Winegrowers Supplies  -  making beer spirits

Regulation (EU) 2019/787 on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and protection of geographical indications for spirit drinks.
including the use of the names of spirit drinks in the presentation and labelling of other foodstuffs,
the use of ethyl alcohol and distillates of agricultural origin in alcoholic beverages, and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 110/2008.
The provisions on geographical indications for this regulation became applicable from 8 June 2019.
For Great Britain, this regulation will become retained EU law via the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018, with operability amendments being made via secondary legislation.

Spirits production in the UK

Of particular importance are:-

The 8 categories of spirits: on form W21 Alcohol duties: Quarterly Distillery Return — declaration of materials used and spirits produced there are 8 categories listed:-

malt spirits.

grain spirits.

neutral spirits of agricultural origin.

neutral spirits of non-agricultural origin.

spirits produced from beer.

spirits produced from wine or other fermented products (previously known as made-wine).

spirits produced from cider or perry.

other spirits.


Regulations:-

(a) Beer spirit is a spirit drink produced exclusively by direct distillation under normal pressure of fresh beer with an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 86 %, so that the resulting distillate has organoleptic characteristics deriving from the beer.
(b) The minimum alcoholic strength by volume of beer spirit shall be 38 %.
(c) No addition of alcohol, diluted or not, shall take place.
(d) Beer spirit shall not be flavoured.
(e) Beer spirit may only contain added caramel as a means of adjusting the colour.
(f) Beer spirit may be sweetened in order to round off the final taste. However, the final product may not contain more than 20 grams of sweetening products per litre, expressed as invert sugar.


Restrictions on the manufacturing processes: when you manufacture spirits you must:-
use only those processes for which you’ve received approval
comply with any conditions we specify including, if applicable, those relating to inward processing on imported cereals
If you wish to change an existing process, or use a new process you must contact the Excise Processing Teams.
You must have our written approval before introducing any changes to your processes.

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