Getting event licences for a one day beer festival stall
A festival stall is the cheapest way to put your beer in front of a thousand new drinkers. It is also a small licensed operation in its own right, with excise, food and transport rules that apply for those few hours.
Your brewery licence stops at your gate
A microbrewery or brewpub licence in India covers selling beer at the licensed premises. A festival ground is somewhere else. Pouring there usually needs a temporary or occasional permission from the state excise department, normally applied for by the organiser, the venue or the brewery, depending on how the state has set it up.
Rules and fees vary by state and change, so read the current notification or ask the organiser which licence they hold. Many festivals take out a single event licence and bring breweries in under it. Others expect each brewery to arrange its own. Ask in writing before you commit kegs.
Moving beer off site needs its own pass
Even when the organiser holds the event licence, the beer still has to travel from your brewery to the ground. Excise departments usually want that movement covered by a transport permit or pass that lists the quantity, the vehicle and the route. If the festival is in another district, or worse another state, the paperwork grows.
Count the volume honestly. A stall pouring 330 ml tasters across a seven hour festival might move 150 to 300 litres, or three to six 50 litre kegs. Take what the pass allows and nothing extra. Kegs that turn up without matching paperwork are the quickest way to lose a licence you spent a year getting.
Food rules apply to the beer as well
Beer is a food under FSSAI rules. So is any snack you hand out. A brewery serving at a festival will usually need its food registration or licence to cover the activity, or to be under the organiser's temporary registration. If you plan to sell food, check whether the organiser has already arranged it.
Basic hygiene still counts in a tent: potable water for rinsing, a hand wash point, covered bins and staff who are not pouring with the hands that just took cash.
Draught on a hot field is a cooling problem
The real failure at Indian festivals is warm, foamy beer. A keg left in the sun climbs well past 20 °C within hours. Draught beer wants to reach the tap at around 2 to 4 °C. A jockey box only cools what goes in already cold.
Bring kegs chilled overnight in your cold room, keep them in insulated keg jackets or in shade with ice. Run the jockey box with plenty of ice and a little water so the coils sit in slush. Set the CO2 regulator for the coil rather than the cellar. Pour a test glass every 30 minutes. The one floor detail that saves the day: a spare CO2 cylinder, full and checked, sitting under the counter.
A stall checklist that covers the inspector and the drinker
On the day, keep one folder at the stall with:
- A copy of the event licence or your temporary permit.
- The transport pass for every keg on site.
- Your brewery licence and food registration copies.
- A stock sheet: kegs in, kegs tapped, kegs going home.
Post the legal drinking age clearly and ask for ID when in doubt. Age limits differ by state. Pour sensible measures, keep water free and visible at the stall. Train staff to refuse service politely to anyone who has clearly had enough. Make the taxi line easy to find. It is your brand standing behind the counter.
Staff the stall like a small taproom
A festival stall is a taproom with no back office and a queue that never stops. For a busy seven hour day, plan on at least three people: one pouring, one taking payment and one who knows the beer and can talk to drinkers. Rotate them. Nobody pours well in the fifth hour without a break and water.
Brief the team the evening before. Cover the beers on tap with their ABV and one line each on flavour, the measures you pour, the price list and what to do when someone is clearly drunk. Give one person authority over the kegs and the paperwork folder, so an inspector asking questions meets someone who can answer them.
Bring more cleaning kit than you think you need: sanitiser for taps, spare faucet washers, a bucket of clean water for rinsing, cloths and a spanner that fits your couplers. A stall that runs dry of clean water by mid afternoon starts serving beer that tastes of the morning.
Work out whether the stall pays
Add the stall fee, transport, ice, staff wages and the beer at cost, then divide by the litres you expect to pour. If a festival costs you more per litre than your taproom, it is a marketing cost and should sit in that budget. That is fine, as long as you know which number you are looking at.
Festival maths is a small version of the costing and compliance work every founder does daily. Our guide to microbrewery licences in India covers the main licence.
Your first step: email the organiser today and ask which licence they hold and what each brewery must bring.
Common questions
Can my brewery licence cover a festival stall?
Usually not on its own. Pouring off site normally needs a temporary or event permission from state excise, held by you or the organiser. Rules vary by state, so check the current notification.
Do I need a permit to move kegs to a festival?
In most states, yes. Excise usually requires a transport permit or pass listing the quantity and vehicle. Carry it with the kegs.
How do I keep beer cold at an outdoor festival?
Chill kegs overnight, protect them from sun and pour through a jockey box packed with ice. Aim for beer at 2 to 4 °C at the tap.
