Guides › Cider at 8.5% ABV

What happens to your cider duty at 8.5% ABV?

Checked against GOV.UK on 2 October 2026. Written by Bradley Cadd, who runs Duty Sorted, an independent business that isn't part of HMRC. About Duty Sorted. Not tax advice: see the note at the end.

The rule

HMRC's technical guide says cider is "considered to be another fermented product (formerly made-wine) or spirit for duty and approvals purposes" if it has "an alcoholic strength by volume of 8.5% or more". The other trigger is an ingredient that adds colour or flavour and isn't on HMRC's permitted list. See which category is yours for that side. If cider is mixed with spirit, the result is classed as a spirit.

Sources: technical guide, section 2 (2.2.3) and Alcohol Duty rates.

What it costs, either side of the line

The same 1000 litres of cider at different strengths, using the rates in force from 1 February 2026. The SPR columns assume an annual production figure of 40 hectolitres of pure alcohol (see how to work out SPR).

From 8.5% the rate is £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol (£33.99 above 22%), whatever the drink, and the SPR discount and draught rate no longer apply. "Duty" here is on all 1000 litres. The bottle figure is for pricing only: see duty per pint, bottle and can. Worked out with the same calculation Duty Sorted uses, so it updates when the rates change each February.

What else changes at 8.5%

• No Small Producer Relief on that product. GOV.UK: you can only get relief on products "with an alcoholic strength of less than 8.5% ABV". But the alcohol still counts towards your annual production figure (you include "all the alcoholic products you make"), so a strong cider can push your other products into a smaller discount band.
• No Draught Relief. The draught rates stop below 8.5%. See Draught Relief explained.
• A different tax type code, so it goes on its own line of your return.
• Your approval has to cover it. An alcoholic products producer approval (APPA) is for a type of product, and HMRC says it "does not automatically permit you to produce all alcoholic products". It also lists "the production of other excisable goods ... including producing other categories of alcoholic products" among the changes you must tell HMRC about. If you hold an approval for cider only, check whether it covers other fermented products before you release one.
• The 5 hectolitre no-return rule may not apply to you. It is for makers who "produce cider products only", and HMRC describes it as cider and no other alcoholic product. A product at 8.5% or more isn't cider for duty. So a small maker who makes one is, on a plain reading, no longer "cider only". See what changed for small cider makers, and check with HMRC.

Sources: eligibility guidance, technical guide, section 4 and section 5 (5.2).

How strength is worked out

• Measured at 20°C, as the percentage of the product's volume that is alcohol. For cider this means distilling a representative sample and measuring the density, or any method that is at least as accurate.
• Rounded down to one decimal place. HMRC's example: "7.59% alcohol by volume becomes 7.5%". So 8.49% is 8.4% (still cider), and anything from 8.50% is 8.5% or more.
• The label strength is normally the strength for duty. If there is no label, use the strength on any related document, and otherwise measure it.
• You must take due care that the strength you use reflects the real strength. HMRC says producers must "continuously monitor and record" alcohol by volume results, which should fall randomly either side of the target strength, and keep records of what you did to keep strength in your normal range (see batch records). If you can't show due care, HMRC works out the strength by the scientific method instead.

Source: technical guide, section 11.

Cider that gets stronger after you package it

If your cider is bottle-conditioned or cask-conditioned, it carries on fermenting after it leaves you, and its strength rises. HMRC says you "must account for duty on the strength at which you expect the product to be when it is consumed". For duty, the strength of such a product is the greatest of: the final strength you expect when it's sold, the strength on the label, and the strength on any invoice or other document.

So a cider that leaves you at 8.2% but will reach 8.6% in the bottle is, on that reading, an 8.6% product: other fermented, at £30.62 and with no SPR. Note that the figure for your production total works differently: HMRC's example for cask products counts the alcohol when the product leaves your premises, while declaring the higher expected strength for duty. For when duty falls due on cider you release, see when is Alcohol Duty due on cider.

What you can do

Nothing in GOV.UK's guidance describes a way to adjust a product's strength to change its category, and we don't suggest one. What the guidance does give you is the numbers above, so the decision is a commercial one: sell a stronger product at a price that covers duty at £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol, or keep the product under 8.5%. If you change how you make something so that it lands in a different category, ask HMRC first, because your approval, your records and your return all depend on the category.

What GOV.UK doesn't spell out

• Conditioned cider and the 8.5% line. The guidance says to use the expected strength at consumption for duty (11.3), and that cider is other fermented at 8.5% or more (2.2.3). We've put the two together. If your cider might cross the line in the bottle, check with HMRC.
• A lab result and a label that disagree near the line. The label is normally used. HMRC doesn't say what to do when your own tests say 8.5% and the label says 8.4%, other than to take due care.
• The no-return rule for a small maker who also makes an other fermented product. We read "cider products only" literally.
• Northern Ireland has extra rules that this guide doesn't cover.

What Duty Sorted does with this

• It won't let you record cider at 8.5% or more. It asks you to choose "other fermented product", which is charged at the full rate and gets its own tax type code.
• It doesn't apply SPR to a product at 8.5% or more, and tells you so. It refuses draught at that strength.
• It asks for strength to one decimal place, so enter the figure rounded down, as HMRC says.
• It doesn't know how your cider will change in the bottle, and it doesn't check your strength tests. Both are yours to get right.

This guide is general information, not tax advice, and rules and rates can change. Check the GOV.UK pages linked above and ask HMRC or your adviser before you decide how to make or classify a product. Duty Sorted is independent and is not made or approved by HMRC.