Today, in offices much like ours, Louise and Colin, people like Zak and his team, Nigel and Ian, Andreas or Steve, Bart Verhaege, then Nick and Duff, then Martin and Tom, will all have to make dramatic tiered changes to their offering.
Oddly, I guess there might be conversations in offices in Denmark or Northampton, perhaps wherever Tennentâs is made, but more so in Cheshunt, where life will carry on as normal.
The simple reason specialist beer importers, retailers and beer venues will have to charge more is a multiplier: the High Strength Beer Duty that comes into force today. That is a tax on beers above 7.5% ABV, catching dolphins and tuna in the same net, Chimay and Tennentâs Super, Stone Arrogant Bastard and Carlsberg Special. Beers with entirely different origins and entirely different space on retailersâ shelves.
Why am I concerned? Surely the reassuring tones of government research showed that you, dear beer lover, are less price sensitive when purchasing high strength beer.
Picture this: a bottle of Chimay will go up 25p, perhaps more. At least 75p by the time it hits the shelves of bars. Twenty-five pence in retail space is the difference between a two-bottle buy and a one-bottle buy. Seventy-five pence is the difference between a buy and no buy.
I believe the tax system that has been applied is a Pigovian tax: a tax intended to correct the market outcome, on the basis that in the presence of negative externalities the social cost of a market activity is not covered by its private cost. Now, as you know, I am not the strongest writer in the camp, nor the most erudite, but the way I see it, the reasoning behind the levy was to inhibit the purchase of super strength beer because of its links to antisocial behaviour. What the papers would call a sin tax.
Walking through Canterbury last night, after a tasting with some eighty people, students, academics and everyday folk all mixed together, tasting beers from 3.5% through 11%, there were no issues and no trouble, save for a dodgy comedian, and that is a long story. Out in the town, many people were drinking continental style: sat at cafes, coffee, beer or wine all being consumed conscientiously. I also saw quite a few people walking along with tall cans of mystery lager, and one pub with a raucous kick-out being attended by a brand new Range Rover, unmarked, with blue lights appearing from behind the grille. Who were they attending to? Middle-aged men. Sad. Thankfully they did not look like craft beer people. More statistics.
You will see from the opening paragraph that it was easy to name the family of beer importer-retailers. There are not many of us. Specialist beer, be that artisan, craft, craft keg, imported bottle, cask beer or real ale, whichever church you follow, is affected. It is just more pronounced when your business, livelihood and wellbeing are tied to the sale of beer above 7.5%. I know of at least six beers that are going to be capped at 7.4%. I know beers that will not be brewed again. I know of beers that will not be imported. I know that it has been very clearly stated to continental brewers that beers of 7.4% and above will not be given much push. Times are a-changing. When was the last time you had a breadth of strong, rich, full-flavoured, massive beers in front of you? I look forward to Dover Beer Festival this year, the festival of 5% and above beers, but I do not hold much hope for the range at the biggest end.
So, if something is taken, something must be given? Beers of 2.8% and below now get 50% off the duty rate. As someone who championed 3% beer in cask, who has had long conversations with Eddie Gadd (who, if you do not know, does a lot behind the scenes with SIBA), and who then brewed a 2.8% called Low and Behold, although I now know small brewers are not actually entitled to that lower rate, only brewers above the small brewersâ duty relief threshold, I can tell you it is expensive brewing beers at 3%. Ingredients that we do not fully use, massive amounts of hops to compensate for the lack of body. Few have mastered the style; perhaps Redemption Trinity is the master of that very small band of beers. Without checking Ratebeer, I would think there are more beers over 7.4% than under 3% on the UK market.
None of these price rises reflect the rise in the cost of living, expectations of wage increases, or simple business costs. It is going to be harder to sell two bottles of beer rather than one. Considering the cost of travel is always rising, when you get to the bottle shop are you going to take one bottle or two? You know the answer.
What were the alternatives? Direct regulation? Did you know governments can choose to regulate things directly? Speed limits, for instance, oh no, that is up for debate too. Would something like âyou cannot sell alcohol below costâ not have worked? Although one wonders whether invoices are easily fudged when selling to the big grocers, or whether their political weight was just enough to shift the onus away from them.
See, we elect people in suits to go and do their best for the UK, at home and abroad. To make decisions based on heartfelt instincts and research, insight, experience and knowledge.
Did they do the right thing? No, they did not.
Welcome to Utah.
