Big BeerCast Month

On the 1st of December 2010, the UK Government published a Review of Alcohol Taxation [pdf], the stated aim of which was to address the consumption of cheap, “super-strength” lagers. By raising the duty on beer over a certain percentage – 7.5% – the Government hopes to make these drinks too expensive for problem drinkers. From midnight on the 1st of October this year, as the law changed, duty rose on all beers over this alcohol by volume.

We wrote out thoughts about this back in December, and then again in March when the budget wrote this proposal into law. In short, we’re against. Rather than re-hash those two old posts (although it is tempting), here are our major concerns/objections…

– Beer over 7.5% constitutes less than 0.5% of UK alcohol sales (according to the British Beer & Pub Association), suggesting it’s hardly at the cutting edge of the issue

– The 7.5% level seems to have been plucked out of the air – or worse, copied from cider duty regime – where although all ciders over 7.5% pay increased duty, those with a certain apple juice content are exempt, protecting ‘traditional producers’

– Brewers under 60,000 hectolitres* qualify for Small Breweries Relief – up to 50% reduction in duty. Yet the Government felt that this was outside the scope of the review, meaning all breweries will have to pay the increase

– ‘Problem drinkers’ at home stock up on cheap supermarket deals – involving beer universally under 7.5%. This week in Scotland, legislation came in to tackle this – until the supermarkets dodged it, of course

– ‘High-priced, premium beers produced at higher strengths…[have]…consumers who are not price sensitive because they choose these beers specifically for their taste and already pay a high price.’ {paragraph 4.7} Awesome. Thanks.

Cheap, strong alcohol will always be available – those who are addicted to the drug will either find it elsewhere or find other ways of paying the prices. Large producers who can shoulder the duty will do so – smaller producers will be hit harder. Ok – let’s put our cards on the table straight away. We’re not going to stop buying strong IPA’s just because they are 50p a bottle more. But the ‘those who can pay, will pay’ argument has always irked me immensely.

When the similar duty level was imposed on ciders over 7.5% – creating the new bracket of ‘strong cider’, Strongbow Super was re-branded Strongbow Black** – and reduced in strength to – guess what percentage? Yep, 7.5%. How long before we see a reduction in abv from the ‘strong lagers’?. Our worry is recipe alteration may well be the fate of traditional strong beers – or worse, the brewers will simply stop making them.

So with this in mind, for the entirety of October, we’ll be featuring nothing under 7.5%. Strong beer can be – and is – drunk responsibly by thousands of people, all over the UK. Let’s show others out there that it’s worth drinking – even if you now have to pay more for the privilege. The fact that this is the start of Cask Ale week is an unfortunate irony (as strong cask ales might be even harder to find soon).

We begin Big BeerCast month with one of Scotland’s all-time classics, small in bottle, but mighty on flavour – stay tuned…

*For our American friends, this is an arbitrary scale invented by EU Bureaucrats – one hectolitre roughly equates to the amount of wheatbeer drunk by each German at Oktoberfest, per sitting

**Following ABInBev’s lead on what constitutes quality