Whilst the ‘gin revival’ has been in full swing for a number of years, younger consumers are now really turning to gin as a drink of choice.

New research from Mintel, the world’s leading market intelligence agency shows that although over 50% of white spirit drinkers think that gin is an older person’s drink, it is actually the younger consumers who are most likely to drink it. Over two in five (42%) Brits aged 18-34 have drunk gin in the past 12 months, compared to just over a quarter (27%) of over-45s.

Brits are expected to drink 29 million litres of gin in 2015, with one third having drunk it within the past year. Mintel forecasts that gin sales will continue to rise and reach £1.31 billion by 2020.

Indeed, Mintel research shows that these younger drinkers in particular should help to boost sales of gin to more than £1 billion for the first time in 2015, up by 25% since 2012.

Chris Wisson, Senior Drinks Analyst at Mintel, said:

“The strong performance of gin continues to stand out within the spirits market, and is widely seen as the most sophisticated type of white spirit. One of gin’s sobriquets is ‘Mother’s Ruin’ and the drink still has certain associations with older drinkers, contributing to it being likely to be seen as an older person’s drink and the least likely as a young person’s drink. However, our research indicates that gin is in fact now most likely to be drunk by younger consumers, suggesting that it has a chance to forge a dynamic image and move into even more innovative areas.”

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This is great news for Shakespeare Distillery and just what we wanted to hear as we head in to 2016. We have lots of new gin-based product ideas to launch and it is exciting to be able to offer these to consumers of all ages. Whether it be a cocktail or a no-nonsense G & T, we are looking forward to providing new sources of inspiration.