The story of Britain’s “ginaissance”

COLONSAY IS A IWSRUK UKSAEUG7UKSA ISWRtiny Scottish island, only 15km long, in the Inner Hebrides. Its 135 inhabitants have access to one school, one shop and one post office. Residents have more choice when it comes to local spirits. The island is home to two gin distilleries: Wild Island, which was launched in 2016, and Wild Thyme, which followed a year later.It has been an for British ginmakers. Between 2015 and 2024 the number of distilleries jumped from 190 to 920, according to the Office for National Statistics. Britons are guzzling the stuff: domestic sales totalled $1.7bn (£1.3bn) in 2023—up from $662m in 2008—according to , a data firm. The country is also the world’s biggest exporter of the spirit; over the same period British sales abroad rose from £396m to £578m.Deregulation kickstarted the “ginaissance”. For centuries, producers were subject to the Gin Act of 1751, which prescribed the way gin could be made and sold. The law dictated that gin had to be made in stills with a capacity of 1,800 litres or more, in effect banning all but the largest manufacturers. The act was an attempt to suppress a “gin craze”. In early 18th-century London, adults were drinking a half-pint (almost 300ml) of low-quality gin a day; the disorder that ensued was captured in vivid drawings by William Hogarth.By the early 21st century the tipple was thought of more as a civilised aperitif than a harbinger of chaos. But the law remained—as Sam Galsworthy, Fairfax Hall and Jared Brown discovered in 2007 when they tried to set up a company with a 300-litre still. After two years of ginning up support for a repeal of the law, they succeeded. When they launched their brand in 2009, Sipsmith was only the 12th gin distillery in Britain.Doing away with the 18th-century edict set off a second gin craze. Today almost 90% of distilleries have fewer than ten employees. You can buy a gin made in Gatwick airport or steeped with botanicals grown at Buckingham Palace. By making small batches, microdistilleries can experiment with flavours and focus on seasonality. In the lead-up to Christmas, shelves are stocked with sloe, clementine and spiced varieties. Fortnum and Mason, a luxury department store, offers a mince-pie-and-marmalade gin liqueur.Yet after 15 years of good times, many gin-makers are dispirited. In January the Spirits Alliance (), an industry group, observed that “80% of an average spirits bottle is taken as tax” and that Britain’s spirits duty was “77% higher than the average across member states and the highest in the ”. In its October budget the government increased the duty per bottle of gin by another 4%. The says a “national success story” is imperilled.Patrick Fisher of predicts that sales in Britain will decline over the next five years. As well as steep duties, distillers are grappling with high costs for raw materials such as grains and glass. They are passing on the expense to consumers, many of whom are cutting back on indulgences due to the high cost of living. Lots of drinkers are thinking of their livers as well as their wallets, and turning to low- or no-alcohol alternatives. The gin industry may soon find itself in need of a tonic.