Brewers’ Reasons For Ready-Mixed Beer

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28950, 18 July 1959, Page 14

Brewers’ Reasons For Ready-Mixed Beer

(New Zealand Press Association)

NELSON, July 17. “To protect our members and the trade generally, we have investigated ways and means of combating homebrewing and an examination of procedure in the brewing field discloses that the business would be far more attractive from the sale of materials than from the brewing of beer with today’s high excise duty and sales tax,” said the president of the Brewers’ Association of New Zealand (Mr J. A. Harley) of Nelson today. Mr Harley was commenting on the Press Association message from Auckland which said that ready-mixed home-brew ingredients may be marketed by the breweries. But there could be no control of the strength of beer made from ready-mixed ingredients unless the sales were made through hotels, he said. “We will surely find that many people, including, teenagers, will be able to brew beer of fantastic strength. This is completely undesirable, and would create grave social problems.” “Consumer resistance to the price of beer is encouraging home brewing,” Mr Harley said. “An investigation of all sources or supply of materials—hops, malt ex-

tract, crown seals and other items—has convinced the Brewen* Association that more than six million gallons of home-brew a year is being made in New Zealand.

“Since the profit margin per gallon to the average brewer, after taxes, is l|d there is little chance of the brewer being able to stand a big drop in turnover, nor is he able to subsidise the hotel licensee to help him out of his present dilemma, when, by reason of price control, his reserve funds are exhausted.”

Asked to comment on suggestions made in the Auckland message that the Government could meet the situation by putting a heavy tax on hops, Mr Harley said he did not believe that » u the answer. It would only encourage black marketing in hops. Referring to the Auckland suggestion that the Government could give taxation relief to the breweries as an “incentive" not to market ready-mix beer, Mr Harley said he believed that was the answer. The excise duty on beer should be reduced to what it was in July, 1958—3 s a gallon, and the sales tax eliminated.