# Selling homebrewed booze (UK) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-homebrewed-booze-uk/646534 "2013-01-08T20:56:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bisected8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Bisected8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bisected8)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-homebrewed-booze-uk/646534/1 "2013-01-08T20:56:31Z")
Does anyone know what the law is on selling homebrewed wine/beer/etc in the UK is? As far as I know, it’s legal to make it for your own consumption (as long as you don’t try and distill it). Would it be necessary to somehow purchase labels with the “tax” logo you see on most drinks (not unlike a postage stamp or road tax disk) or is it more complicated than that? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-homebrewed-booze-uk/646534/2 "2013-01-08T22:20:40Z")
Sorry, what tax logo? [edit] Oh, you mean the things on bottles of spirits. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-homebrewed-booze-uk/646534/3 "2013-01-08T22:21:57Z")
“Booze” colloquially is IIRC distilled alcohol - so illegal, from what you say. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-homebrewed-booze-uk/646534/4 "2013-01-08T22:38:04Z")
I think you can sell it for cost price to your firends. Otherwise presumably all the health regulations would apply. It’s also illegal to sell booze in the UK whether home breweed or not without a licence to do so, the requirements for that vary by country but can be fairly strict - the police can deny you it for example! ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-homebrewed-booze-uk/646534/5 "2013-01-08T22:58:39Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > “Booze” colloquially is IIRC distilled alcohol - so illegal, from what you say. He’s asking about British laws, so it seems safe to assume that he’s speaking British English as well. Booze doesn’t have to be distilled. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-homebrewed-booze-uk/646534/6 "2013-01-08T23:17:05Z")
> [@Bisected8](#): > > Does anyone know what the law is on selling homebrewed wine/beer/etc in the UK is? > > As far as I know, it’s legal to make it for your own consumption (as long as you don’t try and distill it). Yup, for personal consumption and sharing with friends/family, you can make brewed alcoholic drinks legally (or there would not be so lively a market in equipment and kits for it). It’s not very hard to obtain a licence to sell amateur-scale beer and cider I know a couple of people who have done this - there is a modest cost, I believe - so there’s a break-even point to be attained. > [@](#): > > Would it be necessary to somehow purchase labels with the “tax” logo you see on most drinks (not unlike a postage stamp or road tax disk) or is it more complicated than that? I don’t think so. You just need a licence if you’re going to make it for sale - there are some details here: > **[\[Withdrawn\] Wine production in the UK (Excise Notice 163)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/excise-notice-163-wine-production)** > > This notice is about the production, storage and accounting of duty on wine and other fermented products by commercial wine producers. Getting a licence to distil spirits is a lot more difficult, and there is no ‘personal use’ exception.