In 2018, gin sale rose by 41% with Brits chugging back 66m bottles over 12 months, generating £1.9bn in value.
New Wine & Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) figures show pink gin was the driving force behind uptick, as hundreds of new variants flooded the market.
Flavoured gin as a category drove more than half of gin’s growth last year, despite making up just one fifth of total sales. While three quarters of flavoured gin’s growth are driven by pink gin.
Flavoured or pink gin
Just two years ago, when the category was valued at £165m, only a small proportion of distillers produced a flavoured or pink gin.
However, research by the WSTA shows the category has exploded, with consumers under the age of 45 most likely to buy into it.
Sales of pink are expected to continue rising in 2019, according to the WSTA, as more brands tap into the segment.
However, the pink phenomenon isn’t limited to gin because many alcohol categories such as wine and cider tap into it.
100m bottles of rosé
“The WSTA’s latest figures show that Brits bought over 100m bottles of rosé, in the off-trade in the last recorded 12 months, that's more than 2m more bottles than in the previous year, with value growth of 5%,” said WSTA.
Meanwhile, herbal bitter liqueurs and the likes of bitter aperitifs mixed into long cooling drinks also saw a spike in sales in 2018’s summer heatwave, with more than 1.4m (4m in total) extra bottles of non-cream liqueurs sold over the year.
WSTA chief executive Miles Beale said: “Pink drinks are increasingly popular thanks to our innovative distillers and winemakers who are responding to consumer demands for quality drinks with a splash of colour.
“We have seen a massive increase in the choices of pink and flavoured gins, there are signs of a renewed fondness in rosé wines and liqueurs like Campari and Aperol mixed with sparkling wine have boosted Brits love of pink cocktails.”