Liquor stock in millilitres: pour cost and variance
Counting bar stock in bottles hides every over-pour and spill. Why liquor belongs in millilitres, how to work out pour cost per peg, and how to read variance.
For bars, pubs and restaurants that serve liquor by the peg · 3 min read · updated
In short
- Stock liquor in millilitres, the unit it is sold in, not in bottles.
- Cost per ml is bottle cost divided by volume: a ₹1,500, 750 ml bottle costs ₹2 a ml.
- Pour cost is liquor cost as a share of the selling price; a rising pour cost usually means stock going missing.
- Cocktails should consume their ingredients by recipe, which only works if the recipes are followed.
- Log spillage, breakage and complimentary drinks as they happen, so variance points at what is left.
- Measure open bottles by weight or gauge, and reconcile the ml ledger to the state excise register.
Why bottles lie
A bar sells pegs and buys bottles. Count stock in bottles and every open bottle is either a whole one or none, so the gap between what you should have and what you do have disappears into rounding — exactly where over-pouring, spillage and free drinks live.
Stock it in millilitres and the figures match what actually happens. A 750 ml bottle received is 750 ml in stock; a 60 ml large peg sold is 60 ml out. The balance means something, because it is kept in the same unit the liquor leaves in.
Pour cost, worked out
Cost per ml is the bottle's cost divided by its volume. A 750 ml bottle bought for ₹1,500 costs ₹2 a ml, so a 30 ml small peg costs ₹60 and a 60 ml large peg ₹120 in liquor alone.
Pour cost is that cost as a share of the selling price. Sell the large peg for ₹450 and its pour cost is about 27%. Track it per product and in total: a pour cost that rises while prices hold steady is almost always measuring liquor going missing, not suppliers getting dearer.
When purchase prices change, average the cost per ml across what is in stock rather than switching to the new price overnight, so the peg sold tonight is costed at what the liquor in that bottle actually cost.
A cocktail consumes its recipe
A cocktail is not a stock item. Selling one should take the gin, the vermouth and the bitters out of stock in the measures the recipe specifies, so each ingredient moves as the drinks are made.
That only works if the recipes are written down and followed. A bar that free-pours its cocktails cannot reconcile them, because the recipe the system uses and the one the bartender uses are different.
Reading the variance
Variance is expected usage — what the sales and recipes say should have gone — against actual usage from a count. Most of the gap has a name:
- Over-pouring: a 60 ml peg poured at 70 ml gives away a sixth of a peg every time.
- Spillage and breakage: real and unavoidable, and worth logging as they happen rather than discovering at the count.
- Complimentary drinks: fine, provided they are recorded as complimentary instead of vanishing.
- Unrecorded sales: the one to worry about, and the one the other three hide when they go unlogged.
Open bottles, and the excise register
Sealed bottles are counted. Open ones have to be measured — by weight, since the empty bottle's weight and the liquid's density give the contents, or with a calibrated gauge. Guessing to the nearest quarter bottle brings back the rounding you moved to millilitres to escape.
State excise rules add a second record. Licensed bars keep registers of what they receive and sell — in Karnataka, stock is indented from the state distributor KSBCL against a permit — and the millilitre ledger has to reconcile to that register. Two records that disagree is a finding an inspector will make before you do.
Common questions
- What are the standard peg sizes in India?
- 30 ml for a small peg and 60 ml for a large one are the common measures. Whichever you use, fix it and keep stock in the same unit, so a peg sold is a known number of millilitres out.
- What is a good pour cost for a bar?
- It depends on the product and your prices, so compare each product against itself over time rather than against one benchmark. A pour cost that climbs while prices and suppliers stay the same is the signal to act on.
- How do I count an open bottle accurately?
- Weigh it: subtract the empty bottle's weight and convert the liquid's weight to millilitres using its density, or use a calibrated measuring gauge. Estimating to the nearest quarter bottle defeats the point of counting in millilitres.