Amanda Duncan from Ealing Distillery believes products that are too bizarre are set to struggle to achieve longevity and loyalty.
Gin as a category will continue to grow but quirky products will quickly fall out of favour, Duncan explained.
Flavoured gins are an gateway product to the type of high-quality dry gins that Duncan suggests will push the market forward in years to come.
She said: “We are thinking that the gin market is going to continue to boom and grow. It doesn't look like to us that it is slowing down and, with all booms, come a lot of gimmicks and I think the gimmicky stuff is going to fall out.
“There are weird gins – like one where they say all the botanicals have been to the moon or something – it's like, really? Does that make a difference to the taste?
“The market will settle into really good-quality gin, super-premium and premium, and then maybe the more flavoured [drinks] as well.”
Garnish trends
She added: “Pubs need to know that they have to cater for all their customers. A lot of people in the gin market are a bit snooty about flavoured gins and say ‘they're not really gins they're just flavoured vodkas’ and if they're not proper classic London Pride gins they don't really count.
“That's all very well just saying but actually those flavoured gins act as sort of an entry point.
“They might like those and then get used to that taste and into the more classic London dry gins and broaden out across the category. I think it will help grow the gin market by getting those people into those gins.”
Duncan predicts customer preferences towards sustainability and foraging mean traditional garden garnishes will supersede citrus garnishes in pubs.
She said: “Foraging is very popular in cooking and going out into the garden and picking fresh things seems to be very popular at the moment.
“The reason we use rosemary and garden mint, and scented rose and chamomile flowers in our gin is that they are very typically English ingredients.
“Customers are really enjoying those, as opposed to citrus garnishes, maybe that’s something that might happen more, moving forward.”