The spirit has entered a new period of high-end popularity thanks to a return to its roots and the adoption of premium packaging, writes Oli Dodd

It’s difficult to fall out of popularity. We all know the tragic figure of the guy who peaked in high school and is doomed to wander the earth telling anyone how he “could’ve gone pro”. Spare a thought then for gin. For years it was the most popular bottle in town, the market was awash with new brands springing up overnight like weeds, trying to get a share of the limelight. Then, suddenly it wasn’t and, worse yet, everyone seemed enamoured with the new guy with the Mexican accent.

Naturally, that seemed to spark an identity crisis and gin would reappear in a wide array of hues and an even wider array of flavours to try to recapture its crown while drifting further from the thing that made it special.

But those awkward years of readjustment now seem to be in the past. In the mainstream gin has returned to its dry, juniper-forward roots and a new category has emerged, taking notes from traditional gins but stretching its ceiling into new territory.

It’s a premiumisation journey that has had its share of speedbumps but has been in motion for decades.

“Gin’s growth over the past few decades began partly because it can be easy and quick to make,” explains Gabriele Sasnauskaite, head of advocacy & culture at Cygnet Gin, an ultra-premium, Welsh spirit founded by mezzo soprano Katherine Jenkins.

“You don’t need to age it, you don’t need huge batches, just a good recipe,” Sasnauskaite continues. “The result was a market that was affordable but also a lot of brands were very similar. Later, a few brands began to explore using higher quality, more premium ingredients and positioning themselves in a more premium space. Still though, we’re talking about £20-£30 bottles, so still relatively cheap in comparison to other spirits.

“What’s happening now is that brands are starting to realise gin can be so much more and with the right quality, a beautiful design and the right brand story, it can be a luxury product.”

In real terms, it means that in the past five or so years, the upper limit of the price of the gin category has gone from about £50 to around £100, a significant difference and an indication that gin is on the move on both sides of the purchase.

“The less-but-better movement has absolutely played a role and created a more receptive audience for a gin at this price point than would have existed 10 years ago, but the category itself had to catch up,” says John Hall, chemist turned founder and master distiller of Aureus Vita, a gin produced using a proprietary distillation process derived from Fibonacci’s golden ratio.

“For a long time, gin brands were not giving consumers a compelling reason to spend more, when spending more was traditionally associated with ageing. What has changed is that some producers are now doing things with gin that genuinely could not be done before, whether through distillation innovation, botanical sourcing or the level of craft applied to the process. Aureus Vita exists because I believed there was a version of gin that had never been made: one where the production process itself was the driving factor of quality, not the packaging or the marketing. The Fibonacci-Hall still and the distillation method produce a liquid that is genuinely unlike anything else in the category. The packaging, marketing and price reflect that.”

RISE OF LUXURY

Spirits consumers have long been conditioned to associate luxury with maturation, but that’s a principle that’s been questioned for quite some time. Arguably the first category to have a successful glow-up at large scale was vodka – the turn of the millennium saw Belvedere and Grey Goose recalibrate the public’s assessment of top-shelf brands. But perhaps the rise of ultra-premium sipping tequilas is more pertinent here.

“Brands like [Don Julio] 1942 and Clase Azul have emerged as these luxury sipping tequilas and really created a brand new segment,” says Sasnauskaite. “We’re not directly influenced by those brands, but all drinks categories inspire each other in one way or another and, in the same way that they saw a gap in their category, there was space in gin for high-quality liquids, designed to be enjoyed neat and made for people who really know what they like.”

Hall continues: “Those brands have proven that consumers will pay for genuine quality and beautiful presentation, even in categories that were not traditionally associated with luxury. And when you get both right, the market responds.

“What Don Julio and Clase Azul ultimately showed the industry is that the ceiling in any spirits category is determined by the quality of the liquid, not by the category itself. Aureus Vita is my answer to that within gin. But honestly, Aureus Vita did not come from looking sideways at other categories. It became clear to me that the methods I was using and the quality I was achieving were worthy of the luxury market. From that point, I set out to make something built around a genuinely new idea, rather than a familiar formula in a more expensive bottle.”

And there’s another factor to why there’s suddenly wider appeal for showpiece gins. If the initial gin boom of the mid-2000s was fuelled by Gin & Tonics, this wave is built on another serve.

“[The revival of the Dry Martini has been] enormously important, and it’s not a coincidence that the two have happened at the same time,” explains Hall.

“When you make a drink that is 80% gin, there is nowhere to hide. Every quality or flaw it had is present and accounted for. And that changes the conversation completely: a consumer serious about their Martini has a direct incentive to care about the gin they use to make it.”

It’s also changed the tempo. Unlike Gin & Tonics, Martinis tend to be savoured rather than crushed, much more in line with the special-occasion drinking that has defined luxury aged spirit categories.

“Aged spirits have had decades to establish the idea that a bottle can sit on a shelf for years, opened only for the right moment,” says Hall. “Gin is still earning its status, but I believe it is getting there.

“Being cocktail led doesn’t make gin a faster category. The people who drink Aureus Vita are the same people who think carefully about the wine they serve at dinner – they are not looking for something to get through quickly, but something exceptional to have at the right moment. A beautifully made Dry Martini, when the gin is of this quality, is as considered and as special an experience as opening a great bottle of whisky.”

That’s the new comparison. Luxury gin has to earn its reputation as a bottle that might be among the most prized pieces of someone’s cabinet for a number of years. Clearly the liquid is vital, but so is the design and the brand story. When changing minds, it’s important to first control your image.

“If you buy expensive shoes, you’re probably not going to wear them every day and it’s the same here,” says Sasnauskaite. “People want to build a collection of things that they value and we’ve all got bottles on our shelves which only come out for a special occasion. Now, that expands to gin as well.”