Liquor inventory count sheet and pour cost formula (free template)

The bar's sales were up last month and the liquor bill was up more. Was it a price increase, a heavy-handed new bartender, drinks that went out without being rung in, or a bottle that walked out the back door? Without a count at the start and end of the month, there's no way to tell.

This post gives you a count sheet, the pour cost formula with a worked example, what to look at when the number comes out high, and the federal rules that apply to every bar's bottles and records.

General information. Alcohol is regulated by your state as well as the federal government, and state rules on records and inventory can be stricter. The federal rules below are from 27 CFR part 31, administered by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

The federal rules for a bar's bottles and records

Rule	What it says	Where
You're a retail dealer	"every person who sells or offers for sale distilled spirits, wines, or beer to any person other than a dealer is a retail dealer in liquors"	27 CFR 31.31
Register with TTB	Dealers register on TTB Form 5630.5d "before engaging in business and on or before July 1 of each year thereafter", but "as long as none of the information specified on the form has changed since the previous registration form was filed, no additional registration is required."	27 CFR 31.111
Keep purchase records	"All retail dealers must keep at their place of business complete records showing the quantities of all distilled spirits, wines, and beer received, from whom the distilled spirits, wines, and beer were received, and the dates of receipt." Your invoices count: the records "shall consist of all purchase invoices or bills" or a book with the same information.	27 CFR 31.181(a)
For three years	Records must be kept "for a period of not less than three years" and be available during business hours for TTB to inspect.	27 CFR 31.191
No refilling	No one who sells spirits, "or agent or employee of such person", shall "Place in any liquor bottle any distilled spirits whatsoever other than those contained in that bottle" when it was filled, or "By the addition of any substance whatsoever to any liquor bottle, in any manner alter or increase any portion of the original contents".	27 CFR 31.201
No refilled bottles on the shelf	Having a bottle that was refilled or added to is prohibited too.	27 CFR 31.202
Empty bottles	The premises where bottles are emptied may collect them for the bottler, "For destruction", as collectors' items, or "for the purpose of recycling or reclaiming the glass".	27 CFR 31.203

In practice: never "marry" two half bottles, top up a bottle, or infuse spirits in the original bottle. Put an infusion or a batch in its own labeled container. Empties go to recycling or get broken. And keep every liquor, beer and wine invoice for at least three years, which most bookkeeping setups already do.

Counting partial bottles

Full bottles are easy. Open ones are where counts go wrong. Pick one method, write it on the sheet, and have the same person use it every time.

Method	How	Good for
Tenths	Look at the bottle at eye level and estimate what's left in tenths: 0.1 to 0.9. A full bottle is 1.	Fast weekly counts; most small bars
Weight	Weigh the open bottle on a kitchen scale, subtract the empty bottle's weight, and divide by the full contents' weight. Write each brand's empty and full weights on the sheet once.	Monthly counts where the number matters, high-cost bottles
Pour count	For a few bottles with a pour counter or a measured spout, read the pours left.	Spot checks on the bottles you worry about

A few habits that keep counts honest:

Count in the order the bar is set up: speed rail, back bar, coolers, then storage. The sheet below follows that order.
Count before the bar opens or after it closes, never during service.
Count everything in the bar the same way, including storage. A bottle moved from storage to the rail shouldn't vanish from both.
Count the same day each week and at month-end, so each period is the same length.

The liquor count sheet

Liquor count sheet · [location] · date [date] · counted by [name] · method [tenths / weight]

Area	Item	Size	Cost per bottle	Value
Speed rail	[House vodka]	[1 L]	$[ ]	$[ ]
Speed rail	[House gin]	[1 L]
Speed rail	[House tequila]	[1 L]
Back bar	[Bourbon, brand]	[750 ml]
Back bar
Bar cooler	[Vermouth, opened]	[750 ml]
Storage	[House vodka, case stock]	[1 L]
Storage

Total liquor value: $[ ] · Second counter or manager check: …………………

Do the same sheet for beer (by case, bottle or keg) and wine (by bottle, with opened bottles in tenths), so each category gets its own pour cost.

The pour cost formula

Pour cost % = cost of liquor used ÷ liquor sales × 100

Cost of liquor used = opening inventory value + purchases − closing inventory value

Opening inventory is the value on the last count sheet of the previous period.
Purchases are the invoices dated in the period (the records TTB asks you to keep anyway).
Closing inventory is the value on this period's count sheet.
Liquor sales come from your POS, for liquor only, before tax and tips.

Do it separately for liquor, beer and wine. They usually run at different percentages, and a blend hides where the problem is.

Cost per pour for a recipe card: bottle cost ÷ ounces in the bottle × ounces poured. A 750 ml bottle holds about 25.4 fl oz, a 1 L bottle about 33.8 fl oz and a 1.75 L bottle about 59.2 fl oz.

A worked example

Made-up numbers to show the math.

Line	Amount
Opening liquor inventory (March 1 count)	$4,200
+ Liquor purchases in March (invoices)	$3,100
− Closing liquor inventory (March 31 count)	$3,900
= Cost of liquor used	$3,400
Liquor sales in March (POS, before tax and tips)	$17,000
Pour cost	$3,400 ÷ $17,000 = 20%

And one drink: a margarita with 2 oz of tequila from a $28.00 1 L bottle costs $28.00 ÷ 33.8 × 2 = about $1.66 in tequila, before the liqueur, lime juice and syrup.

When the pour cost comes out high

Work down this list before you decide anyone is stealing.

Pour cost check · period [dates] · pour cost [ ]% against a target of [ ]%

[ ] The counts. Same method, same areas, same day of the week as last period? Any storage area missed?
[ ] The invoices. Is every invoice in the right period? Any credit for a short or broken case not received?
[ ] Prices. Did any bottle cost go up? Have menu prices kept up?
[ ] Recipes. Do the recipe cards match what's actually poured? Spot-check pours with a jigger.
[ ] Comps and spills. Is every comped drink and spill rung in or written down? Compare the comp report with the bar.
[ ] The POS. Are drinks rung under the right buttons, and is liquor separate from food in the sales report?
[ ] One brand or one shift. Count the problem bottles daily for a week, and compare by bartender or by shift.
[ ] Security. Who has keys to storage? Is the storage count matching the invoices and the transfers to the bar?

Findings: …………………………………… · Action: …………………………………… · Reviewed by: [name] on [date]

Our comps, voids and discounts log has the approval limits and reason codes for the comp check. For the general count routine, see the weekly inventory count sheet.

The monthly pour cost summary

Pour cost summary · [location] · [month]

Category	Opening value	Purchases	Closing value	Cost used	Sales	Pour cost %	Target %	Last month %
Liquor	$[ ]	$[ ]	$[ ]	$[ ]	$[ ]	[ ]%	[ ]%	[ ]%
Beer
Wine
Total bar

Notes on anything off by more than [2] points: ……………………………………

Your liquor inventory checklist

[ ] One counting method chosen and written down (tenths or weight)
[ ] A count sheet in bar order: rail, back bar, coolers, storage
[ ] Counts on the same day each week and at month-end, outside service
[ ] Every liquor, beer and wine invoice kept for at least three years
[ ] TTB dealer registration filed, and updated when anything on it changes
[ ] No refilling, marrying or infusing in original bottles; empties recycled or destroyed
[ ] Pour cost worked out by category, with a target for each

Where Mays fits

Bottles as inventory items. Add each bottle under Inventory → Items with a count unit such as 1 L bottle and Measures set to volume, plus a case alternate unit for buying and a fl oz alternate unit for recipes (for a 1 L bottle, 1 fl oz is about 0.0296 bottle). Give each item a Home shelf (Speed rail, Back bar, Storage) so the app counts shelf by shelf in the order you walk the bar. See Inventory items and Shelves and storage areas.
Counting tenths. A count takes decimals, so an open bottle counted at 0.4 is entered as 0.4, and you can count on a phone. Submitting the count sets stock on hand and shows each item's Variance against what Mays expected. See Running stock counts and Counting inventory in the app.
Drink recipes and a target. Build each cocktail as a recipe in fl oz, and group them in a Cocktails menu list with a Target cost %. The list shows its Actual % against the target. See Recipes and plate costing and Menu lists and modifiers.
What sales should have used. With Square or Union POS connected and drinks mapped to recipes, Mays takes the liquor out of stock every night, and Inventory → Theoretical shows each bottle's deliveries, waste and recipe use. See POS mapping and automatic depletion and Theoretical vs actual usage.
Spills and breakage. Log them in the Waste Log (use Damaged, or Other with Spill as the reason), so they show up as waste and not as a mystery. See Logging waste.
Purchases. Posting a liquor invoice adds it to stock and updates the bottle's price. See Vendor invoices.

What Mays doesn't do yet: counts can't be approved, so the Start Inv and End Inv columns on the Theoretical page and the Actual vs theoretical report stay empty. Work out cost used by hand from two submitted counts plus the deliveries shown there. The COGS report covers the whole location, not liquor, beer and wine separately, and has no export. Mays has no scale connection for weighing bottles, and it doesn't file your TTB registration.

Count the same way every week, then compare what you used with what you sold

Pour cost is simple math: what you had, plus what you bought, minus what's left, divided by what you sold. The work is in counting the same way every time. Do it by category, look at the counts and invoices before you look at the staff, and keep the bottles exactly as they came from the distributor.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up your bar items and count with you.