Gin connoisseurs who turn their noses up at supermarkets’ own-brand products are making a big mistake, according to a blind taste test by an expert panel.
The industry experts, brought together by the consumer group Which?, put four supermarket own-brand offerings in its top five best buys, from 11 widely available gins priced below £20.
The panel, which scored the gins on palate, aroma and finish, put Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Blackfriars Gin (£16) on top of the pile, with a score of 83%. They praised its “exuberant aroma and freshness” as well as its “complexity and balance”.
Asda’s Special Triple Distilled Premium Gin (£16) scored 75%, narrowly pipping Lidl’s Hortus Original London Dry Gin (also £16) at 74%.
Not all supermarket gins, however, were highly rated. Aldi’s Topaz Blue Gin (£14) was awarded 51%, with the panel describing it as “weak and bland”.
The gin market is enjoying a boom, with 315 distilleries operating across the UK, double the number of five years ago, according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA). The industry group said this month that 49 new distilleries had opened in the past year.
Total gin sales broke through the £2bn mark for the first time in the 12 months to the end of March this year, while Diageo reported sales increases of more than 10% for its Tanqueray and Gordon’s brands in the year to the end of June.
In the taste test Tanqueray, which sells for £18, scored the highest of the brand-name gins at 75%, with judges describing it as “fantastically zesty” with a “big, juniper aroma”.
However, Gordon’s Special London Dry Gin (£16) scored a rather less impressive 66%.
Harry Rose, the editor of Which? magazine, said: “Well-known brands are being challenged by a range of impressive supermarket offerings, showing how strong the demand for gin is now.”
As might perhaps be expected, the gin craze has also boosted the tonic water industry. The stock market value of tonic maker Fever-Tree is more than 15 times its level at the start of 2015, although the brand has lost some fizz in recent weeks, down by almost 30% from its peak a month ago.
The chancellor, Philip Hammond, may also leave a bad taste for gin fans in Monday’s budget. Industry groups have claimed that an expected rise in spirits duty in line with the retail price index would cost gin companies £16m.
