Brewery NA Beer in the Taproom: Pour It and List It

A brewery taproom should pour its own NA from a tap, line and coupler that never carry full-strength beer, and clean that line at least every 14 days. List it like the other house beers, with a real name, the style spelled out and the ABV from that batch's lab sheet.

The sections below cover the line, the walk-in, what the brewing team should put in writing, where the ABV comes from, keg size math, the board line, and the gap between batches.

Why does a house NA need its own rules in the taproom?

A house NA needs its own rules because the taproom pours it next to full-strength beers from the same brewhouse, often in the same style and the same kegs, to a guest who may be avoiding alcohol entirely. A mix-up in the walk-in or at the faucet puts alcohol in that guest's glass.

Craft already accounts for close to a third of NA sales. In The State of Non-Alc, published January 16, 2026, the Brewers Association reported that craft made up 31% of NA sales volume and 36% of NA dollar sales in 2025.

NA on draft also needs closer watching. A study in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing, published February 26, 2026, sampled draught no- and low-alcohol beers in 12 pubs in Nottingham, UK, and rated 54.7% of the samples unacceptable because of microbial growth. That's UK data from UK pubs, so it doesn't measure your taproom.

The study's advice splits neatly inside a brewery. A pH below 4.0 is your brewers' call. The "robust and regular cleaning regimes" the authors ask for belong to the taproom.

Which tap and line should the house NA pour from?

The house NA gets one tap, one line and one coupler, and it keeps them for as long as you pour it. A taproom always has another house beer ready, and an empty NA line between batches looks like room for it. Keep full-strength beer off that line, even for a weekend, because beer left in the line rides out in the next NA batch's first pour.

Clean the NA line at least every 14 days. The Brewers Association's Draught Beer Quality Manual calls for a caustic cleaning of every draft line every two weeks, and says its schedule holds "no matter how much or how little beer is dispensed through the system."

That rule matters most on a slow NA handle, whose beer sits in the line longer than anything else on the wall. Agree on the interval with whoever cleans your lines and with the brewer who made the NA. If one of them wants a shorter cycle, use it.

The same manual says lines that poured root beer, flavored beers, margaritas, wines or ciders may need replacing, because those drinks can permanently contaminate a line. If your house soda or cider has been on a line, don't move the NA onto it.

The full cleaning schedule, the daily taste check and a line card to copy are in NA draft line cleaning.

How do you keep NA kegs from getting mixed up with full-strength kegs?

Give NA kegs their own shelf in the walk-in and a cap or collar color no other keg wears. Your full-strength pale and your NA pale may go into identical kegs, and whoever changes kegs at 9 on a Friday reads the keg, not the brew log.

Brewery-made NA often has a full-strength twin, because it's a take on a style you already pour. Set the bar up to keep the two apart:

• Give the NA a name that differs from the first word. People shorten beer names to the first word, so "[Pale name] NA" becomes the pale at a loud bar.
• Put it on a handle no other faucet wears, and keep it off the faucet next to its twin.
• Use the same name, NA included, on the keg tag, the handle, the board and the call across the bar.

Stopping wrong NA pours covers where those mistakes start, how an NA pour should run from order to glass, and what staff say when a guest asks whether it's the NA one.

What should the brewing team settle in writing before the NA pours?

The brewing team should give the taproom four answers in writing before the first pour: the batch's lab ABV, where its kegs may go, whether to-go fills are allowed, and how long a tapped keg may stay on. Those are brewing and compliance calls. The taproom's job is to get them on paper so nobody decides them at the counter.

• The lab ABV. The figure for this batch, from its sheet, matching its label or keg collar. The next section covers it.
• Where the kegs go. If the brewers want the NA poured only on site, mark its kegs so they never get loaded with outgoing ones.
• To-go fills. Ask whether growlers and crowlers of the NA are allowed. If not, the board line shows no fill price, and staff can say, "That one we only pour here, by the glass."
• The pull-by date. The brewers set how long a tapped keg stays on, per batch. Write it on the keg tag and pull the keg on that date, whatever is left. A number borrowed from another brewery's NA doesn't apply to yours.

Federal rules also treat the NA differently from the rest of your lineup. The TTB's 2026 presentation, Federal Regulation of Low and No Alcohol Beverages, explains that a malt-based drink under 0.5% ABV is a "cereal beverage" under the Internal Revenue Code. It is not "beer" there and is not subject to federal excise tax, though formula and labeling rules still apply.

Production, labeling and to-go questions go to the TTB and your state alcohol agency. Nothing here is legal advice.

Where should the ABV on the board come from?

The ABV on the board comes from the lab sheet for the batch in the keg, and it should match that batch's label or keg collar. Copy it as written, with no rounding either way, because a guest avoiding alcohol entirely reads that number. If the sheet and the label disagree, the line stays off the board until the brewing team says which is right.

The federal label rule shows why the exact figure matters. Under 27 CFR 7.65, as published by Cornell's Legal Information Institute, a malt beverage label may say "non-alcoholic" only if "contains less than 0.5 percent (or .5%) alcohol by volume" sits right next to it. A label may show 0.0 percent only on a beer that contains no alcohol and is also labeled "alcohol free."

The same rule lets a figure under 0.5% be stated to the nearest tenth or hundredth of a point, with no tolerance. So if the label says 0.35%, the board says 0.35%. The TTB's labeling page adds that "alcohol free" allows no tolerance either.

Here is how the batch figure maps to the board line:

A batch that lands at 0.5% or more goes on the board as beer. Listing a low-ABV beer next to stronger ones covers that case, and what your menu calls non-alcoholic goes deeper on 0.0% against 0.5%.

Each batch brings its own figure. When the next one goes on, retype the ABV from its sheet, even if you expect it to match.

How big a keg should the house NA go in?

Pick the keg size that empties before the brewers' pull-by date at the pace the NA actually sells. A brewery fills its own kegs, so it can fit the size to the NA instead of dumping what's left on the pull-by date.

Here is a worked example. The inputs:

• Keg volumes from Figure 1.1 of the Brewers Association's manual: sixth barrel 660 fluid ounces, quarter barrel 992, half barrel 1,984.
• Pour size: 16 ounces.
• Sales: 6 pints a day, or 96 ounces a day. This is an example; use your own count.
• Pull-by date: 10 days after tapping. This is a placeholder for whatever your brewers set, not a recommendation.

At 6 pints a day, the sixth barrel is the safe pick. The quarter barrel works only if sales hold steady all 10 days, and the half barrel sends more than half its beer down the drain.

Slower sales change the answer. At 3 pints a day (48 ounces), even a sixth barrel lasts 13.75 days and leaves 180 ounces, about 11 pours, on day 10. At that pace, ask the brewers whether a later pull-by date fits the beer, or whether cans suit it better than draft.

These counts ignore foam and the beer lost to line cleaning, so a real keg gives a little less. Count NA pours for 2 weeks before you choose, and use cost per ounce math to turn any dumped ounces into dollars.

How should the house NA read on the board?

List the house NA the way you list the other house beers: a real name, the style spelled out, a short description in the brewers' words, the lab ABV, and a price for each pour. A line that says only "NA Beer" tells the guest nobody thought much about it.

• Name: a house name that doesn't start with the full-strength twin's name.
• Style: spelled out. "Non-Alcoholic Pale Ale" reads clearly to a guest who doesn't know the shorthand. If the field is short, keep "NA" there and start the description with "Non-alcoholic."
• Description: hops, malt, body and finish, in the words you use for the full-strength beers. Leave out who it's meant for.
• ABV: the lab figure for the batch in the keg.
• Pours: the sizes you pour, and no fill price unless the brewing team allowed fills.

A made-up example, with a placeholder name and 0.4 standing in for your lab's figure:

MADE-UP EXAMPLE (placeholder name and figure)
[House NA name]   Non-Alcoholic Pale Ale   0.4%   16 oz $__ / 10 oz $__

Mark the NA on its own line wherever it sits, since a guest often reads only the line the bartender points to. Whether it sits with the house beers or in its own section is your call; setting up a non-alcoholic section walks through the second option step by step.

What happens when a batch of house NA runs out?

When the last keg of a batch kicks, bag the handle and mark the beer kicked on the board before the next order comes in. Nothing else goes on that line in the gap. If the wait runs long, staff can say, "The house NA is between batches. The next one is on its way." If the gap runs to weeks, take the line off the board and add it back with the new batch.

When the new batch is kegged and its sheet comes up, clean the line, then put the beer back on the board with that sheet's figure. One card per batch keeps it straight:

HOUSE NA: BATCH CARD
Batch / brew date: ________
Lab ABV: ______%  (sheet dated ______)   Matches label? [ ]
Kegs: [ ] taproom only   [ ] may leave the building
To-go fills: [ ] allowed   [ ] by the glass only
Pull a tapped keg by: ______  (set by ______)
Line cleaned before tapping: ______  (date, initials)
Kicked: ______   Handle bagged, board updated: [ ]

How does the house NA show up on a TapDisplay board?

On a TapDisplay board, the house NA's line shows its name, the brewery, the style, the ABV you enter, and a price per pour, with 2 pours by default and up to 4. Tag the house NA with the NON-ALC badge from the fixed badge list, and the tag shows next to it on every screen.

The board shows the ABV exactly as you type it, so type the lab figure first. If you start typing a name and pick a match from the catalog, it fills only the brewery, style and ABV fields you left empty, so a typed lab figure stays put.

Keg levels are typed in by hand. Whoever checks the NA keg updates its level, and the next shift can see how close it is to empty; keg levels on the board covers setting a low mark.

When the batch kicks, any staff member can mark it sold out from a phone. On a brewery menu it stays on the board struck through and labeled KICKED. The word comes from the business type, so you don't choose it.

Each connected screen checks for changes every 30 seconds, so an edit shows within about 30 seconds. The activity log records who changed what, and undo reverses a change made on the wrong line. If the house beers and an NA section run on different screens, each screen can show its own sections.

TapDisplay costs $49 a month or $499 a year per location, with unlimited screens. At 3 to 9 locations, each location is $39 a month or $399 a year; the pricing page has the details.

The bottom line

Give the house NA its own tap, line and coupler, clean that line at least every 14 days, and keep its kegs marked apart from its full-strength twin. Put the batch's lab ABV on the board exactly as the sheet reads, and show 0.0% only for a batch with no alcohol. Size the keg so it empties before the brewers' pull-by date at the pace the NA really sells.