UTC was up in arms to discover that Carling has been brewing its beer not to the 4% it clearly states on the can – but to just 3.7%. And it’s been doing it since 2012.
It will surprise no-one that the reason it has been doing this is commercial. Beer brewed at 4% attracts bigger tax bills than beer brewed at 3.7%, you see. We’re talking £50m in unpaid tax, according to HMRC who ended up in a hearing over the matter with Carling brewer Molson Coors.
The brewer denies misleading the public and did not actually break any laws. The auld yin was having none of this though. Particularly after he found out that Molson Coors’ Vice President of tax for Europe said the “key driver” behind the decision not to change the labelling was to stop retailers demanding “a slice” of the savings.
Molson Coors won the hearing on the grounds that it should only pay tax at the level the beer is actually brewed at, not what it says on the can, and under the rule that beer is legally allowed a “natural variation of 0.5%”. Although it appears not to have varied at all from 3.7% since 2012, from what the auld yin could discern, making the brewer remarkably consistent in its ability to brew beer at a consistent ABV.
UTC has decided to register his disgruntlement by re-purposing a few cheeky social media posts that arch-rival Tennent’s put out during the furore.
