The Labour party is considering proposing a new cheap cider tax and increasing the minimum amount of apple juice required to be in cider. That’s good news as far as I’m concerned as commercial cider often has only the 30% apple juice it is required to contain by law. Craft cider makers use 100% juice.
Andy Burnham also wants to rid shops of “high strength, ultra-low priced white ciders” which often come in three litre bottles as health experts estimate that the harmful use of alcohol costs the NHS around £3.5 billion in England and crime related to alcohol is estimated to cost about £11 billion a year.
Good quality and, in the words of a famous retailer, ‘reassuringly expensive’ craft cider gets my vote!