Gin now one in every three bottles of spirit sold at Waitrose

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 13 June, 2016

Waitrose has revealed that its top selling three spirits are now all gin - knocking out Pimm's from the top three - as the gin boom continues to gain ground.

One in every three bottles of spirit sold at Waitrose is now gin, with sales up by 50% over the past week compared to 2015.

Gin has knocked Pimm's off its perch as the drink of choice when the sun shines, with consumers increasingly opting for gin and tonic during the summer months.

Sales of gin were expected to rise further over the weekend as the nation celebrated the Queen's official birthday and World Gin Day on Saturday (June 11.)

Before the weekend, sales of reported royal favourite, Dubonnet - which is often added to gin - were already up 18%.

"Our customers know their gin and sales over the weekend proved that a gin and tonic is the drink of choice when the sun shines," said Herchelle Perez Terrado, spirits buyer at Waitrose.

"Shoppers continue to enjoy classic London dry styles with the juniper hit but we have also seen a rise in popularity of distinctive quirkier styles of gin, such as Gin Mare and Pink Pepper Gin both exclusive to Waitrose."

So far this year, Waitrose added six new gins to its range, making 43 types in total, making it the widest range compared to other UK supermarkets.

In December 2015 Mintel revealed that over half of gin drinkers are under 35 as the trend for gin based-cocktails soared last year.

This is in line with a number of new artisan London-based distilleries which have been popping up across the capital in recent years.

These gins are distilled using classic ingredients such as London Dry Gin, and botanicals such as juniper, coriander, almond, orrisroot and angelica, with a few secret ingredients thrown in to set these artisan gins apart.

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