TOPIC:

I spotted on the budget reports this evening that the powers that be plan to reduce the tax on low alcohol beverages, but how low is low alcohol? TSB low? Is it possible a session ale culture could develop to help punters save a few quid?

I was wondering about this too. It would be nice to see more lower strength beers here. I'm a big fan of them.

"Hendrixcat":fsz6jbr0 wrote: TSB low?[/quote:fsz6jbr0]Lower. Beer from >1.2% to 2.8% attracts €9.93 per hectolitre per cent of alcohol in the beer; over 2.8% pays the full whack of €19.87. (source[/url:fsz6jbr0], p.7). Presumably you pay half this if you're making less that 20,000hl a year

(2.8% is coinky dinkily the strength of Guinness Mid-Strength. Ka-ching!)

"Hendrixcat":fsz6jbr0 wrote: Is it possible a session ale culture could develop to help punters save a few quid?[/quote:fsz6jbr0]We're talking about roughly a halving of the excise duty for low-strength beer, which means the creation of a session ale culture in the aftermath of this is as likely as an explosion of microbreweries in the wake of the 2005 halving of excise duty for microbreweries. I think we'd need a decent ale culture before we get a decent session ale culture.

Bud Light Light, anyone?

Oh well. If session strength was incentivised I imagine we would see a few turning up from the more established micro brewers. Little hope though.

it'll be interesting to see if publicans pass this on seeing as they don't currently pass on the lack of excise duty on the other alcohol-free/low-alcohol beers. paying 4.50 for a bottle of non-alcoholic beer when you're driving is one of the things that stop people going to the pub.

Not a chance I´d say - sure the last time I checked a pint of Coke costs more than a pint of beer.

We were out the other night and a mate was driving - he asked for a pint of blackcurrant. 2 euros!

Making a gross generalisation I find that they're a bunch of c*nts in Dublin when it comes to pricing - which adds to my glee that people are finally looking for alternative options to going to the pub.