Spirits are the highest-margin thing behind your bar. Nothing else is close. A $24 bottle of well vodka gives you about 15 servable 1.5 oz drinks after spillage. At $1.60 cost per drink and a $9 menu price, that’s 17.8% pour cost. Even with 2 points of variance from over-pour and comps, well drinks should land below 20%. If your well is over 20%, you’ve got a pour problem, not a pricing one.

Premium spirits run higher: A $48 bottle of mid-shelf bourbon at $12 per drink gives you $3.20 cost per drink (15 drinks per bottle), or 26.7% pour cost. That’s expected. The markup multiple shrinks as the bottle gets more expensive, so the pour cost climbs.

Top-shelf is closer to wine economics: $120 bottle of single-malt scotch at $22 per drink price = $8 cost per drink = 36% pour cost. The whole thing flips up here, because nobody is paying 7x markup on a $120 bottle and you know it the second you try to print that price.

Where the pour cost leaks: Over-pour on free-pour systems (1.75-2 oz actual vs 1.5 oz spec), comps and buy-backs, “shift drinks” at end of night, broken glass. The over-pour is usually the big one. A heavy hand that adds a quarter ounce to every drink is a tax you pay all night and never see on a single ticket.

Beer #

Bottle/can beer target: 24-30% pour cost (Beverage Industry Magazine, Provi)

Bottle beer carries a lower markup than spirits, and the reason is simple: the customer knows what a six-pack costs at the store. Try charging too much and they feel it. A $4.50 wholesale six-pack of premium domestic is $0.75 per bottle. Sold at $6 retail, that’s 12.5% pour cost. At $5 retail (lower-end pricing), 15%. At $4 retail in a volume bar, 18.75%.

Imports and bottled craft run higher because the wholesale cost is up and the customer pushes back harder on price. A $32 wholesale case of import six-packs is $1.33/bottle. Sold at $8, that’s 16.6% pour cost. Drop it to $6.50 (the typical neighborhood pub price) and you’re at 20.5%.

Draft beer target: 18-24% pour cost (Brewers Association, Toast)

Draft makes more money than bottle per ounce, but it comes with a tail of headaches: lines, foam, cleaning, system maintenance. A typical half-barrel keg at $200 wholesale yields about 115 servable 16 oz pints after foam and waste. Cost per pint: $1.74. At $7 retail, pour cost is 24.9%. Bump it to $8 for premium positioning and you’re at 21.7%.

Where the pour cost leaks: Foam loss (regulator pressure issues), line cleaning waste, end-of-keg waste, free pours, wrong glassware.

For the full draft beer math, see Half-Barrel Pints, Foam Loss, and What a Draft Beer Actually Costs.

Wine #

Wine by the glass (BTG) target: 22-30% pour cost (Provi, BinWise)

A 750mL bottle is 25.4 oz. Pour 5 oz and you get 5 glasses. Spec it at 4 oz and you get 6. Most places run 5 oz, and honestly that’s the right call. The 4 oz pour saves you money on paper, but the guest notices a skinny glass faster than they notice a high price.

A $14 wholesale wine bottle yielding 5 glasses sold at $11 each: $2.80 cost per glass on $11 sale = 25.5% pour cost. Healthy.

The same bottle at a $14 menu price (lower-end pricing): 20% pour cost. Aggressive.

Wine by the bottle target: 28-35% pour cost (BinWise, Provi)

Bottles carry a lower markup than wine by the glass. A $14 wholesale bottle sold at $42 is 33% pour cost. A $35 wholesale bottle sold at $95 is 36.8%. Customers expect “fair markup on a bottle” to land around 2.5-3x wholesale, and that expectation sets your ceiling whether you like it or not. Push past 3x and the regulars start ordering by the glass instead.

Premium and reserve bottles: Run higher pour cost (35-45%), because the tolerance for markup drops as the bottle climbs. A $180 reserve bottle marked up to $450 (2.5x) is 40% pour cost.

Where the pour cost leaks: Over-pour on BTG (5.5 oz vs 5 oz spec), oxidation waste on slow-moving bottles by the glass, broken cork charges absorbed by the house.

Cocktails #

Cocktail target (blended): 18-22% pour cost (Backbar, BevSpot)

Cocktails are spirits-driven, but the mixers, garnish, and ice all pile on. Add it up: a 1.5 oz pour of vodka ($1.60), 0.5 oz triple sec ($0.18), 0.75 oz lime juice ($0.10), and garnish ($0.05) = $1.93 total cost. Sold at $12, that’s 16% pour cost. Sold at $10, 19.3%.

Premium cocktails run higher: A craft cocktail with 2 oz of bourbon ($3.50), housemade syrup ($0.20), and garnish ($0.30) = $4 cost. Sold at $14, that’s 28.6%. Fine for premium positioning.

Where the pour cost leaks: Over-pour on the base spirit, garnish waste (the orange wedge that sat in the dish for three hours), juice waste (fresh-squeezed gone bad), recipe drift (bartender’s “house style” using more spirit than spec).

Total beverage program #

Blended target: 18-24% pour cost

This is everything together: spirits, beer, wine, cocktails. What counts as healthy depends entirely on your menu mix.

Heavy spirit / cocktail mix (modern bar, craft cocktail bar): 16-20% blended Even split spirits / beer / wine: 18-24% blended Heavy beer mix (sports bar, craft beer focus): 22-28% blended Heavy wine mix (wine bar, wine-program restaurant): 22-28% blended

If your blended number falls outside these bands for your mix, the category-level breakdown tells you which is off.

How to read the blended number #

A blended pour cost of 22% can hide three completely different bars.

Story 1 (healthy): 17% spirits, 23% beer, 26% wine, blended 22%. Each category at the top of its healthy range. No one leak; tighten across the board for marginal improvement.

Story 2 (one category leaking): 17% spirits, 31% beer, 24% wine, blended 22% (beer is over-weighted in this mix). The beer leak is doing the damage. Fix beer; spirits and wine are fine.

Story 3 (cocktail problem): 26% cocktails (heavy menu mix), 15% spirits (well drinks), 22% beer, 28% wine, blended 22%. The cocktail program is the issue, but the spirits-only number (well + premium) is healthy. The fix is cocktail-recipe-specific.

The blended number only tells you whether you have a problem at all. The category numbers tell you where it lives, and the variance against each category target tells you how much margin it’s costing you. One number flags it, the breakdown finds it.

The math the calculator runs #

The liquor pour cost calculator on this site runs both formulas (aggregate and per-drink) and shows where you land against category targets. For diagnostic work on which leak is driving an over-run, see 5 Ways Bar Pour Cost Actually Leaks.

What to do today #

Pull last month’s bar sales broken out by category (beer / wine / spirits / cocktails) if your POS supports it. Pull your invoices by category. Run the pour cost separately for each one. Compare against the targets above. Whichever category sits furthest over target is where the work is, full stop.

If your POS won’t break out beverage sales by category, fix that first. Until you can see the categories, you’re staring at the blended number, which is the symptom, and guessing at which category is actually leaking. Stop guessing.

Sources: Backbar, BinWise, Provi, BevSpot, Sculpture Hospitality, Brewers Association.