Whether it’s a traditional Gin & Tonic or a gin based cocktail, the spirit is having its moment with a new wave of millennial gin fans.
The supermarket say their top selling three spirits are all gins, with one in every three bottles of spirit sold being gin.
So far this year, the supermarket has added six exciting new gins to its already extensive range, including Scottish gin brand Daffy’s which secured a national listing with the supermarket in February.
Waitrose now sells 43 different gins - the widest range in a UK supermarket, including gins made by Scottish brands, Edinburgh Gin and Caorunn.
John Vine, Waitrose Spirits Buyer, said: “Customers are discovering that gin lends itself to being shaken up with more than just tonic. In fact, there are more classic cocktails made with gin than with any other spirit thanks to the vast diversity of flavours available. The innovation happening in the gin world, especially with artisanal distilleries, makes is a very exciting time for gin lovers."
In December 2015, Mintel revealed that over half of gin drinkers are under 35, as the trend for gin based cocktails rocketed last year.
A significant number of new, small batch distilleries and specialist gin bars have popped up in Scotland in the last few years.
Unlike the fashion down south for London dry gins, many of Scotland’s gins are tapping into the trend for locally sourced ingredients and either grow their own botanicals or use foraged, wild botanicals such as seaweed and sea buckthorn.
For centuries, the core ingredient for gin – juniper – was grown in Scotland and exported to Holland to produce their national drink, Jenever.
The tradition died out about 200 years ago, but now Forestry Commission, working with a Scottish distillery, has revived Scotland’s juniper production.
