A taste among trendy younger drinkers for unusual and bespoke sipping spirits has fuelled a rapid rise in the number of distilleries in the UK.
The fashion for small batch crafted gins and heritage vodkas has caused the number of applications for distiller’s licences to more than treble in the past year, according to UHY Hacker Young, the national accountancy group.
Applications for the licences rose from 20 to 65 in the 2014-2015 tax year, UHY Hacker Young found, compared with just five in 2009.
UHY Hacker Young said British boutique spirits are now seen as a luxury item with correspondingly high price tags. Younger drinkers favour independent local producers over mass market drinks produced by large multinational companies, it said.
Joining established boutique distilleries such as Sipsmith and Hendricks are a host of new names with secret recipes such as Rock Rose Gin based in Caithness, Scotland, which uses local berries to flavour the drinks.
London in particular has seen a boom in micro distilleries looking to serve the hipsters of Hoxton, joining the buoyant market for craft beers that has led to a number of fledging breweries opening in recent years. UHY Hacker Young found that 30 breweries for craft beer opened in London alone in 2014.
East London Liquor Company near Bethnal Green creates and serves its spirits on site, while Hackney Wick-based Butler’s Gin makes spirits from a Victorian recipe.
The group behind Butler’s Gin also hosts tasting sessions on a speedboat in the canals of London, bringing together the trend for bespoke drinking with the search by younger drinkers for new experiences.
Other emerging brands include Little Bird, which makes small batch London Dry gin in South London, SW4 London Dry Gin from Clapham and Sacred Spirits of North London.
The growth in boutique drink producers is mirrored by the emergence of new speakeasy bars offering unusual mixed cocktails amid often lavish surroundings.
James Simmonds, partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: “Fashionable young consumers are searching for authenticity in their drinks, and they are not afraid to pay higher prices. A trend that started in the bars of Shoreditch is now becoming a real thriving growth sector across the UK, with formerly boutique brands widely available on supermarket shelves.”