LONDON — Ever since European apothecaries began distilling gin and selling it as a cure-all in the 16th century, the juniper-flavored liquor has been revered as a medicine, vilified for fueling public disorder and consumed in a multitude of every-season cocktails.

Now, it is stirring up a specialized tourist trade in the homeland of London dry gin thanks in part to entrepreneurial bottling and branding.

After surging for a decade, gin sales in Britain reached nearly 2 billion pounds, or about $2.6 billion, through last fall, compared with £1.26 billion for the same period in 2017, according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association . Drinkers of pink and flavored versions have helped make it the country’s second-most-popular spirit, ahead of whiskeys and behind only vodka, the group said.

Gin has become so popular in Britain that the Office for National Statistics added it back to the basket of goods it uses to measure inflation, after a 13-year absence.