Tag: Alcohol Duty

The level of Duty imposed on alcohol purchases is always a hot topic.  Before the recent UK budget, a group of WSTA SMEs wrote to the chancellor asking for a 2% cut in order to help small British companies, like Hermitage Cognacs, invest and grow.  Currently the UK has some of the highest alcohol taxes in the world.  As we now know, Rishi Sunak did not cut alcohol duty but neither did he increase it by the proposed 2.2%.  Something to be thankful for especially since earlier in the year, some UK health organisations were lobbying the government to put… Read more

During the 18th Century smuggling in Cornwall was a way of life.  It is said that at its peak, more than 500,000 gallons of French brandy was smuggled in per year.  This equates to more than two million bottles. Whole families were involved and the number of smugglers far outweighed the number of Excise men stationed along the coast to stop them. There was a strong incentive to continue since the cost of buying brandy legally, with Alcohol Duty paid, was five times greater than the cost of the contraband.  It was often the case that even the judiciary, doctors… Read more