How to create your own Gin Garden of Eden

Some 6m Brits are drinking gin out-of-home, according to CGA’s most recent Brand Track report to July 2017. Gin is the fastest-growing spirit, with 672,000 (+14.7%) nine-litre cases sold in the on-trade for the period, which contradicts an overall decline in the spirits category of 0.4%.

Each segment of gin – standard, premium and super-premium – is on the up, with the latter leading the way with a 27% uptick in sales, the Brand Track Data showed.

Moreover, the most popular way to drink a super-premium gin is with a flavoured tonic, with 18% of consumers (up one percentage point year-on-year) saying this is their preferred serve.

To put that into perspective, 22% of consumers drink gin with a tonic or slimline tonic, a figure that declined by one percentage point year-on-year. So premium gin with premium tonic is becoming an ever important choice for consumers.

This means premium mixers are the way forward, with distribution in the on-trade rising by 320% in the past three years, gaining presence in 22,500 outlets.

Outdoor spaces

With G&Ts on the up and the summer approaching, the next sensible step is to link the growing tipple with the pub garden.

Enter Fever-Tree, who are launching a new initiative to draw consumers into pubs’ outdoor spaces, which from this day forward will be known as G&T pub gardens.

The tonic brand promises to provide garden tools as well as hints and tips to help improve the aesthetics of the gardens of operators who sign up to the programme.

In essence, the premium tonic and mixer brand is inspiring publicans to transform their gardens into Gin & Tonic pub gardens this summer and throughout the year.

By working hand-in-hand with operators, Fever-Tree believes pubs can raise the profiles of their gardens to make them a real hub of activity.

Also, to showcase pubs that go above and beyond creating a desirable G&T garden, the tonic maker has also created the Fever-Tree Pub Garden Awards to reward the stand-out pubs across the UK.

Not only is the campaign aimed at showing off astonishing gardens, but it has also been set up to increase G&T sales, and customer dwell time.

“Think back 10 years or more ago and you would be more likely to refer to a space outside the back of a pub as a beer garden, rather than a pub garden,” says Fever-Tree national account manager Ben Williams. “And because of tradition, that is often still the case now.”

Premium experience

Traditional beer gardens are dominated by umbrellas and ashtrays exhibiting the branding of mainstream beer companies, which isn’t necessarily an issue, but it fails to represent changing consumer habits, he points out.

“More recently, the industry has begun to shift,” continues Williams. “People are searching for a more quality eating and drinking experience and premiumisation has begun to dominate the scene.

“If you couple this with the stratospheric return of gin and tonic as many people’s favourite tipple, then we could see people drinking gin and tonics from copas in gardens.”

In defiance of the doom and gloom in the pub market – closing pubs, which were once integral to communities – Fever-Tree plans on working closely with operators to raise the profile of their gardens and elevate them, once again, to a hub of community activity.

Williams adds: “By providing visible garden tools alongside online hints and tips on how to improve the aesthetics of the pub garden, Fever-Tree is inspiring publicans to transform their pub gardens into Gin & Tonic gardens this summer and beyond.”

In support of the campaign, The Morning Advertiser (MA) and Fever-Tree have teamed up to drive MA readers towards creating their own G&T Gardens. See how David Hargreaves-Putt from the Castle Inn, Lulworth, Dorset, has converted his garden into a G&T Garden of Eden soon.

Also, MA will be posting videos, images and stories of stand-out gardens on morningadvertiser.co.uk, as well as insight and tips on how to create the perfect garden yourself.

This paid-for feature was brought to you by The Morning Advertiser in association with premium tonic brand Fever-Tree as part of a summer-long campaign to promote G&T Gardens.