Beer Keg and Cask Courier

Beer is heavy, and that single fact shapes everything else. A 50 litre keg runs around 60 to 65 kg full once the vessel is counted, a 30 litre around 40 kg, and a nine-gallon cask around 50 kg - so a small van reaches its payload at seven or eight kegs while barely using its space, and the whole job turns on handling rather than capacity. The second fact is the destination. A great many beer deliveries end in a cellar reached through a pavement hatch, and lowering 60 kg down a hatch safely needs a cellar buffer and the equipment and practice that go with it. That is draymen's work. We will say plainly when a drop is within what we do and when it is not, because the alternative is a vehicle arriving at a hatch it cannot use.

How heavy is a keg, and what does that mean?

Heavier than almost anything else we carry per unit. Fifty litres of beer is about 50 kg before the vessel, so a full 50 litre keg lands around 60 to 65 kg; a 30 litre is about 40 kg and a nine-gallon cask about 50 kg.

Payload therefore binds early. A small van at 500 kg is full at seven or eight 50 litre kegs with most of its space unused, which is the reverse of the tyre case and exactly why a keg job should never be quoted on volume. Tell us the keg sizes and the count and the vehicle follows.

Can you deliver into a cellar?

Only where the access is something we can safely use, and we will tell you which case yours is before booking rather than on arrival. A ground-level cellar door or a ramp is straightforward. A pavement hatch with a drop is not.

Lowering 60 kg down a hatch requires a cellar buffer — the inflatable or sprung cushion draymen use — and the practice to do it repeatedly without injury. We do not carry cellar buffers as standard and will not improvise a lowering arrangement, because a dropped keg in a cellar is a serious injury risk and a burst keg. So tell us at booking what the access actually is: hatch, ramp, stairs, or ground level. Where it is a hatch, the honest answer is often delivery to the ground floor with the venue's own cellar team taking it down.

What about duty-suspended movements?

We move them under your authorisations, not ours. Beer moved in duty suspension between approved premises requires specific documentation and the consignor's own approvals, and T&C Logistics is not an authorised warehousekeeper and holds no excise approval of its own.

So the practical position is this: if your movement is duty-suspended, the documentation and the approvals are yours and must travel with the consignment, and we carry to the requirements they place on a carrier. If anything about the movement requires an approval we do not hold, we will say so at enquiry stage rather than after a booking exists. Duty-paid movements to a retail or venue address carry no such complication. See bonded warehouse logistics and alcohol courier.

Who can receive an alcohol delivery?

A named adult, with a signed and timestamped handover. Alcohol is age-restricted, so nothing is left outside a premises, handed to a passer-by or posted through — and for a venue delivery that also means somebody who can account for what arrived.

Give us a contact and a window. The specific problem with venue deliveries is opening hours: a pub that opens at lunchtime cannot receive at eight in the morning unless somebody is there for the delivery, and a cellar that is locked is a cellar that is not receiving. We work seven days a week and answer enquiries from 06:00, so an early slot is available — but it needs the venue's agreement rather than just ours.

Do empties come back on the same run?

Yes, and they should. An empty keg is 12 to 14 kg and brewery property, usually with a deposit against it, so leaving a cellar full of empties costs the venue money and the brewery stock.

Because the vehicle is going back anyway, a collection on the same visit costs little against a separate run. Two things to settle at booking: the empties count, so the loading can be planned — a vehicle arriving full of full kegs has no room for empties until it has unloaded — and whose kegs they are, because kegs from several breweries need separating for return. Empties are also light enough that the return leg is volume-limited rather than weight-limited, which is the opposite of the outbound.

Does cask ale need different handling?

Yes, and the difference is time rather than care. Cask ale is a living product that is still conditioning, and movement disturbs the sediment — so a cask needs time to settle after transport before it can be vented and tapped.

That makes the delivery date part of the cellar plan rather than a convenience. A cask delivered the morning it is wanted on the bar is a cask that will pour cloudy. So where casks are involved, book the delivery far enough ahead of the serving date for the venue's own settling practice, and tell us if the run needs to be gentler or slower than normal — we can plan for that, where a network round cannot. Keg beer is filtered and pasteurised and does not have the same constraint.

What else travels on a beer delivery?

Dispense gas, almost always, and that changes the consignment. Cylinders of carbon dioxide under UN1013 or mixed gas are ADR Class 2, which means a ventilated load space, valve protection, cylinders secured upright and an ADR-certificated driver where the quantity requires it.

So a delivery of kegs plus a CO2 cylinder is two kinds of load in one booking, and the cylinder sets the rules for both. Tell us if gas is going with the beer and give the UN number and cylinder count — our gas cylinders page covers that side. Line cleaning chemicals are the other item worth flagging: some are Class 8 corrosives, which also changes the consignment.

Can you run a scheduled delivery round?

Yes, and for a brewery, a wholesaler or a small group of venues a standing run is the efficient way to do it — the same vehicle on fixed days, deliveries out and empties back, with drops sequenced to the venues' hours rather than by postcode.

What we need is the venue list with cellar access noted for each, the frequency, and typical counts in both directions. The access note is what makes it work: a round with one pavement hatch in it needs that drop planned differently from the rest, and discovering it on the day breaks the sequence. A standing arrangement also prices better than ad hoc booking, because the vehicle's day and its return leg are both known in advance.

What does keg delivery cost?

From £50 (ex VAT) for the smallest dedicated job, quoted as one fixed price before you book. Final price depends on distance, vehicle, urgency and time - quoted in full upfront before you book, with fuel and goods-in-transit cover inside the figure.

What insurance applies, and how do I book?

Goods-in-transit cover of £50,000 per consignment, extending to £1,000,000 through partner carriers where the value requires it, plus public liability of £1,000,000 — which matters on a cellar delivery where the driver is working at a hatch or on stairs. Limits and exclusions are in our terms.

1. Call 0121 720 3841 for the office or +44 7963 400173 for dispatch. Enquiries are taken around the clock and answered between 06:00 and 22:00, seven days a week.
2. Give the keg or cask sizes and the count — payload, not volume, sets the vehicle.
3. Describe the cellar access honestly: ground level, ramp, internal stairs or pavement hatch.
4. Say whether the movement is duty-paid or duty-suspended; if suspended, the documentation and approvals are yours.
5. Give a named adult recipient, a phone number and the venue's receiving window.
6. Say whether empties come back, how many, and whose kegs they are.
7. Flag dispense gas or line cleaning chemicals with the UN number and count.
8. Accept the fixed price and a vetted driver-partner from our 3,000-plus network is assigned.

T&C Logistics Ltd is Companies House number 16838210, with a ULEZ-compliant fleet and Driver CPC qualified drivers; held credentials are on our licences page. Related: wine cases, gas cylinders, alcohol delivery, brewery equipment transport and brewing ingredients delivery. Or request a quote online. Google Reviews rating 5.0★.