How much Alcohol Duty is in a pint of keg beer in 2026? The draught rate, the takeaway rule, and a 50-litre keg worked through

A pub landlord looks at the price list from the brewery and asks a fair question: how much of a £5 pint is duty? The answer is on GOV.UK, and the rate that applies to a keg is not the rate that applies to a can. For a pub, the two matter when it sells beer to take away.

The rates in force

GOV.UK's Alcohol Duty rates page says the rates were updated on 1 February 2026. For beer, per litre of pure alcohol:

Beers of 8.5% and over have a higher standard rate and are outside the draught rate, because the draught guidance says products must be below 8.5% ABV.

The duty is charged on the amount of pure alcohol, so a stronger beer pays more per pint than a weaker one at the same rate. It is usually accounted for further up the supply chain and arrives in the pub as part of the price on the supplier invoice.

The duty inside a pint

A UK pint is 568 millilitres, or 0.568 litres. Pure alcohol in a pint of 4.5% beer:

0.568 litres x 4.5% = 0.02556 litres of pure alcohol.

For other strengths at the draught rate (3.5% to 8.4% band): a 4.0% pint holds 0.02272 litres of pure alcohol and carries 44.2p; a 5.2% pint holds 0.02954 litres and carries 57.4p.

A 50-litre keg

A 50-litre keg of 4.5% beer holds 50 x 4.5% = 2.25 litres of pure alcohol.

• At the draught rate: 2.25 x £19.45 = £43.76.
• At the standard rate: 2.25 x £22.58 = £50.80.
• Difference: £7.04 on the keg.

A keg of this size gives about 88 pints (50 divided by 0.568 is 88.03, before any waste), so the duty is close to 50p a pint, which agrees with the sum above. That is the figure to place against the price: on a £5.00 pint, duty is about 10%, before VAT and everything else.

What counts as draught

GOV.UK says the container must be able to hold 20 litres or more and connect to either a pump system or a gas-pressurised drinks tap. The default position for products in draught containers is that the draught rate is paid. Serving from a draught container on your own premises does not count as repackaging.

The takeaway rule

Where draught products are sold at the full rate, for example takeaway beer, the guidance says the seller must declare that on the duty return and give the customer evidence that the full rate has been paid. That includes beer put into a container to take away: the guidance says repackaging draught products into other containers is only for approved producers or excise warehousekeepers, and only where full duty has been paid. Products repackaged this way no longer qualify for the reduced rate.

So a pub that wants to sell takeaway pints from the tap should ask its supplier how it can be done. The difference for a 4.5% pint is the 8.0p above. The simple answer is a full-duty-paid bottle or can, bought as such.

Our guide to licensing conditions for pubs explains the separate rule that stops you selling below duty plus VAT, and the menu gross-profit calculator helps work out what a pint needs to sell for. For what else changes your fixed costs this year, see the business rates guide.

Check your own price list

1. Find the ABV on each draught line.
2. Work out litres of pure alcohol in a pint: 0.568 x ABV as a decimal.
3. Multiply by the draught rate for the band (£8.58 or £19.45).
4. Compare the total with your cost per pint, to see how much of your supplier's price is duty.

Overlyft builds AI staff who join a pub's team and keep the costings up to date: they update the cost of every line when a supplier's price changes, show the duty and VAT inside each pint, and flag any line that is falling under the margin the licensee set, ready for the licensee to review.

This is general information, not tax advice. Check GOV.UK or your supplier for the rate on a particular product.