16th May, 2014 by Becky Paskin

The rapidly expanding gin market is not yet over-crowded, but presents a “real opportunity” to convert consumers to the spirit, a major distiller has claimed.

Many gin experts have warned there will be a fall-out of gin brands in the near future, as the UK and US markets in particular become over-saturated with new entries.

Paco Receuro, former global brand director for gin at Chivas Brothers, told The Spirits Business last summer: “There are a thousand new premium brands every year. The category is over-saturated, and over the next three years only the strongest brands will survive.”

Meanwhile, David Bromige, co-founder of Martin Miller’s Gin, is seeing the number of gins on the market begin to wane in Spain already. “We’re seeing lots of gin brands dropping back in Spain; the fallout is happening already,” he said.

However Christopher Hayman, master distiller at Hayman’s Distillers, has welcomed the influx of new brands to the market, which he describes as “exciting”.

“I don’t think gin is becoming over saturated,” he told The Spirits Business. “Gin consumption around the world is a fairly small part of the spirits market so there is still plenty of opportunity to convert people to gin. Therefore I’m actually quite optimistic that with the renaissance of gin, with new brands coming in and people trying to innovate in the category, it’s a very exciting time.

“There’s a great opportunity for gin sales in markets around the world right now.”

Hayman also welcomed the wave of new “contemporary” gins featuring non-traditional botanicals, and encouraged experimentation within the category.

“There are people bringing in new brands of gins and they need something different about them to find a place in the market,” he said.

“Every gin distiller has their own recipe, and they’ll want to make their product different so they can have a story for their consumers. I respect gin distillers if they want to put 20 ingredients in, it’s their choice, so long as it’s in the spirit of the regulatory framework there’s no problem.

“It’s a very exciting time for gin at the moment.”