How did it manage it? Well, not only through the rail, where it dukes it out with Tanqueray and Beefeater (each taking about a fifth of the share), but because it is more likely than its big-brand competitors to be on a bar’s gin undercard, our survey suggests. In almost a quarter of bars polled Bombay was recorded as the number two choice. Perhaps it’s a style thing – the classical Tanqueray or Beefeater, then, for a bit of something different such as vapour infusion, Bombay’s your brand.
The Bacardi-owned brand family – which takes in Sapphire, East, Star of Bombay, Dry and Bramble – finished second on our Trending list, making it en vogue even in volume. So Tanqueray, the Diageo gin which took top spot from 2014-2018, is pipped by a different brand this year – in 2020 it was Beefeater. It remains though, the most likely brand to find as the house serve – 23% attested to that – and although less likely to be found in the flanks, it was among the top-three gins in about 45% of bars.
Hendrick’s makes it to third this year, hurdling Beefeater. It was nowhere close on the house pour metric, but was found to be a popular member of the supporting cast. With its cucumber and rose botanicals, it has a well-established point of difference to the classic London Drys. Remy Cointreau’s Botanist has made strides this year, finishing fifth, racking up a surprising 7% of house pours. If it’s the British-made gins in the top five, four of the second half of the table are international.
Monkey 47 may have given way to the Botanist, but Pernod Ricard’s German gin tops our trending list, proving it’s still got it. International gins Roku from Suntory in Japan, the Spanish Gin Mare and French Citadelle sandwich British craft pioneer Sipsmith.
Methodology
The results of this report are the culmination of a questionnaire of 106 bars around the world, each cherry-picked to take part based on their performance in global bar awards. We aim to find out not only which brands sell best but also what’s trending. These two data sets give us an insight into the brands that are doing the most volume and the brands that are hot right now.
To read more on the methodology of the Brands Report click here.
