Inflation is set to cause the price of a schooner in Australia to an eye watering $12

Make sure you buy a couple of slabs of beer because schooners are set to increase to AUD $12 (£6.88) in some places in Australia.

Well, it looks like this will be the summer of strong pre-gaming, as inflation is only getting worse.

Inflation, she’s a cruel mistress, but this time she’s made it personal, as schooners will soon see a jaw-dropping 3.7 per cent price spike from February 1, the highest annual leap since 1990.

We already had a tax increase in August last year of 4 per cent, so we're nearly up by 8 per cent in the past six months on the price of beer.

In a letter obtained by The Daily Telegraph, head of The Beer Brewer’s Association of Australia (BAA), John Preston wrote to Treasurer Jim Chalmers saying: “People are already paying $8 a schooner in parts of Sydney – if this keeps rising like this it will be soon be surging past $12.”

He added: “These are hidden tax increases which have been going up every six months for the past 20 years.

“The record increases are making it more difficult to get people back through the door.”

Australia now pays the fourth highest beer tax in the world, after Japan, Finland and Norway.

The BAA has urged the federal government to freeze the tax on beer sold in bottle shops and to halve prices in clubs and bars.

Alistair Flower, the managing director of Flower Hotels at Port Macquarie, told ABC News that it's getting harder for businesses to remain afloat amid the surging inflation.

He told the outlet: "This is another hit for us...cost of living is certainly going up and it's making it very challenging...we have things like power bills going up and produce being very expensive, and it's very hard to run a business."

While Port Macquarie bar patron Paul Walsh said some could no longer enjoy a cold beverage at their local.

He added: "Taxes on beer, it's sort of a bit un-Australian isn't it, to put it up when everyone is doing it a bit tough."

Last week, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures revealed that the annual Consumer Price Index was up 7.8 per cent heading into the new year, a significant jump from 7.3 per cent over the September quarter.

Mr Chalmers said that while suspected inflation had peaked, it was still ‘too unacceptably high’, as per The New Daily.

He added: “Even as inflation moderates, the pressures coming at us from around the world will continue to be felt around the kitchen tables of our country.”

The Daily Telegraph found people in Canberra pay, on average, the least amount of money for a schooner at $7.50.

However, those in Adelaide fork out the most at $9.14.