Another day and another group comes out against the prohibitionist plans by this non-Tory Government to have a minimum price for alcohol. This time its the cidermakers, in the form of the South West Cidermakers Association.
They have a blog here on the subject.
So why should farmhouse cider be exempt from minimum pricing?
"For hundreds of years draft cider has been bought from over 500 cider farms in the Westcountry (and elsewhere). It is cheaper than cider bought from the supermarket because it is not bottled (you buy it in your own containers) and because is not pasteurised and therefore lasts only a week. If it were bottled and pasteurised or sterile filtered so you could buy it in a supermarket then the price would be relatively high and therefore we are not worried about bottled tradtional farmhouse cider only the stuff from the barrel. The proposed law is there to catch cheap alcopop drinks which cost next to nothing to make and bottle. The traditional sale of draft cider is something which this law will affect and the government has not considered."
There is an e-petition to sign as well.
A bit odd the Welsh Perry and Cider Society don't have an opinion on this threat to the industry?
Yes, I thought at the time that a lot of scrumpy sold at the farm gate would come in under 40p/unit. And do they even know how strong it is?!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what APPLE will have to say about it...