UK toasts record gin sales in 2019 ahead of World Gin Day

Last year saw over 83 million bottles of gin sold in the UK worth around £2.6 billion, with gin sales almost doubling in value in just two years.

And despite the ongoing lockdown, Brits still can’t get enough gin – the latest reports show that gin is the best-selling spirit for online shoppers since March.

Last year, gin sales continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace, as drinkers experimented with an even greater array of spirits and cocktails, thanks to continued innovation from British distillers who have given consumers a wider spirit choice than ever before.

The interest in British gin, which has been dubbed the ‘ginaissance’, has helped to fund new forays into spirit-making, with high quality English and Welsh whisky and rums coming onto the market in recent years.

According to latest HMRC figures, the UK exported £672 million worth of British gin in 2019, taking total gin sales, at home and abroad, to over £3.2 billion.

When it is time to reflect on gin sales in 2020 it will be interesting to see how the category has fared after UK pubs, bars and restaurants were forced to shut overnight following the Coronavirus pandemic.

What is clear, however, is that lockdown hasn’t dulled the UK’s enthusiasm for the most British of spirits – a CGA snap survey at the end of March revealed that gin was the most popular spirit being bought online, and behind only wine and beer as our most popular digitally-secured tipple.

Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said: “Gin sales continued to grow throughout 2019 despite a number of predictions that the bubble will have to burst soon.

“We knew that growth in the gin category would slow eventually, it was always inevitable given the incredible numbers we were seeing from 2016 onwards. We remain optimistic that British gin will continue to create a stir at home and abroad as our innovative distillers continue to produce new colours, creations and botanical masterpieces.

“Online demand for gin has outstripped all others in the spirit category during the lockdown of the last few months, and provided that SMEs can survive the ongoing economic uncertainty wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, it’s clear that gin’s success  can be maintained at home and replicated abroad as our distillers look to export.”

World Gin Day will be celebrated on 13 June 2020.