Craft brewing, cider making and distilling

Breweries, cideries and distilleries must comply with planning, licensing, environmental, health and safety, food, alcohol duty and advertising rules. These legal requirements apply even to small craft producers and home‑grown brands.

Premises, planning and licensing

If you are setting up production premises, you will usually need to:

• check if you need planning permission for new buildings, a change of use or site expansions
• apply for the appropriate alcohol licence if you plan to sell directly to the public (for example, a local producer's licence, off‑sales, on‑sales or taproom‑style arrangements)
• comply with any planning, noise, traffic and environmental conditions attached to your consents

Local producer's licence (Northern Ireland)

A local producer's licence allows you to sell your own products from your own premises for consumption off the premises. It will also allow you to sell your own products from other licensed and unlicensed premises in certain circumstances. You will need to place a notice on the premises detailing the conditions under which alcohol can be sold.

If you hold a local producer's licence, you may also apply for a suitability order and authorisation to permit consumption on the premises under certain circumstances. You will be required to place a notice on the premises detailing the conditions under which alcohol can be sold and consumed.

Rules on sampling

If you offer samples during tours or events (including on unlicensed premises), you must keep within maximum sample measures set out in Northern Ireland licensing law and guidance. You can find further information on this in the Department for Communities' guide to the Licensing and Registration of Clubs (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 (PDF, 313K).

Water, effluent and environmental duties

Producing beer, cider or spirits uses large amounts of water and generates trade effluent and other waste. You will usually pay non-domestic water and suwerage charges based on your water use and effluent discharge.

You must obtain trade effluent consent from Northern Ireland Water before discharging trade effluent to sewer. You will be charged depending on how much effluent you discharge.

You also have a legal duty of care for business waste – to store, transport and dispose of it safely using authorised carriers and facilities, keeping appropriate records.

Health, safety and food law

Certain risks come with manufacturing alcohol products - these include dust from malt and grain handling, manual handling of heavy kegs, casks, bags and containers, slips, falls and exposure to chemical irritants. You have a responsibility to protect yourself, your staff and the public from harm. See health and safety basics for business.

As a producer of drinks for sale, you are a food business and must comply with food safety laws. You also need to register with your local council as a food business.

Alcohol duty and HMRC approvals

You will need approval from HMRC (Alcoholic Products Producer Approval or APPA) to produce alcoholic products such as beer, cider, spirits, wine, and other fermented products in the UK. You will need approval before you can enrol in the Manage your Alcohol Duty online service.

An APPA typically allows you to hold finished products in 'duty suspension' at your approved premises, meaning you only pay tax when the alcohol leaves your site for sale.

The UK uses a strength‑based duty system for all alcoholic products, setting duty rates per litre of pure alcohol. Check the rates of duty for beer, cider, spirits, wine and other fermented products. GOV.UK has guidance to help you work out how much Alcohol Duty you need to pay.

If you're a small producer you may be able to pay a lower rate of Alcohol Duty on any product with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of less than 8.5%. Check if you're eligible for Small Producer Relief on Alcohol Duty.

For detailed information, see HMRC's guidance on Alcohol Duty, including applying for approval, submitting returns, paying duty, rates, and Small Producer Relief.

Advertising, marketing and labelling of alcohol

Alcohol advertising and promotion are tightly controlled. Marketing must not be directed at or appeal to people under 18 years old. This means that alcohol advertising must not:

• reflect youth culture
• feature individuals who appear under 25
• appear around programmes targeted at or appealing to audiences under 18

Additionally, advertising should not suggest that alcohol leads to social, sexual, sporting or professional success, or that it has therapeutic or problem-solving qualities. Promotions must not encourage irresponsible or excessive drinking, such as binge drinking or rapid consumption.

On packaging and labelling, alcoholic drinks must follow general food labelling rules, as well as specific alcohol rules. For most drinks above 1.2% alcoholic strength (ABV), you must:

• declare the alcoholic strength on the label
• ensure mandatory information is accurate and legible

Some products may not need a full ingredients list, but allergen and other required information must still be provided where applicable. For best practice, many producers now include ingredients and nutritional information voluntarily.

See alcohol labelling rules.