NA Drinks in Summer: Plan the Biggest NA Quarter

Plan your summer NA list in early April and have it up before Memorial Day, because the summer months are when NA beer sells most in the US. The list should lean light and cold, with weekend pars raised from your spring counts. Below are the numbers, what to pour, a spring timeline, the par math, cold storage, the patio menu and September.

Is summer really the biggest quarter for NA drinks?

Summer is the peak season for NA beer in the US, and the July to September quarter outsold the Dry January quarter as far back as 2019.

IWSR's June 23, 2025 report on US no-alcohol beer says NA beer volumes peak in August, with strong performances in June and July. IWSR calls that summer demand "very much aligned to general beer."

The longer view comes from IWSR's analysis of no-alcohol seasonality, published January 21, 2026. It found that as early as 2019, the third quarter was the strongest period for US no-alcohol sales, at around 27% of annual volume.

The first quarter, which includes Dry January, held 22%, and IWSR notes that the third quarter contains no major sobriety campaign. With no campaign attached, nobody reminds you to plan, and summer demand first shows up as an empty slot in the cooler on a hot Saturday.

The same June 2025 IWSR report names February and April as the lowest months for NA beer volume. So April, the month to plan in, is one of the quietest, and the busiest weeks are 2 to 4 months out.

The bar side of NA is growing too. The Brewers Association's look inside American drinking places, published May 13, 2026 from Nielsen's CGA data, puts low and non-alcoholic beer volume at drinking places up roughly 5 times from pre-COVID levels. These are national figures, so your own counts set the pars.

Which NA drinks belong on a summer list?

A summer NA list leans toward light, cold drinks that suit a patio, and it keeps the same number of lines you carry the rest of the year.

SpotOn's report on menu data from more than 1,000 independent restaurants, published March 2, 2026, says mocktails and refreshers "show warm-weather strength." It adds that as the weather warms, menus move toward "bright, flavor-forward" options. That's restaurant data from January 2025 to mid February 2026, so let your own tally decide the rest.

Swap within the slots you already have. Here is a summer version of a 5 line NA list, by the job each line does:

The NA stout or porter that sold in January sits the season out. Sell what's left through in spring, and bring it back when the nights cool down. A lighter beer takes its slot, so the count stays where it was. How many NA options a bar should carry covers the count and the job of each slot.

Copy every ABV from the can or the maker's sheet. If the hop water's maker gives no ABV, leave the field empty and don't call it 0.0. Hop water on the board covers that line, and 0.0% vs 0.5% on the menu covers what the list can call non-alcoholic.

If you pour NA on draft, a light NA beer on a handle is the patio pint. Keep that line on the cleaning schedule you already run; a busier summer doesn't change it. NA draft line cleaning has the routine, and NA beer on draft or in cans runs the checks if you're deciding whether to put one on.

When should a bar start planning the summer NA list?

Start in early April, about 8 weeks before Memorial Day, and work backward from the holiday.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management's federal holiday list puts Memorial Day on May 31 in 2027 (it fell on May 25 in 2026) and Labor Day on September 6, 2027. Move the steps below to fit your distributor's delivery days and the date your patio opens.

Early April: count and decide

• Count every NA item in the cooler and the back room, and write down what's left of each.
• Check the dates printed on the winter leftovers. If you aren't sure what a date means for that product, ask the distributor. Put the leftovers where guests will see them, and don't reorder them for summer.
• Draft the summer list: 1 or 2 light NA beers, something that isn't beer, and a zero-proof drink if you have a well.
• Ask your rep which NA items they expect to keep in stock through September, and which have a long lead time.
• If your cocktail list changes in spring, write the summer zero-proof drink at the same sitting.

Restaurant menus follow the same spring timing. SpotOn's data shows mocktails spiking in April 2025 and again in June 2025, with zero and low-proof drinks hitting another peak that June. SpotOn calls June "prime season for LTO rotations," meaning limited-time drinks. The zero-proof drink menu guide covers naming the drink and writing the build.

Early to mid May: order and make room

• Place the summer order so it lands at least 1 delivery before the holiday weekend. That leaves a truck to fix anything that comes in short.
• Set summer pars (next section).
• Clear the reach-in shelf closest to where patio orders get poured, and give that shelf to the summer NA list.
• If an NA keg is on the order, get it into the cooler the day it arrives. The Brewers Association's Draught Beer Quality Manual (pages 50 and 51) says every keg must be at or below 38°F when served, and its chill table gives a keg at 44°F 18 hours in the cooler to get back to 38°F.

The week before Memorial Day: put it up

• Put the summer list up indoors and on the patio on the same day.
• Hold each line up against the can or the handle: name, size, ABV as the maker prints it, and price.
• Make the zero-proof build once before the weekend and check it against the spec card at the well.
• Give staff the summer answer to "what NA do you have?" so the patio hears the same list as the bar.

How do you set summer NA pars?

Start from the weekend pars you run in spring and raise each one by a margin you choose for summer weekends. The 33% margin below is an example, and the spring pars are made up, so swap in your own:

The total only goes from 63 cans to 72, because the stout's 6 cans move to the light beers. The NA lager alone goes from 1 case of 24 to 32 cans, so plan room for 2 cases of it on a summer weekend.

Replace the estimate with your own counts after the first 3 hot Saturdays. Count each item before you open and again at close. The opening count plus anything delivered, minus the closing count, is what sold. Tape a sheet by the well where staff mark every NA ask they couldn't fill, because a day that ran out undercounts demand.

Say the NA lager ran out on the second Saturday after 30 cans, and the sheet shows 4 more asks. That day's demand was at least 30 + 4 = 34 cans. With the same margin, 34 x 1.33 = 45.22, so the new par is 46 cans, just under 2 cases. NA drinks for a sports bar in football season walks through the same count for game days.

How do you keep summer NA stock cold?

Load the reach-in the night before a weekend that's forecast to be hot, and keep the backup cases in cold storage, because cooler space runs out before the stock does. A case that goes onto the shelf at noon may not be cold by the time the patio fills.

Write 3 things on the summer card, so the job doesn't fall between bartenders:

• Where the backup cases sit cold.
• Who refills the NA shelf and when, for example at the start of each shift and again before the patio's busiest hour.
• The count that triggers a refill, such as 6 cans of the NA lager left on the shelf.

An NA keg needs more lead time than a case. The Brewers Association manual says a keg can warm from 38°F to 44°F after only 4 or 5 hours during delivery or storage at ambient temperature. At retail, it says, even a few degrees above 38°F can cause pouring problems, especially excessive foaming.

So a keg should never wait on the dock or by the patio door. One that warms through a hot afternoon may need 18 hours in the cooler before it pours right, which can cost the patio pint a whole Saturday.

How does a patio guest see the NA list?

A patio guest sees whatever menu reaches the patio, so that menu carries the full NA list. It might be a printed card, a chalkboard by the door or a screen they can read from their table. Whichever it is, it lists the same names, sizes, prices and ABVs as the indoor board.

A patio card with only beer on it leaves the NA guest 2 choices: walk inside to ask, or order a soda. When the indoor list changes, the patio list changes the same day. A can that sold out indoors comes off the patio menu too, so nobody orders a drink that's gone.

The stale menu incident log shows how a second board that nobody updated turns into an extra trip and a late round. Add "patio menu" to every step that changes the list, so the kick routine and the summer swaps both reach it.

Where menu screens go and which way up covers whether the patio needs a screen of its own.

What changes after Labor Day?

Very little changes after Labor Day, because the summer quarter runs to the end of September and the holiday falls in its first week. Keep the summer list up through the month. Warm weekends can keep the patio open past the holiday, and SpotOn's restaurant data shows NA beer with "noticeable upticks in September aligning with football season and Oktoberfest."

Change the list 1 item at a time as cans run out. When the hop water case empties in late September, decide whether to reorder it or put a different NA in its place. Bring the NA stout back when the nights turn cold, in the slot a summer beer gives up.

Keep the number of NA lines where it is after the patio closes. IWSR's January report says the recent increase in no-alcohol sales "is reinforcing everyday consumption, rather than amplifying sober-month peaks." It also says December no-alcohol volumes have risen significantly, while January still lifts sales over December.

Designated driver drinks for the holidays and the Dry January bar prep list carry the list on through winter.

Before you file the summer counts, put next April's date on the calendar with the name of whoever counts the cooler. This summer's tally becomes next spring's starting pars.

How does a summer NA list run on a TapDisplay board?

On a TapDisplay board, the summer NA list is a section like any other, and you change it from a phone, a tablet or a computer.

• Each line shows the drink's name, maker, style, ABV and a price per pour. The board shows 2 pours by default and up to 4, so a draft NA pale ale can carry a 16 oz and a 10 oz price on one line.
• One list can be split across several screens, or each screen can show its own sections. A screen patio guests can read can carry the NA section alone while the bar screens carry the full list.
• Start typing a drink name and pick a match from the catalog. It fills in the brewery, style and ABV you haven't entered yet. Check the ABV against the can.
• When a summer item runs out, anyone on staff can mark it. The line stays on the board, struck through, with the word your business type sets: KICKED on keg menus such as a bar or brewery, SOLD OUT on menus such as coffee or wine. On a beer bar's board, a sold-out NA can reads KICKED.
• Every connected screen checks for changes every 30 seconds, so the bar screens and the patio screen show a change within about 30 seconds.
• The activity log shows who changed what, and undo reverses a mark made on the wrong line.

TapDisplay costs $49 a month or $499 a year per location, with unlimited screens, so a patio screen adds nothing to that price. At 3 to 9 locations it's $39 a month or $399 a year for each.

The pricing page has the details, and setting up a non-alcoholic section on a digital tap list walks through the build.

The bottom line

Summer is when NA beer sells most, and no campaign reminds you it's coming, so plan the list in April. Lean it toward light, cold drinks, get the stock cold before Memorial Day, and raise weekend pars from your spring counts until 3 hot Saturdays give you your own numbers. Put the full NA list on every menu a guest can read, patio included, and keep it up through September.