The Drinks List

Gordon’s plunders top two positions in gin section

01-Dec-2021 - Last updated on 03-Dec-2021 at 14:02 GMT

Gin category: the top four brands stayed in the position as last year (credit: Getty/ Annie Otzen)

This year’s list of the UK’s top gin brands was full of familiar faces and most brands hadn’t budged from last year’s rankings.

Furthermore, there wasn’t much to celebrate in terms of value and volume rates which decreased across the board at an average of 22.8% and 25% respectively, in The Drinks List - top brands to stock in 2022.

Gordon’s once again headed the chart, with its Pink Gin bagging first place and standard Gordon’s coming it at second with significant margins in value and volume of £73m and 59,347 hectolitres between the pair.

Despite this, there was a sharp drop between the rates of Gordon’s gins and third-placing Bombay Sapphire, with volume and value falling from 106,909 hectolitres and £111.2m to 36,663 and £44.7m.

Tanqueray in fourth position

Meanwhile, Tanqueray remained fixed in fourth position despite seeing a 29.1% decrease in volume and 28.3% fall in value.

The list’s only movements were Hendricks and Beefeater who switched respectively into fifth and sixth place, and Whitley Neill and Tanqueray swapping between eighth and ninth.

Hendricks secured a solid middle footing with 31.082 hectolitres sold and £43.3m in value, and the chart’s smallest drop in rates at 16.% in volume and 15.9% in value.

In stark contrast, Bombay Samphire saw the biggest drop in rates with a 34.8% fall in volume versus last year and 35.2% fall in value.

Lower half of the division

Beefeater was a steady sixth with 28,907 hectolitres sold and £37.9m in value, yet there was a plummet in rates with its seventh-placing Blood Orange sibling to 12,932 hectolitres and £15m.

It is interesting that Whitley Neil and Tanqueray traded places this year retrospectively into eighth and ninth, with a hair’s difference of 958 hectolitres and £400,000 in value.

Once again, we see Beefeater rounding off the chart in tenth place, with volume and value rates flattening out at 9,758 hectolitres and £12.6m in value.

The list boasted a rainbow of colour, with flavours from ginger to orange showing a sweet tooth yet these flavoured gins were balanced evenly by their non-flavoured counterparts.

Nonetheless, the list was tickled pink by Gordons’ and Beefeaters’ pink gins which bookended the chart in first and final place.

All data provided by CGA for the 12 months to 9 October 2021

2021 rank	Brand	Volume (9-litre cases)	Value (£m)	2020 rank	Up or down
1	Gordon’s Pink Gin	166,256	184.2	1	Level
2	Gordon’s	106,909	111.2	2	Level
3	Bombay Sapphire	36,663	44.7	3	Level
4	Tanqueray	35,663	46	4	Level
5	Hendrick’s	31,082	43.3	6	+1
6	Beefeater	28,907	37.9	5	-1
7	Beefeater Blood Orange	12,932	15	7	Level
8	Whitley Neill Rhubarb & Ginger	11,704	14.7	9	+1
9	Tanqueray Sevilla	10,746	14.3	8	-1
10	Beefeater Pink London Dry Gin	9,758	12.6	10	Level