Brewery inventory management software tracks what a brewery buys, brews and sells: malt, hops and yeast by lot, beer in the fermenters and brite tanks, packaged beer in kegs and cases, the packaging itself, and what each batch cost. For a US brewery, one feature usually decides the choice before any other: whether the software produces the TTB Brewer's Report of Operations from your production records, because that report is due every month or quarter. Below is what the software has to cover, what the TTB report involves, two brewery-specific options with the prices they publish, and, plainly, where TaroStack fits: it doesn't produce TTB reports.
The short version
- A brewery needs raw materials by lot, beer in tanks, packaged beer, kegs and packaging, and a cost per batch.
- The TTB Brewer's Report of Operations is due by the 15th after each month or quarter. Software that fills it in from your records saves hours and errors.
- Ekos lists TTB reporting, keg tracking and lot tracking among its features; prices come with a demo.
- Breww publishes prices by annual output, from $34.99 a month up to 200 hL, all features included, with TTB reports.
- TaroStack does not produce TTB reports or the excise tax return. It's strong on lots, recalls, recipes and true cost.
- If automated TTB reporting is a must, choose a brewery system. More on where TaroStack does fit below.
What brewery software has to track
| Stage | What to track | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Raw materials | Malt, hops, yeast, adjuncts, by supplier lot, with dates | A recall, a bad lot of hops, and costing |
| In the brewhouse | Each brew against its recipe, what it used, and its volume | Yield and cost per barrel |
| In tanks | Beer in fermenters and brite tanks, by batch | What's coming, and the TTB report |
| Packaged | Kegs by size, cans and bottles by case, by batch, with dates | Sales, freshness, and the TTB report |
| Packaging | Cans, ends, labels, carriers, and kegs as returnable containers | Running out stops packaging day |
| Out the door | Taproom, distributors and direct accounts | Removals for tax, and where each batch went |
| Losses | At each stage, with a reason | Yield, and the report's reconciliation |
The TTB report
TTB's instructions for the Brewer's Report of Operations say you must report monthly, on TTB F 5130.9, if you were liable for more than $50,000 in beer taxes in the preceding calendar year or expect to be in the current one; if not, you report quarterly, on that form or the Quarterly Brewer's Report of Operations, TTB F 5130.26. The report is due by the 15th day after the end of the period, the tax itself goes on a separate return (TTB F 5000.24), and you keep a copy for at least three years (TTB F 5130.9 instructions). This is general information, not tax or legal advice; TTB has the last word.
The report reconciles beer in barrels: produced, received, packaged, removed taxpaid, lost and on hand. Software that records every brew, transfer and removal can add those up for you; with a spreadsheet, someone does it by hand every period.
Two brewery-specific options
Read on September 30, 2026, from each company's own pages:
| Ekos | Breww | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Essentials, Plus and Professional; book a demo for prices | By annual output: $34.99 a month up to 200 hL, $139.99 a month for 751 to 1,500 hL; all features included |
| TTB | TTB reporting listed among its features | Produces the TTB Brewer's Report of Operations |
| Also listed | Real-time inventory, production, cost accounting, keg and lot tracking, accounting integrations | Unlimited users, 30 days free, no setup fee |
(Ekos pricing, Breww pricing, Breww docs). There are other brewery systems; these are two whose pages I could read. A 7-barrel brewpub making about 800 barrels a year, around 940 hL, falls in Breww's $139.99 tier.
What to test in a trial
- Last quarter's TTB report. Enter the quarter's brews and removals and compare its report with the one you filed.
- A recall. Pick a hop lot and see how fast it shows every batch, keg and account it reached; the drill is in the mock recall exercise.
- A batch cost. Brew one batch through it and check the cost per barrel against your own sums, worked as in the batch costing example.
- Kegs. Where each one is, and who has had it too long.
- Your point of sale and accounting. Whether taproom sales and invoices arrive without retyping.
Where this stops working
A spreadsheet can track malt and hops and add up a TTB report, for a while. It breaks at the same places for every brewery: beer moving between tanks, kegs coming back half the time, packaging that runs out on canning day, a cost per barrel that's last year's, and a quarterly report built from four tabs and a calculator the night before it's due. That's usually when a brewery starts shopping; the general case is in inventory software vs a spreadsheet.
How TaroStack does it
Plainly first: TaroStack does not produce the TTB Brewer's Report of Operations or the excise tax return, and it isn't built around brewing specifics like tank transfers. If you want those reports filled in from your production records, a brewery system like the two above is the better choice, and I'd tell you that on a call.
Where TaroStack is strong is the rest of the chain. Malt, hops, cans and labels are received by supplier lot, with their dates and the price you paid, freight included. Recipes are multi-level and versioned, and recording a batch takes each ingredient from its lot and notes it automatically, so a hop supplier's recall is one report: every batch it went into, every account that got the beer, and what's still in your cold room. Every batch is costed from what it really used, and your own batch history shows whether a recipe yields what it claims. Customers, sales orders and delivery notes carry the lot, counts work offline in the cold room, and every list exports to CSV, which is also where a brewery that files its TTB report by hand would take the numbers from.
So TaroStack suits a small producer for whom lots, recalls and true cost matter more than automated TTB reporting, and who's content to fill in the TTB form from their own records. Lots, expiry and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month; recipes, batches and true cost are on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.