Skip to main content
6th February 2023

Alcohol Duty review – the changes needed to provide a boost to the Cider industry

Comment from Elliot Allison, general manager of Hawkes

“Planned to be included in last year’s Autumn Budget, the UK government is still yet to announce the outcome of its Alcohol Duty review.

“With the Spring Budget now on the horizon and the government still flip-flopping on the Treasury’s proposed tax changes, cidermakers will be itching to hear how their production practices may be affected.

“Many who may (logically) believe the UK cider tax system would be the same as that which applies to beer, wine and spirit production, might be surprised to learn that Cider Duty is actually a total anomaly in the UK and only serves to stifle innovation and growth in the industry. A real shame considering the huge untapped potential of small creative UK cidermakers that are trying to deliver quality product to the biggest global market for cider consumption.

“In the UK, cidermakers are exempt from Alcohol Duty up to 70 hectolitres (7000 litres), which is great for facilitating cider production for startups and smaller cideries, but once we start selling upwards of 7000 litres, we’re obliged to pay the same duty as the monopolist, mainstream, cider giants. This creates real cliff edge for upstart cider producers and makes growth either difficult or completely impossible.

“Risking a net loss, small cidermakers are forced to stay small, which means that sometimes – no joke – the best cider you will have ever tasted is presented to you in a plastic milk bottle with the name of the product and maker scrawled on the side with a Sharpie pen…

“This doesn’t bode well for the cider industry at all. Why would any young creator want to get involved in a market that will turn out to be a nightmare just as they begin to taste success,  when they can enjoy far more freedom in spirits or craft beer?

“As a global cider brand, sold in every continent except Antarctica, Hawkes has a great grasp of the tax systems that help the cider industry innovate and grow.

“The US, for example, taxes cider much more similarly to beer, and as a result we’ve seen an explosion of cidermakers and cider drinkers in the past decade. Americans are drinking ten times more cider than they were ten years ago, whilst cider consumption in the UK – the quintessential home of cider – is in decline!

“As we approach our ten years of existence, we are thankful for our growth and successes, but that progress has certainly not been helped by the archaic UK cider tax system.

“What Hawkes and our fellow smaller scale cider creators would love to see is a taxation system to match that of beer production. This will allow our innovative industry to finally enjoy a “renaissance” similar to that which craft beer has been experiencing these past ten years.”

ENDS

For further press information, please contact:

Will Challis | Elsa Findlay | Julie Aguilera Kemp

Rooster PR

T: +44 (0) 20 3440 8930

E: Hawkes@rooster.co.uk

W: www.rooster.co.uk

About Hawkes.

Founded in 2013, Bermondsey-based Hawkes is London’s first urban cidery, turning unloved, ‘wonky’, or surplus apples, which are too big or small for the shelves but perfect for juicing, into delicious real-apple cider.

Using only natural ingredients and never apple concentrate, Hawkes currently produces three core real-apple ciders: The vibrant, fresh and bright, Urban Orchard (4.5% ABV); juicy, sharp and lush, Dead & Berried (4.0% ABV); and tropical, zingy and offbeat, Pineapple Punch (4.0% ABV).

Hawkes collaborates annually with The Orchard Project – the only national charity dedicated to the creation, restoration and celebration of community orchards – to collect surplus orchard apples, allowing the cidery to turn vast amounts of otherwise waste fruit into planet-friendly cider every autumn. In addition to stocks from The Orchard Project, Hawkes’ Apple Donors initiative brings in donations from all over the UK. In 2021 alone, the annual apple drive saw the cidery save over 130,000 – or 12 tonnes – of apples from going to waste.

Hawkes was acquired by craft beer giant, BrewDog, in 2018. It is available to enjoy by the pint or can in all BrewDog bars nationally, in a number of Independent London pubs and pub groups around the UK, and at Hawkes’ Bermondsey-based railway arch Cidery & Taproom. You can also enjoy Hawkes in your own home; Pineapple Punch and Dead & Berried are stocked in 150 Sainsbury’s stores across London and key UK cities, and packs of all Hawkes’ core ciders are available to buy via the Hawkes online shop wearehawkes.com.


Press release from Roosters PR.

For further press information, please contact:

Will Challis | Elsa Findlay | Julie Aguilera Kemp

Rooster PR

T: +44 (0) 20 3440 8930

E: Hawkes@rooster.co.uk

W: www.rooster.co.uk