Kate Amber's Blog

In the 17th century, as Charles II sat on the throne, the British crown suffered as always, from a scarcity of funds. There is not much difference between today's government and the Monarchy in those days, although the methods to come by more money are a little different today than they were then. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was constantly trying to find new sources of income. In those days, it was already known that there was frequent illegal distilling and since there was no tax paid on that alcohol, therefore they were losing a lot of potential income.

They also wanted to control the distillery industry more carefully so that they could be sure they were getting all of the tax possible. Tax paid on each bottle of whiskey did not disrupt the fact that barrels could be bought illegally. By the taxing of barrels, you couldn't be sure if you had managed to encompass all the potential product from a tax point of view. Therefore, the monarchy decided on the 24th of December 1661 to bring in a new tax on a special part of the production process. There was to be a tax on Barley malt which is used for the fermentation process, the thoughts behind this was that was one way to ensure that distilleries would pay their tax no matter whether they sold the product or not.
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https://www.irelandswhiskeyguide.com/...Ireland's Whiskey Guide