Strong Beer; Big Tax

"In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes," said Benjamin Franklin, one of the founders of the United States and a devoted beer drinker. There's a terrible synthesis in that statement, for a rise in beer duty could spell death for some of Britain's historic beer styles, including barley wine and old ale.

The increase will affect beers of more than 7.5% alcohol. HM Revenue & Customs will bring in the change as a result of this year's Budget. High Strength Beer Duty (HSBD) will mean an average rise of 25% in the cost of making beer. For example, a beer of 7.6% will see duty rise from 80.18 pence a pint to 100.22 pence with pro rata increases for beers of up to 12% or more. Micro brewers will continue to pay reduced general rates as a result of Progressive Beer Duty but they will not get relief for HSBD and will have to pay the full amount. On average, high strength beers will see duty rise by 1 a pint.

The increase is the result of the government wanting to be seen "doing something" about alcohol abuse. But the rise will not only hit sales of "park bench" strong lagers but also magnificent beers with their roots in the 18th and 19th centuries. HSBD could also stop in its tracks the fascinating development of oak-aged beers: strong beers matured in oak casks obtained from the American bourbon, Scotch whisky, and French wine and cognac industries.

The likely result is that people with serious alcohol problems will trade down from 9% special brew lagers to something cheaper and nastier while those of us who enjoy a fine barley wine in the comfort of our homes will have to pay a premium for the pleasure.

The Good Beer Guide lists 16 beers that will fall foul of HSBD. They include such familiar names as Parish Baz's Bonce Blower (12%), Robinson's Old Tom (8.5%), Thornbridge St Petersburg (7.7%) and Traquair House Jacobite Ale (8%). The Good Bottled Beer Guide has a further 21 beers in its Old Ales and Barley Wines listings that will have to pay the extra duty.

These are not "park bench" beers. Barley wine in particular has been handed down to us by the English aristocracy of the 18th century. When England was at war with France, aristocrats considered it their patriotic duty to drink strong ale rather that imported French claret and Burgundy. It was the task of the butler in stately homes to brew beer as well as attending to other household duties and he would make ale of around 11 or 12% that would be left to mature in cask for a year or more.

Modern interpretations of barley wine include Chiltern Brewery's Bodgers (8.5%), Fuller's Vintage Ale (8.5%), Hogs back A over T (9%), Otley 08 (8%), and Woodforde's Norfolk Nip (8%).

Old ale is another 18th century beer style, stored in oak vessels for a year or more and nicknamed "stale" as the result of an acetic flavour picked up from wild yeasts in the atmosphere or trapped in the wood. Old ale was one of the constituents of the early London porters, which were a blend of pale, brown and "stale".

Today's old ales include Burton Bridge Tickle Brain (8%), which is aged for at least four months prior to bottling, Old Chimneys Redshank (8.7%) and Gale's Prize Old Ale (9%), now brewed by Fuller's, and the closest beer to a Belgian lambic or "sour red" beer as a result of its acetic aroma and palate.

Strong stouts such as Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout (9%) and Thornbridge St Petersburg (7.7%) recall the period in the 19th century when strong versions of London porter and stout were exported to Russia and the Baltic States: high levels of alcohol and hops helped keep the beers in good condition during the long and arduous sea voyages.

Harvey's stout is based on an original recipe developed by Thrale's brewery in London. Thrale's became Barclay Perkins, which later merged with Courage. Courage's Imperial Russian Stout was phased out when it became part of the Scottish & Newcastle group but is now available again as a bottle-conditioned beer, brewed by Harvey's in Lewes, and matured for a year before it's released to the public.

Calls to some of the brewers of strong ales showed that most of them will not reduce the strength of their beers. John Robinson of Robinson's of Stockport, producer of the legendary Old Tom, said they'd been brewing the beer since 1838 and wouldn't change it now. "We did brew a trial batch at 7.5% but it didn't taste anything like Old Tom," he said. "We may brew a 7.5% beer and we haven't decided what to call it, but Old Tom won't be brewed to a lower strength."

Fuller's, which with vintage ales and old ales is the major producer of strong beers in Britain, say it has no intention of reducing strengths. This is especially good news as the Chiswick brewery launched the third in the series of its Oak Aged Beers in August, a 9% beer matured for 800 days in single malt whisky casks obtained from the Auchentoshan distillery near Glasgow.

Mike Betts at Woodforde's in Norfolk is similarly disinclined to reduce the strength of his Norfolk Nip (8.5%). A special edition of the beer was also launched in August and was matured for four months in wine barrels from France. Mike says the recipe for Norfolk Nip dates from 1929 when it was brewed by Steward & Patteson, one of three Norwich breweries bought and closed by Watneys in the 1970s. With such a painful past, Norfolk Nip needs to keep its strength up.

But at Thornbridge brewery in Bakewell, Derbyshire, Alex Buchanan said that while no final decision had been taken, "we're minded to reduce the strength of St Petersburg". As the decrease would be just two degrees and the beer is packed with roasted grain and burnt fruit character, the difference in taste would be slight.

Miles Jenner (left), head brewer at Harvey's, on the other hand, says he will keep his Imperial Stout at 9% "to maintain its authenticity. A lot of it goes for export and no one sane would drink it in quantity."

The most feisty response comes from Catherine Maxwell Stuart, who runs Traquair House and its brewery in the Scottish borders at Innerleithen. Traquair is Scotland's oldest inhabited house, dating from 1107, and has a small medieval brewhouse where a "modern" copper was installed in 1738. The main beer, House Ale, is 7.2% and falls outside HSBD. But Jacobite Ale at 8% will be caught and Catherine has no plans to reduce its strength.

"More than half our production is exported," she says, "and it would become too complicated to reduce the alcohol for the domestic market. I would not be happy at having to change the recipe.

"I am also pretty cross that we are being penalised for producing high quality, authentic, traditional ales when to my mind the government should be concentrating on minimum pricing and penalising supermarkets for selling alcohol at below cost prices."

It's clear that most current brewers of high strength beers will not reduce their levels of alcohol. But drinkers will have to pay a higher price for these beers and the concern must be that HSBD will deter other brewers, especially small ones with tight margins, from considering producing barley wines, old ales and strong stouts.

Miles Jenner's use of his imperial stout stresses how wide of the mark HSBD will be: "I serve it instead of port with a cheese course and treat it with the same respect," he says. That's a long way removed from two cans of Special Brew on a park bench. At the other end of the brewing scale, a new low rate of duty will encourage brewers to produce beers of 2.8%, which will attract just 50% of the current general rate of duty. Welton's Pride&Joy (2.8%), brewed in Horsham, West Sussex, shows how flavoursome and full of hop character such beers can be. Fuller's to date is the only major brewery that has announced plans to brew a 2.8% beer but expect more to follow.