Free Tool — Liquor Pour Cost Calculator
Liquor Pour Cost Calculator
Enter bottle cost, pour size and selling price to see your pour cost % and profit per drink.
Pour cost %
19.2%
Profit per pour
₹202.00
Cost per pour
₹48.00
Pours per bottle
25
The bar's version of food cost percentage
Pour cost is to a bar what food cost percentage is to a kitchen — the share of a drink's selling price that goes toward the liquor itself. It's the number that tells you whether your drink pricing and pour sizes are actually profitable, especially once you factor in how many pours a single bottle yields.
Enter the bottle cost, bottle size, the pour size you actually serve, and the selling price per drink to get pour cost %, profit per pour and how many pours you should get from each bottle. Run your top sellers through this whenever a supplier changes a price.
Pour cost formula
Pours per bottle = Bottle size (ml) ÷ Pour size (ml). Cost per pour = Bottle cost ÷ Pours per bottle. Pour cost % = Cost per pour ÷ Selling price per pour × 100. Profit per pour = Selling price per pour − Cost per pour, which is what is left after the liquor alone, before mixers, staff or rent.
How to use the liquor pour cost calculator
- 1Enter Bottle cost, the price you pay for one bottle including delivery and any taxes on your purchase bill.
- 2Enter Bottle size in ml, such as 750 for a full bottle, 375 for a half or 180 for a quarter.
- 3Enter Pour size in ml, the measure you serve, such as 30 ml for a small peg or 60 ml for a large peg.
- 4Enter Selling price per pour, the menu price for that measure.
- 5Read Pour cost %, Profit per pour, Cost per pour and Pours per bottle. Pours per bottle is rounded to a whole number on screen, but the other results use the exact figure.
Worked example: a ₹1,800 whisky bottle sold in 30 ml pegs
A bar pays ₹1,800 for a 750 ml bottle of whisky and sells it at ₹300 per 30 ml peg. The liquor cost calculator shows 750 ÷ 30 = 25 pours per bottle, a cost per pour of ₹1,800 ÷ 25 = ₹72, a pour cost of ₹72 ÷ ₹300 × 100 = 24%, and a profit per pour of ₹300 − ₹72 = ₹228. Selling all 25 pegs brings in ₹7,500 from the bottle.
Now suppose pegs are free-poured at about 35 ml. Change Pour size to 35 and the bottle gives only 21.4 pours (shown as 21), cost per pour rises to ₹84, pour cost climbs to 28% and profit per peg falls to ₹216. Each peg still sells for ₹300, so the bottle now earns about ₹6,429 instead of ₹7,500, roughly ₹1,071 lost per bottle. That is why portion control with a proper peg measure matters as much as the menu price.
Bar cost control checklist
- Pour with a peg measure or jigger for every drink. Free pouring is where most extra millilitres go.
- Enter the bottle price from your latest purchase bill, and update it when supplier or state excise prices change.
- Measure or weigh open bottles at each stock count, and compare the pours your billing recorded with the pours each bottle should have given.
- Record comps, spillage and breakage separately so they do not hide inside an over-pouring problem.
- Recheck pour cost before a happy hour. A ₹300 peg costing ₹72 runs at 24%, but at a ₹200 happy-hour price the same peg runs at 36%.
Related bar and kitchen calculators
Liquor cost calculator FAQs
Pour Cost % = (Cost per Pour ÷ Selling Price per Pour) × 100, where Cost per Pour = Bottle Cost ÷ (Bottle Size ÷ Pour Size).
Most bars target 18-24% pour cost on spirits, though it varies by category — premium and craft offerings often run a bit higher in exchange for a higher price point and perceived value.
Over-pouring is the most common cause — even an extra 5-10ml per drink compounds quickly across a busy night. Inconsistent pour sizes, spillage, and complimentary or comped drinks also widen the gap between target and actual pour cost.
Pours per Bottle = Bottle Size ÷ Pour Size. A standard 750ml bottle poured at 30ml per drink should yield 25 pours — track actual pours against this to spot over-pouring or wastage.
Enter 60 as the Pour size and the large-peg menu price as the Selling price per pour. A 750 ml bottle gives 12.5 large pegs. The Pours per bottle result is rounded to a whole number on screen, so it shows 13, but cost per pour uses the exact 12.5, so a ₹1,800 bottle works out to ₹144 per large peg.
No. The calculator covers only the liquor in the pour, based on bottle cost and bottle size. For a cocktail or a whisky-soda, work out the spirit cost here, then add the cost of mixers, syrups, fruit and garnish separately, for example with the recipe costing calculator, and compare the full drink cost against its menu price.
Yes. For wine, enter the bottle size (usually 750 ml) and your glass measure, such as 150 ml, which gives 5 glasses per bottle. For bottled beer sold whole, enter the same number in Bottle size and Pour size, so pours per bottle is 1 and cost per pour equals the bottle cost. For draught beer, enter the keg size in ml and your glass size.
Pour cost % is the share of the selling price spent on liquor; profit per pour is the rupee amount left over. They can point in different directions. A ₹250 peg costing ₹50 runs at 20% and leaves ₹200, while a ₹900 single malt peg costing ₹270 runs at 30% yet leaves ₹630. Look at both before deciding which drinks to push.
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