Running tap takeovers at other bars to win new drinkers
A tap takeover fills several taps at another bar with your beers for an evening. Done well, it brings new drinkers to your brand at a low cost. Done badly, it burns kegs and goodwill. Here is how to plan one.
What a tap takeover is
In a tap takeover, a bar gives you most or all of its draught lines for one evening. You bring the kegs, perhaps a few extras such as glassware and a menu card. Often a brewer or sales person comes along to talk to guests. The bar gets a draw. You get a room full of drinkers who chose to be there.
It is a marketing event, not a sales call. Treat the evening as a way to meet drinkers who may later ask for your beer by name at their regular bar or restaurant.
Check what you may do first
Alcohol is a state subject in India. Whether a brewery can supply kegs to another outlet, whether it can attend an event and what paperwork applies all depend on your state and your licence type. A brewpub licence is often limited to on-premises sale. Check the current rules with your licensing adviser or the state excise office before you promise anything. Our guide on selling kegs to other bars covers the principle and how licences shape it.
If you cannot supply kegs yourself, the event may need to go through a licensed distributor or be run by the bar. Do not skip this step.
Choosing the bar
Look for a bar whose drinkers match your beer. A bar that sells mostly spirits and cocktails has a different crowd from a gastropub with a rotating tap list. Visit on a weekday evening. Notice how busy it is, how the staff pour, whether the glasses are clean and whether the lines look maintained.
Ask who cleans the draught lines and when. Dirty lines will make your best beer taste of butter and old yeast. The drinker will blame you.
Keg plan and pricing
Work out the numbers before you pitch. A 30 litre keg holds at most 60 pours of 500 ml. After foam and line losses it gives about 50 to 55, so plan around 50. If you expect 120 guests who each drink two beers, that is 240 pours, or about five kegs. Add one spare.
Agree the price with the bar in advance. Common arrangements are a fixed keg price, a share of sales or a mix. Our guide to setting a wholesale keg price shows how to build the figure from your own cost per litre. Whatever you choose, write it down and include who pays for spoilage, the glassware and any extra staff.
Brief the staff
The best marketing at a takeover is the bartender. Give the team a one-page sheet: beer name, style, ABV, three words of flavour and a food pairing. Pour a taster for each member of staff before service. If they like the beer they will recommend it. A recommendation from a bartender carries weight.
Keep serving temperatures right. Most beers pour well at 4 to 7 °C. A warm keg foams and wastes money. Chill kegs overnight and bring them in a cool box, not in an open van at midday in summer.
Make it an event, not just a menu
Give guests a reason to turn up. A brewer talking for ten minutes, a printed flight card, a short guided tasting or a food pairing from the bar kitchen all help. Keep it relaxed and responsible. Offer water and a non-alcoholic option. Make sure guests have a safe way home. Never push people to drink more.
Measure what happened
Decide before the night what success looks like. Count kegs emptied and litres poured. Note how many new names you collected for a mailing list, how many followed your account and how many asked where to buy the beer. A week later, check whether the bar reordered. The cost of the evening is the beer, your time, the travel and any glassware or promotion. Divide by the number of new drinkers reached to find a rough cost per contact.
If it paid, repeat it, with a different bar each time. If it did not, change one thing and try again. Planning events and judging their return is part of the commercial side of running a brewery, which is the focus of our Brewery Business Management course.
Common questions
What is a tap takeover?
An evening where a bar gives most or all of its draught lines to one brewery, usually with the brewer or a sales person present.
How many kegs do I need?
Estimate guests times beers each, divide by about 50 pours per 30 litre keg and add a spare keg.
Can a brewpub run a takeover at another bar?
That depends on your state and licence. Check the current excise rules with a licensing adviser before you agree anything.
