Alcoholic beverages carry a graduated excise that follows both the category and the strength. Beer is charged per unit with rates set on gravity and packaging, wine falls under its own schedule, and spirits carry the heaviest burden because the concentration of alcohol is the natural measure of the enjoyment and of the cost to the state. The duty attaches at the distillery or brewery gate. Excise is assessed on production, the producer deposits the charge, and the price of every bottle that reaches the market contains it. Imported alcohol receives equivalent treatment at customs on the alcoholic content, so local and foreign products face comparable burdens under the schedule. The compliance hardware is distinctive: production records, excise stamps and reconciled warehouse stocks. Alcohol is measured in litres and in strength, and the difference between recorded and actual production is the classic audit trigger. A distillery whose gauges and stamps agree with its books sails through the annual verification, while one whose output drifts off the register invites a comparison of the plant's capacity, its purchases and its duty payments that rarely flatters the gap.