Industry Book Review

Alcoholic Beverage Taxation and Control Policies: An International Survey

by the Brewers Association of Canada
155 Queen Street, Ste. 1200
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6L1
CN$475.00/US$350.00 (Canadian residents please add 7% GST)

I received this 590 page monster of a book mid-month and it has scarcely left my desk since. It seems that every time I have a couple of minutes break from my work, I end up sticking my nose back into its pages and emerging with yet another fascinating bit of alcohol-related data.

Prepared in its ninth edition by the Brewers Association of Canada, this survey of the beverage taxation and control policies of 23 nations is nothing if not exhaustive. As its title would indicate, its contents cover taxation and control policies concerning alcoholic beverages for each country surveyed, including such information as duty and other taxation rates, market share by type of alcoholic beverage, legal drinking age requirements, per capita consumption patterns and drinking trends and patterns. For this alone, it would be a valuable tool for any brewery looking to start export operations.

But there is more to this book than just taxation and control information. Also included are such statistics as liver cirrhosis death rates, drinking and driving policies, advertising restrictions, and perhaps most interestingly, a 64-page comparative analysis of all the nations covered. And the listing of references is as exhaustive as are the contents.

I have only had this tome for about a week-and-a-half, and so have yet to complete a cover-to-cover read. However, based upon what I have read, I have no qualms about recommending it to lobbyists, government officials and any brewery owners or operators with an interest in foreign markets. Of all the similar materials and publications I have seen, this is by far the most comprehensive and impressive.

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