Craft beverage producers
Books and taxes for kombucha brewers.
A grocery distributor payout that comes back short, bottles with a shelf life measured in weeks, a culture you have to keep alive, and a taproom pouring the same batch you can. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
May came in at $11,600. Grocery orders picked up for the warm weather, and I kept the distributor's slotting fee separate from your sales so the real price you got for each case is visible.
- UNFI distributor payoutWholesale grocery sales
- Taproom depositTaproom pours
- Loose leaf tea and sugar orderTea and sugar
- Culture and starter maintenanceSCOBY and culture costs
- Refrigerated freight chargeCold chain shipping
Why your books are different
A kombucha brewer's books go wrong around the fridge and the fees.
A generalist sees a bottled drink and a grocery order. Your business runs on a culture you have to keep alive, a shelf life measured in weeks instead of years, and a grocery distributor that takes fees out before you ever see the payout. When the books do not know that, the monthly number is not telling the truth.
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1
Grocery distributor fees quietly shrink the payout
A distributor like UNFI or KeHE often deducts slotting fees, chargebacks, or spoilage credits before the payout lands, so the deposit in your bank is well under the invoice you sent.
What we doBooks the full wholesale invoice as the sale and the distributor's fees as their own cost, so your real price and your real fees both show up. -
2
A short shelf life turns into an invisible loss
Kombucha spoils fast compared to beer or wine, and unsold stock nearing its date often gets pulled from shelves and credited back or destroyed. Left untracked, that spoilage never shows up as the real cost it is.
What we doTracks spoilage and retailer credits as their own cost, so shrinkage from a short shelf life is visible instead of just vanishing from the numbers. -
3
The culture gets buried in general ingredient costs
Keeping a healthy SCOBY and starter tea alive costs real money and attention, but it usually gets lumped into a general supplies line where it disappears.
What we doKeeps culture and starter maintenance in its own line, so you can see what keeping your culture healthy actually costs. -
4
Flavor and fruit costs hide inside the base tea bill
A ginger-turmeric or berry flavor needs real fruit or juice on top of the base tea, and that cost is easy to bury inside one ingredient line, making it hard to price a flavor correctly.
What we doKeeps flavoring and fruit puree costs separate from the base tea and sugar bill, so each recipe's real cost is visible. -
5
Taproom pours and bottled sales get blended
A pour at the taproom and a bottle sold through a grocery distributor come from the same batch but carry very different margins. Blended into one number, you cannot tell which channel is actually paying.
What we doKeeps taproom pours and packaged wholesale sales in separate lines, so each channel's real margin is visible.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a kombucha brewer.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Wholesale grocery salesThe full distributor invoice from accounts like UNFI or KeHE, with fees booked separately.
- Taproom poursGlasses and growler fills poured on site.
- Farmers market salesBooth sales at markets and wellness events.
- Direct-to-consumer salesOnline orders shipped directly to customers.
Money out
- Tea and sugarBase ingredients for the brew.
- SCOBY and culture costsStarter tea and culture maintenance, kept apart from general supplies.
- Flavoring and fruit costsFruit, juice, and puree for each flavor line.
- Bottling and canningBottles, cans, caps, and labels.
- Cold chain shippingRefrigerated freight and cold storage to keep product fresh.
- Distributor feesSlotting fees, chargebacks, and spoilage credits taken by grocery distributors.
- Lab testingAlcohol content and quality testing on each batch.
- EquipmentFermentation tanks and canning lines, logged so they get written off right.
What we watch for you
- Channel margin
Taproom pours against packaged wholesale sales, so you know which one actually pays.
- Spoilage rate
What gets pulled or destroyed before it sells, since kombucha's short shelf life makes this a real cost.
- Distributor fee rate
What grocery distributors keep in slotting fees and chargebacks, worth knowing before adding a new account.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things kombucha brewer owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
A slotting fee and a spoilage credit both came out before the payout. I booked your full invoice as the sale and those as separate costs, so you can see exactly what they kept.
No. I logged it as spoilage, its own cost, so you can see how much a short shelf life is actually costing you and watch if it changes.
Kombucha sold as a non-alcoholic beverage is not subject to that tax. If your alcohol testing ever comes back different than expected, that is worth a real accountant's look, but it is not something to assume.
The tax side
The tax side of running a kombucha brewery.
Most of what goes wrong here is spoilage and fees that never get counted as real costs, plus equipment bought without a plan for how it gets written off.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Spoilage and shrinkageProduct that spoils or gets returned before it sells is a real cost of doing business and should be tracked as inventory shrinkage, not just left off the books.
- Fermentation tanks and canning linesProduction equipment can usually be written off the year you buy it. Section 179 expensing goes up to $2,560,000, and bonus depreciation is 100 percent for property placed in service after January 19, 2025.
- Contractor 1099sAnyone not on payroll who you paid $2,000 or more in 2026, like a farmers market helper or a delivery driver, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps the list all year.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated kombucha brewers can take up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income. It comes out right when taproom, wholesale, and market sales are kept separate all year.
Deductions kombucha brewers miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Tea and sugar
- Culture and starter maintenance
- Fruit and flavoring costs
- Bottles, cans, and labels
- Refrigerated freight and cold storage
- Alcohol content and quality lab testing
- Farmers market booth fees
- Delivery vehicle fuel
- Taproom glassware and furniture
- Staff uniforms with your logo
- Fermentation tank repairs
- Product liability insurance
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A kombucha brewer's year, kept every month.
Warm weather drives demand, and grocery shelf resets happen on their own schedule. Gus keeps your return on track through both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, spoilage and distributor credits from the past year get reviewed, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, since the set-aside has been running since January while batches kept moving through the fridge.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand at the height of warm-weather demand, and whether new grocery accounts changed the number.
- October
Before the winter slowdown
Before demand cools for the season, Gus looks at equipment worth buying and anything to do before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for kombucha brewers. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions kombucha brewer owners ask first.
Can Gus track what our grocery distributor actually keeps in fees?
Yes. He books your full wholesale invoice as the sale and any slotting fee, chargeback, or spoilage credit as its own cost, so you can see exactly what a distributor relationship costs.
How does Gus handle product that spoils before it sells?
He logs it as spoilage, its own line, so a short shelf life shows up as a real cost instead of quietly disappearing from your numbers.
Do we owe federal alcohol excise tax like a brewery does?
No. Kombucha sold as a non-alcoholic beverage is not subject to federal alcohol excise tax. Gus keeps an eye on anything unusual in your testing results and flags it if it needs a real accountant's look.
We keep our own SCOBY culture going. Can that be tracked separately?
Yes. Culture and starter maintenance get their own line, apart from general ingredient costs, so you can see what keeping it healthy actually costs.
We just added a canning line. Do we write it off this year?
Often, yes. Gus logs the purchase as equipment the day it posts instead of letting it blend into supplies, and the accountant decides the right way to write it off given the rest of your year.
Our books have never separated taproom pours from grocery sales. Can Gus fix that?
Yes. Send the bank statements you have. Gus sorts them into taproom, wholesale, and market sales from here forward, and the accountant checks it.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
More in craft beverage producers
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Bottle shops & craft beer stores
- Cideries
- Craft distilleries
- Custom-crush & alternating proprietor wineries
- Homebrew & winemaking supply shops
- Meaderies
- Vineyards (grape growers)
- Brewpubs
- Coffee roasters
- Craft breweries & taprooms
- Liquor stores
- Non-alcoholic beverage brands
- Wineries & tasting rooms
- Arcade bars (barcades)
- Artisan cheese makers
- Bagel shops
- BBQ sauce & rub brands
- Beer gardens
- Candy & chocolate makers
- Charcuterie board & grazing table businesses
- Cigar lounges
- Commissary & shared commercial kitchens
- Cottage food producers
- Custom cake studios
- Dive bars & neighborhood taverns
- Farmers market vendors
- Food hall vendors
- Fudge & candy shops
- Honey producers & apiaries
- Hookah lounges
What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever