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Denatured alcohol buying guide

Updated: 23 October 2026

You need a solvent for shellac, glass or a later spirit burner, and amazon.co.uk mixes violet meths with a 96% import. Denatured alcohol is the family name. Methylated spirits is the shop name most UK households still use for the completely denatured grade. This guide is the order of checks before stars: which class you may buy, what the dye and the printed recipe say, then whether the review file belongs to that bottle. Our [denatured alcohol comparison](/hub/diy-supplies/denatured-alcohol) ranks the nine listings left after isopropyl was removed. Peter F. did not test these liquids in a lab. If you buy through a link, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You need a solvent for shellac, glass or a later spirit burner, and amazon.co.uk mixes violet meths with a 96% import. Denatured alcohol is the family name.

Our top picks

B2C B2C denatured ethanol 96%, 6 litres

Best overall

B2C B2C denatured ethanol 96%, 6 litres
7.6/10about £34.98
View offer
Barrettine Barrettine mineralised methylated spirit, 500 ml

Rank 2

Barrettine Barrettine mineralised methylated spirit, 500 ml
9.0/10about £6.13
View offer
Bird Brand Bird Brand methylated spirits, 500 ml

Alternative

Bird Brand Bird Brand methylated spirits, 500 ml
6.6/10about £8.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What you are allowed to buy
  2. 2.Dye, strength, and the printed recipe
  3. 3.Pack size and the review file
  4. 4.What to leave on the shelf
  5. 5.When the checks are enough

What you are allowed to buy

HMRC's Excise Notice 473 splits denatured alcohol into completely denatured alcohol (CDA), industrial denatured alcohol (IDA) and trade specific denatured alcohol (TSDA). Meths is CDA. You do not need a user authorisation. The notice allows CDA for heating, lighting, cleaning and domestic use, and it forbids purifying it or making it drinkable. IDA is not a heating fuel. The UK formula from 1 July 2013 is 3 parts isopropyl alcohol and 3 parts methyl ethyl ketone per 100 parts alcohol, plus 1 gram of denatonium benzoate per hectolitre. DNALC1150 records that mineralised methylated spirits became CDA. A 96% title is not that ratio. Only Barrettine's 500 ml at £6.13 and Bird Brand's 500 ml at £8.99 say methylated spirits.

Dye, strength, and the printed recipe

Violet dye makes the liquid hard to mistake for a drink. Barrettine is violet, and reviewers call it purple. Dye does not prove the 2013 ratio, because the listing does not name the denaturants, and on pale timber it can tint shellac. Smith & Rodger's clear CDA is outside this set. The 2BM cans are described as pink. B2C prints 96%. 2BM, Alcopro and the degree marks are not a percent by volume. LaFerr prints 99%. Only the 6 litre B2C file names denaturants: about 1% isopropyl alcohol, 1% butanone and Bitrex. Three parts in a hundred is not one part in a hundred. Duty exempt stays the seller's claim.
B2C B2C denatured ethanol 96%, 6 litres

Testsieger

B2C B2C denatured ethanol 96%, 6 litres
7.6/10about £34.98
View offer

Pack size and the review file

Barrettine is £6.13 for 500 ml, about £12.26 a litre, with 4.6 from 167 reviews on its own file. Reviewers use it in a Trangia and call 500 ml poor value. Bird Brand is £8.99, with 4.2 from 30 and five texts, including a leaking cap. The B2C sizes share 4.6 from 512. Six litres are £34.98, about £5.83 a litre. The smaller B2C packs cost more per litre on the same texts. The 3 litre file says United Kingdom and the 6 litre file says Poland. 2BM at £15.44 and Alcopro at £12.65 have no review text. Who the best-value mark is for is on best methylated spirits.

What to leave on the shelf

Isopropyl is a different molecule. Hexeal 99.9% at £8.49, 5 × 1 litre at £21.49, and 70% rubbing alcohol at £6.95 were removed because they are isopropanol. UK CDA contains some isopropyl as a denaturant. That is not a bottle of isopropyl. The split is on denatured alcohol vs isopropyl alcohol. White spirit is for oil paint, not shellac or a spirit burner. LaFerr says 5 litres and 99% at £16.03 beside 17 kg and four items. Those lines cannot describe one bottle of ethanol. Alcopro's title and the Generico brand field disagree, and there is no star line.

When the checks are enough

This page does not name a single top pick or a burner fill. If the label is CDA meths, the pack matches the job, and the review file is about that bottle, use the comparison table.

Common questions

Is methylated spirits the same as completely denatured alcohol?
For a UK household bottle, yes: meths is the shop name for completely denatured alcohol. HMRC’s DNALC1150 records that mineralised methylated spirits became CDA. Notice 473 allows that class for heating, lighting, cleaning and domestic use, and you do not need a user authorisation to buy it. The name on the title still has to say methylated spirits or CDA. A 96% denatured ethanol title is not automatically the same formula.
Do I need an HMRC authorisation to buy meths?
You do not need an HMRC user authorisation to buy completely denatured alcohol for the domestic uses in Excise Notice 473. Industrial denatured alcohol and trade specific denatured alcohol are the other two classes in that notice, and they are not the supermarket meths bottle. If a drum is marked IDA, do not treat it as stove fuel. The notice does not allow IDA for heating.
What is the difference between CDA and IDA?
CDA is the public grade, made to the UK recipe of 3 parts isopropyl alcohol and 3 parts methyl ethyl ketone per 100 parts alcohol, plus denatonium benzoate, and sold for heating, lighting and cleaning. IDA is industrial denatured alcohol, a separate class for authorised trade use. It is not a heating fuel under Notice 473. TSDA is the third class, for specific trades. A shed bottle of meths is CDA, not a stand-in for the other two.
Why is a 96% listing not automatically UK CDA?
Because the percentage is the seller’s strength claim, not the denaturant recipe. UK CDA uses 3 parts isopropyl alcohol and 3 parts butanone per 100 parts alcohol. The 6 litre B2C bullet prints about 1% isopropyl alcohol, 1% butanone and Bitrex, and calls the liquid duty-exempt. That 1% line is not the 3-and-3 ratio. The 2 litre and 3 litre B2C files do not print a recipe at all.
Why is a £12.65 case of 12 litres not the best value?
Alcopro’s title works out at about £1.05 a litre only if twelve litres arrive. The brand field says Generico, the strength is 90 degrees rather than a percent, and there is no star line and no review text. The best-value mark in this set is the 6 litre B2C pack at about £5.83 a litre, because it states 96%, names denaturants and sits on a review pool. A silent case is a lower sum, not better evidence.

Related pages

Methylated spirits for a Trangia

Denatured alcohol

Best methylated spirits: top pick and who should skip

How to use methylated spirits for glass and shellac

Denatured alcohol vs isopropyl: which bottle is which

Sources

Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Shelf prices in the product files were stored on 21.10.2026.

  1. HMRC, Excise Notice 473 (retrieved 21.10.2026)
  2. Denatured Alcohol Regulations 2005, schedule (retrieved 21.10.2026)
  3. HMRC, DNALC1150 (retrieved 21.10.2026)
  4. Bartoline methylated spirits safety data sheet (retrieved 21.10.2026)
  5. Priory Polishes methylated spirit (retrieved 21.10.2026)
  6. Smith & Rodger clear methylated spirit (retrieved 21.10.2026)
  7. Trangia fuel list (retrieved 21.10.2026)
  8. Scouts, FS120348 meths burning stove (retrieved 21.10.2026)