Legal Requirements for the Sale of Home Made Wines and Ciders

Drives

Hi all,

Both myself and my wife have produced some home made Ciders and Country Wines for the last couple of years. We inherited a small orchard when we purchased our house and have produced some very nice traditional Ciders. We have also produced some nice Country Wines such as goose-berry and elderflower champagne.
We have been trying to find out what is required, if we were to sell some of our produce to the public. We need information on some of the following points;

1. What License's or permits are required for the sale of Alcohol.
2. What license's or permits are required for the production of food/drink for sale to the public.
3. What tax or customs will have to be paid.
4. What facilities are legally required and who will inspect these facilites.

We know we have asked alot in those four brief points, but if any one had any information on any of the above, or even people or bodies to contact we would be grateful.

Thanks.

BeerNut

OK, this is just the advice from some random guy on the Internet. If you really want to do this you must talk to your solicitor about it, and probably your local Revenue office and Council, depending on exactly what you want to do.

Drives wrote: »

[*]What License's or permits are required for the sale of Alcohol.

Normally an on licence (for a pub, restaurant etc) or an off licence. An exemption exists for producers who sell their own stuff direct to the public, but it must be sold in amounts greater than ~20L.

Drives wrote: »

[*]What license's or permits are required for the production of food/drink for sale to the public.

Dunno about food, probably just environmental health stuff. For beer, cider and wine you'll need a brewer's licence from Revenue. They will insist you have a secure premises and will ask you to arrange a bond through your bank. Your local Revenue office will be able to take you through the various procedures. You'll also need to be squared off with your local council on stuff like commercial rates and zoning, and environmental health stuff. Someone at the council should be able to point you in the right directions.

Drives wrote: »

[*]What tax or customs will have to be paid.

It depends. Without creating a bonded warehouse through Revenue you will have to pay all the excise duty up front on everything you produce as soon as you produce it. With a bonded warehouse (which is what most producers have) the excise isn't due until you've sold the drink.

Drives wrote: »

[*]What facilities are legally required and who will inspect these facilites.

Revenue's main concern (from talking to people who have been through this) is security. They'll send an inspector as part of the licence application procedure. The council will do the same, and you can expect regular visits from both.

Drives wrote: »

people or bodies to contact we would be grateful.

1.Your local Revenue Office. 2. Other producers who have already been through the process. 3. Your solicitor.

Good luck!

Drives

BeerNut,

Thanks for your reply. Seen as we are planning on only producing small amounts its a huge amount of time and money to be invested to get to the sale point.
We are working on the leads you have given us so we will see where they lead us. Im sure we will be back looking for more info.

Thanks

BeerNut

Drives wrote: »

its a huge amount of time and money to be invested to get to the sale point.

Yep, the whole system is weighted against people like you ever entering the market. I reckon you need to be one of those people who takes this as a challenge to make it in the Irish craft drinks industry. And it's important to know that there are other people out there who've been through it and are still struggling to carve out their niche in a hostile market against difficult red tape.

If you just wanted a few easy quid for a couple of bottles of cider it's time to go back to the day job, unfortunately.