Strong ale strong-armed off the market by Osborne
By: JimOldfield
November 27th, 2011
The brewing of strong beers has been dealt a potential death blow by Tory Chancellor George Osborne. His new High Strength Beer Duty (HSBD) – imposed in the last budget and effective from October 1 this year – has added a staggering 25 per cent to the cost of brewing any beer over 7.5 per cent ABV… and already the move is claiming victims.
Among the first favourite top-end tipples to topple is Sheffield’s Abbeydale Brewery 11 per center – ironically brewed under the name Last Rites.
The duty has indeed served last rites on this great ale, with Abbeydale’s Dan Baxter declaring the end of the brew, which was first attempted on January 29, 1997.
He says: “For last Rites, weighing in at 11 per cent, the charges would have to be significantly greater in order to retain some reasonable margin. We simply didn’t believe the market would stand it. It is on this basis that we have decided to discontinue the beer.”
Baxter points out bitterly: “It was the Government’s stated intention to target super-strength canned lagers, to which some people are addicted, and which are used by them as cheap sources of alcohol.
“This is clearly NOT the market for Last Rites, which is a beer only available in cask and in highly-regulated drinking environments such as pubs and beer festivals and is certainly not cheap.
“For us, the duty increase which adds more than £20 per firkin to the cost of Last Rites, was the final straw.”
Examples of the new beer tax are truly frightening:
A beer of 7.6 per cent ABV sees its duty rise from 80.18p per pint to 100.22 – with pro rata increases for ales of up to 12 per cent or higher.
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