John Smiths watered down ???

[Baz Chaz]

Well it thought it was funny for several reasons :wha:

Clicky

Home brewing rules :thumb: :lol:

 

[Moley]

Britons now pay more tax on beer than 16 major European countries combined, according to the British Beer and Pub Association. The Treasury raises £9.2bn annually from the production and sale of beer.

Lobby group The Campaign for Real Ale point out that over a third of every pint pulled in a pub is now paid in duty and VAT.

At the same time as taxes have risen by 40 per cent since 2008 the number of regular pub goers has dropped by 3m and more than 5,800 pubs have been forced to close their doors.

Doesn't it make you proud to be British?

It's no small wonder that the popularity of home brewing has increased in recent years.

 

[orlando]

I read somewhere recently (can't for the life of me remember where) that up to the 19c more home brewed beer was consumed than was made commercially. At this rate I suspect we will return to those statistics.

 

[Kinleycat]

I never really considered it this way, but i suppose by starting to home brew i have increased my tax threshold! :thumb:

 

[SloeBrewer]

John Smith's hardly qualifies as beer though, these days, more like dirty dish water! Same goes for Tetley. 20 years ago it was drinkable, but not anymore. Someone brought a 4-pack round once, saying they had brought me some proper beer (they drink fosters, need I say more). All 4 cans went down the sink after they had gone :grin:

 

[johnnyh]

If the home brew market expands due to taxes driving up the cost of a pint in the local, how long before limits and taxes are rolled out on home brewed beer?

 

[fbsf]

Shhhhhh, don't give them ideas! :evil:

Actually, from what I've read they have already looked into it, but thankfully nothing has happened yet. :pray:

I would have thought if they did decide to tax homebrew, it would affect kits before anything else - things that are effectively beer/wine minus the time element and that don't require any major skill to obtain alcohol.

I believe before HB was derestricted in the 60s, you had to have a licence costing 5-shillings. If that were today, it would probably be in line with a fishing license or something - £25-30 a year or so.

 

[calumscott]

I expect if they did, it would have to be through some kind of annual licence.

But...

If you consider the cost of licencing, policing etc, to make a licence scheme worthwhile would need it to be really quite expensive, which no one would pay so they would end up criminalising vast swathes of the population for no gain.

Homebrew will, in the current and most future economic climates I can imagine, remain duty free.

 

[jonewer]

.....criminalising vast swathes of the population for no gain.

Hasnt stopped them before.

 

[Dr Mike]

I expect if they did, it would have to be through some kind of annual licence.

But...

If you consider the cost of licencing, policing etc, to make a licence scheme worthwhile would need it to be really quite expensive, which no one would pay so they would end up criminalising vast swathes of the population for no gain.

Homebrew will, in the current and most future economic climates I can imagine, remain duty free.

This is the reason they de-restricted it in the 60s. The cost of collection was nearly as much as the revenue.

Apparently most commercial lagers are watered down, litterally. They are brewed and fermented at something like 1080 I think, and then watered down prior to packaging. I did read somewhere that B*******r tastes great before watering down, probably like a nice Doppelbock. It's called 'High Gravity Brewing' and is forbidden in the Reinheitsgebot.

 

[kev]

It's funny that John Smiths is singled out because Stella, Strongbow, Boddingtons and Tetleys have ALL reduced abv in the last year.

K

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I'm keeping mine at 4.5%

 

[mattrickl06]

What a sad nanny state we live in.

What will people do if their strongbow is reduced from 5.3% to 5%??

Drink 9 cans instead of 8.

Sounds like just a way of raking in more tax to me

 

[jonewer]

I am the man, the very fat man,
That waters the workers' beer
I am the man, the very fat man,
That waters the workers' beer
And what do I care if it makes them ill,
If it makes them terribly queer
I've a car, a yacht, and an aeroplane,
And I waters the workers' beer

Now when I waters the workers' beer,
I puts in strychnine
Some methylated spirits,
And a can of kerosine
Ah, but such a brew so terribly strong,
It would make them terribly queer
So I reaches my hand for the watering-can
And I waters the workers' beer

Now a drop of good beer is good for a man
When he's tired, thirsty and hot
And I sometimes have a drop myself,
From a very special pot
For a strong and healthy working class
Is the thing that I most fear
So I reaches my hand for the watering-can
And I waters the workers' beer

Now ladies fair, beyond compare,
Be you maiden or wife
Spare a thought for such a man
Who leads such a lonely life
For the water rates are frightfully high,
And the meths is terribly dear
And there ain't the profit there used to be
In watering the workers' beer

 

[Dr Mike]

What a sad nanny state we live in.

What will people do if their strongbow is reduced from 5.3% to 5%??

Drink 9 cans instead of 8.

Sounds like just a way of raking in more tax to me

This is nothing to do with the Nanny State or the tax-man. This is just a producer reducing the quality of their product and hoping the consumer won't notice or care.

 

[orlando]

What a sad nanny state we live in.

What will people do if their strongbow is reduced from 5.3% to 5%??

Drink 9 cans instead of 8.

Sounds like just a way of raking in more tax to me

This is nothing to do with the Nanny State or the tax-man. This is just a producer reducing the quality of their product and hoping the consumer won't notice or care.

You know what to do

 

[WelshPaul]

What a sad nanny state we live in.

What will people do if their strongbow is reduced from 5.3% to 5%??

Drink 9 cans instead of 8.

Sounds like just a way of raking in more tax to me

This is nothing to do with the Nanny State or the tax-man. This is just a producer reducing the quality of their product and hoping the consumer won't notice or care.

Isn't it something to do with the new tax laws applying a higher rate to beers over 5%?

 

[falafael]

At one time, i would have been bothered by this, but since i brew, and dont drink john smiths at all, even when i go pubs, i'm not really to fussed, its all about the money with the big boys nowadays, remember Mansfield brewery???

:evil: :evil: is marstons aka wolverhampton and dudley!

 

[BeerBloke]

What a sad nanny state we live in.

What will people do if their strongbow is reduced from 5.3% to 5%??

Drink 9 cans instead of 8.

Sounds like just a way of raking in more tax to me

This is nothing to do with the Nanny State or the tax-man. This is just a producer reducing the quality of their product and hoping the consumer won't notice or care.

Isn't it something to do with the new tax laws applying a higher rate to beers over 5%?

The higher tax rate for beers is 7.5% and above.

What makes this even worse is that it coincides with there usual January price increase. This year it's just under a fiver a keg so about 6p a pint which will end up at least 10p a pint at the bar.