Microbrewery is not just a term for people brewing their own beer. Instead, it is an entire industry with many organizations that represent the industry politically as well. So, when you want to set up your own microbrewery, you have to know you are going to be a part of an industry. To do that, you have to understand the rules of the game as well. You can’t just set up a microbrewery just like that. You have to have the proper licenses for operating microbrewery. In fact, you will even need properly approved planning for how you are going to set up the entire system.
The first thing you have to realize is that the rules are different for commercial brewing companies and those producing it on a small scale. There is a thing called beer duty that you have to pay on your production. If what you are selling is a beer in any shape or form, you have to pay this duty. You could be selling stout, porter, ale or some other form of beer. The duty applies to your production as soon as the alcohol content of your produce goes higher than the 1.2% mark.
The duty you pay on your production can be smaller than it is for commercial producers if you qualify as a small beer producer. When will you be considered that? When you produce less than 60,000 hectolitres in a year. The moment you go above that production level, you will have to pay the same duty that other big commercial producers do. Last but not least, the duty you pay on your produce will change as soon as you pour in some spirit. It does not matter what the final shape of your beer is because you will have to pay a different duty as soon as you put even a single drop of spirit in the produce.