Drink School: The new gin boom

The last few years have seen quite a transformation for gin. Its turnaround from 1980s cliché or the drink of, shall we say, older women, to hip and trendy tipple, has not gone unnoticed by brand owners, who have been quick to bring new brands to the market.

But forget them for a moment. Have customers, those all-important people who pay your bills, kept up with the latest gin developments? And, more importantly, have you?

"It is a really exciting and ever-expanding category that is in massive boom at the moment," says Nick Worthington, brand manager for Inspirit's No 3 gin.

"But the difficult thing now is getting people back to gin and away from vodka. We need people to realise there is as much quality and purity in gin as there is in vodka. Getting people to try gin again is one of the most important things right now."

Misunderstood spirit

It's an exciting category, yes. But as Nick says, gin is very much misunderstood. For a start, there are all those vicious rumours.

"I still hear from consumers that they don't like gin because it makes them cry," says Joanne Moore, master distiller at G&J Greenall's.

"I often find myself explaining that there is nothing chemical in gin that will make you cry more than any other alcoholic product. That people still believe the old wives' tales still surprises me."

So, stumbling block number one when selling gin, is customers who don't like it. But might they? Many gins are delicate and have in the past suffered from overpowering mixers.

"Bad serves have turned people off it a lot," confirms Nick. "In many places if you're lucky you'll get a couple of cubes of ice, and tonic from a gun. You're getting a flavour that is very wet and insipid.

"Also, some people think they don't like gin because they don't actually like tonic very much. There are chemicals, like saccharin, in some tonics that give a flavour people don't like. It's not the gin.

"There is such a massive spectrum in flavours and styles. Some gins are juniper-led, some are fruit-led. Some are lighter, some are heavier. This is something people don't really pick up on because they are having it as a mixed drink."

Range

There's also a lack of awareness on the range of gins out there, their different methods of production, and shock horror, that not all gins taste the same.

"As an industry we have a big educational piece to do with our mainstream consumers," says Joanne. "Perhaps we should look at the work the whisky and wine categories have done over the last few years, whereby they connect with the consumers by simplifying the different types of whisky and wine in a way that can be understood easily."

In a nutshell, there are a couple of types of gin. Distilled gin is created by re-distilling the neutral spirit with juniper berries and other botanicals.

London Dry gin denotes not a place, but a style. No sugar, colours, flavours or anything else can be added after distillation, only water. Confusingly though, Plymouth gin does refer to its place of origin.

Stocking a good range, two or three of each type, is vital if you're to educate consumers.

So how can pubs cash in? "I think for a pub you need to keep it simple," says Tim Stones, gin brand ambassador for Pernod Ricard. "There is a massive resurgence in classic cocktails. Prohibition-style drinks. People have been going back to simpler, bolder flavours.

"People who go to a pub aren't necessarily looking for big fancy cocktails. But people need to start thinking beyond the gin and tonic. Gin is a fantastic versatile mixer. So things like cranberry juice work very well with gin. Bitter lemon, ginger ale, apple juice, grapefruit juice and soda, that kind of thing.

"And if you go for simple cocktails, like the Tom Collins, which is basically gin and fresh lemon with sugar syrup and soda water - it's like an alcoholic, homemade lemonade."

There's also an opportunity to make a feature out of seasonal drinks. One of the brands that has been leading the gin resurgence by using quirky advertising that plays on the 'Englishness' of gin is Hendrick's. Now it is leading the way on different serves by promoting a hot gin punch, proving that gin is as much for the winter as the summer.

"It doesn't cost that much money, you are adding port wine, red wine. The ingredients are not expensive, but the pub can charge £3 or £4 for a big cup of hot gin punch," says Xavier Padovani, Hendrick's brand ambassador. "You need to have a seasonal attitude."

If you are going to keep it simple with gin and tonic, ask brand owners which tonics go best with their gins and create an individually matched menu, each served with appropriate garnishes, such as cucumber for Hendrick's.

"Gin has been missing a bit of connoisseur consumerism," says Geraldine Coates, author and all-round gin expert. "People need to understand, most importantly, that each gin is different.

"In the past, consumers have been making a choice on price, but actually they should make choices based on taste. You wouldn't drink the same wine every day of the week, so why should you with gin?"

From boozer to gin palace

"A lot of it is about presentation. If a gin and tonic looks the same as any other spirit and mixer you are not highlighting the creativity of it."

So says Ed Turner, commercial director at Geronimo Inns. Before the company bought the Elgin in London's Ladbroke Grove in July 2009, you were more likely to see customers tearing up betting slips in the wet-led, sports-led pub than sipping on G&Ts. But the Elgin had a hidden gem. A small wooden panelled room with ornate Victorian mirrors and stained glass. With the fuss surrounding gin, Geronimo decided to turn the room into a gin palace.

There are now 39 gins on offer, which are displayed on a separate area of the bar and listed on a menu, not by style, but by botanicals. Those on offer include berry-flavoured gins such as Brockmans (40 per cent ABV) - which includes coriander, orange, blueberries, blackberries and Valencia oranges - old, sweet style gins such as Hayman's Old Tom (40 per cent ABV) and unusual gins such as G'Vine, which uses vine blossom.

"I think that's what people find interesting," says Ed. "People look for something different nowadays. You can't just leave them with the basics any more."

Geronimo has taken a three-pronged approach to pushing gin at the Elgin, which has resulted in gin sales at the site being 40 per cent higher than the company's other pubs. As well as the back-bar display and gin list, then there are supplier tastings which are free for customers to attend. Gin also features on the food menu, in dishes such as gin and tonic sorbets and gin-cured salmon.

But staff recommendations and great presentation go a long way to boosting sales. All gins are served in stylish, low slung tumblers, "the kind of thing you would get in the officer's mess," to mark them out from other spirits, says Ed. All measures are served at 35ml too, to keep the balance of gin and mixer.

"Our policy is about keeping the entry level low and not increasing the prices of the top gins by too much more than that," he says. "You need to give people the opportunity to trade up. They won't, unless you encourage them to do so. It is about investing a little bit in your back-bar, but it's important that people can trade up and down."