With regard to tax it’s a bit of a myth because imports are paying the same tax at the same rate.
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The Japanese guys also buy a lot of whisky from Scotland and blend it in Japan.
@Albert_Thurgood thats not correct and it’s never been that case. Excise is payable upon release from bond, so essentially only after the distillery has sold it.
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I got a bottle of Wild Hibiscus- Finger Lime Vodka for Christmas. Oh my… superb.
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As I said I haven’t checked for uears but I was told back in the '90s by a fortified wine producer that was the case.
I checked on the ATO web site. There link for “click here for excise duty rate” leads to a 404 page. Helpful.
The ATO also makes these other impositions on producers:
Wine fortification – records and information to keep|Examples of types of records|Information your records need to show|
| — | — |
|Spirit register that sets out the spirit received, used and a running balance|Data elements or information to include:
-
invoice number
-
date, type and strength of spirit received
-
opening stock quantity
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date, type, quantity, spirit and what the spirit was used for
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closing stock quantity.|
|Account of fortifying register that records each fortification activity|Data elements or information to include: -
date of fortification
-
fortification reference
-
details of the product fermented, including litres fermented, baume (sugar content) of unfermented juice, baume of fermented wine, alcoholic strength of wine
-
details of spirits used, including litres used, alcohol strength, litres of alcohol (LALs) used
-
details of fortified wine, including litres of fortified wine produced, baume of fortified wine, alcoholic strength of fortified wine.|
Are you saying “WET” is not true? Wine “Equalisation” tax was brought in by Honest Johnny and is at 29%.
https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?LocID=“SAV%2FALCOHOL%2FFT14.2.1”&PiT=99991231235958#FT14.2.1
As I mentioned I work in the industry. WET is levelled on wines exclusively, not spirits. A fortified wine is still a wine.
Excise on spirits is indexed twice yearly and currently sits about $100per LAA (Litre of absolute alcohol). So if you buy a bottle of gin for example and the ABV% is 40% the excise applied on that product is $40. This is the same in Australia all over regardless of where the spirit is made. The excise is calculated on the ABV% in the bottle and payable upon the bottle being removed from under bond. Which in the vast majority of small scale producers is going to be when it’s sold to as a retail sale or to a wholesaler or distributor.
The major change in legislation that allows Australia to have a small scale spirits industry was changed after Bill Lark challenged it in the 90’s. The particular law was with regard to still sizes. It was part of the law with regard to seeking permission from the ATO to own a still. It’s illegal to own a still of any size greater than 5L without ATO permission and if you own one of less than 5L as a member of the public it’s still illegal to distill alcohol. In order to prevent people attempting to start distilleries with no experience or understanding of what’s involved, a law requiring all stills to be above 10000L (I don’t recall the exact figure) in pot size was deemed good sense. Stills are expensive things and no one outside of the SVR (spirit for fortifying wine) industry was going to build a distillery with that requirement.
Excise regulations however have been nearly unchanged since about 1908.
The record keeping you’ve listed is largely basic accounting within the distillery. What is in each tank and when did it go in. It’s the same requirement for any beer production for example.
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Opened the Talisker Storm. Very, very nice indeed.
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Because Forest got a nice win?
Any excuse will do…
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I imagine most of this is trash, but only one way to find out.
(Spirits from bands)
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clicks on link, sees Slipknot whisky, closes link
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Why imagine? Just crack open your bottles and give them a go.
Not so long ago, Woodford Reserve was around $50 a bottle. It’s in Dan Murphy now for $72. Still the same whiskey.
They also got Metallica, Kiss, Motörhead, Ozzy, Gwar…The Bennies, Frenzal Rhomb, Gyroscope.
Only brand related food/drink I’d consume was probably the alias icy poles, I think Metallica had them too.
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KISS Icy poles were the bomb, I used to eat the white/ lemonade section first to make it Bombers when I was a kid
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The only superior one was this insanity…red ‘chocolate’ Jedi jelly?
I can pretty clearly recall being on a family trip to Maldon about 12 years of age. It was boring. But I had a pocket full of shrapnel, and the corner store had these things.
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Oh the jelly centre I remember them
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If they just made Return of the Jedi booze…
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Wow, I’d completely forgotten about these icy poles.
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