Don't think I saw you at the committee reception on Monday, but it was so well attended that I could easily have missed you. Usual form: a fine array of beverages to taste and appreciate, thanks to our friends in the National Association of Cider Makers, and quite a few people, as is usual at these events, getting acquainted with modern ciders for the first time and expressing their surprise and admiration.

I also took an inordinate amount of pleasure in being able to say a few words to praise the finest ciders the world produces – which is by no means an understatement.

In fact all the signs are pointing to pretty buoyant times in the sector. Sales are continuing to edge up against the general trend, so more orchard planting is on the agenda to ensure future demand can be met. And that's merely going to improve the industry's green credentials, with even more land due to become transformed into wildlife havens, where there is only the minimal amount of disturbance a couple of times a year.

The producers seem pretty content with the results of last year's crop, too, even after all the climatic vagaries that 2011 visited on them.

The only slight cloud on the horizon is what happens to duty rates in a few weeks' time and whether there will be another automatic rise or whether someone will decide that, with the countryside echoing to the sound of pub doors being closed for the last time, the trade has taken enough of a beating and needs some breathing space.

The feeling in the trade is that the £3 pint really does represent some sort of psychological barrier which causes people to pause and think and work out how much that would buy them in a supermarket and whether they would be just as well off supping a pint or two at home.

I don't know about you, but I find the sight of struggling country pubs pretty depressing, and there's nothing worse than wandering into one where the landlord has pretty much given up the unequal struggle against increases in business rates and electricity bills and falling attendance at the bar, and is just waiting for the appropriate moment to board up the windows.

This isn't an argument in favour of cheap booze. The cider makers, in particular, have been banging the drum about drinking responsibly for longer than most and have managed, in producing premium, high-quality products, to drive home the message about drinking less but drinking better.

There is also, at last, quite a stretch of clear blue water between their top-shelf products and the large plastic bottles of ersatz fizz which the supermarkets knock out for a quid or so to anyone seeking a short cut to temporary oblivion.

If there is any increased duty to be levied, then those are the ones that should be targeted. They aren't proper ciders any more than margarine is butter and so far as I am concerned the sooner they are taxed out existence the better – and the sooner we shall have an end to "cider" being trotted out by some shiny-suited brief as the excuse for his client's reckless, violent or life-threatening behaviour.

Ian