Cheers! – Homemade pálinka is more popular than ever!

Hungary – Production of homemade pálinka has gained considerable popularity nowadays. In the last few years, 26,000 distilling equipment was purchased, by which 151,000 litres homemade pálinka were produced in 2019, showing a 30% increase compared to the previous year’s results.

As the Hungarian news portal magyarnemzet.hu reports, the issue of tax-free alcohol production will be discussed again at the competent EU forums. The initiative would be supported by the Hungarian government as well, in respect of Hungary’s traditional values.

Anyone can prepare homemade pálinka; the producer should fulfil only two necessary conditions: first, distilling equipment must be reported to the local government; secondly, a particular ticket should be purchased to start the process.

The production of homemade pálinka was viral in 2019: 2,200 distilling equipment was registered. Official statistics are available since 2015; in the past five years, 26,000 distilling equipment was reported to the local governments. The majority of them were registered in Pest county, followed by Veszprém, Borsod and Zala counties.

Since 2016, legal production of homemade pálinka can be realised by purchasing the so-called “párlatadójegy” – the special ticket costs 700 HUF (~2 EUR), and authorises the concerned person to produce 1-litre of alcoholic beverage. Last year, 151,000 tickets were purchased – which amount exceeded the previous year’s results by 30%.

Accordingly, homemade pálinka gained enormous popularity in 2019, generating HUF 105 million (~EUR 313,832) state revenue.

Last year, tax-free alcohol production was also mentioned on the Union’s agenda. According to András Tállai – Deputy Minister of Finance – the Hungarian government supports all of these efforts. Today, it has become vital for a nation to keep its old customs and traditions. Therefore, tax-free pálinka production is still an issue to be discussed, concerning not only Hungary but all the members of the European Union.

Source: magyarnemzet.hu