Diageo's Tanqueray overtakes Beefeater for the first time

Reporting by Naomi Kaplan

Diageo’s Tanqueray has overtaken Pernod Ricard’s Beefeater in gin sales for the first time, with Tanqueray’s volume sales growing by more than 15% in 2016.

According to the spirits business, Tanqueray’s 15.38% sale rise saw the brand selling almost three million cases globally. The brand's success has been attributed to its positive performance across the US, Europe, Latin American and the Caribbean.

Beefeater recorded single-digit growth of 2.99%, with 2.76 million cases sold.

The world's biggest selling gin is Diageo's Gordon's gin, with Bacardi's Bombay Sapphire at No.2, Tanquery at No.3 and Beefeater at No.4

Accolades for the iconic brand

The Spirits Business recently award Tanqueray as its Gin Brand Champion of 2017, while Tanqueray Rangpur was awarded a Master and Tanqueray No.10 won Gold at the recent 2017 Gin Masters.

“Gin has been one of the fastest growing categories this past decade; it has become a really vibrant category rooted in independence and experimentation”, a spokesperson for Diageo told The Spirits Business.

“In many markets the gin category is growing faster than total spirits. This is especially the case when it comes to premium and super premium gin, which, globally, grew by 14% and 41% respectively in 2015.”

Source: @tanqueraygin

Global gin boom

A recent IWSR report showed that gin sales increased by 3.7% globally, largely led by European markets, with premium gin becoming one of the world’s largest growing spirits.

The findings also indicate that the UK as its predominant growth market, especially due to a strong revival of the classic gin and tonic, as well as an “ever growing range of craft gins entering the market” in the UK.

One of the world’s hottest bartenders, Raj Nagra, an Aussie mixologist with over two decades experience in the industry, says gin is all the rage at the moment.

“Gin is also the fastest growing spirits category globally and is in great shape”, he told the Huffington Post Australia.

"I love gin for its versatility, history and nuances. It's a staple spirit for any bartender and is the base for more cocktails than any other spirit.”

Australia’s gin: a force to be reckoned with

Roy Morgan research stats that gin is overtaking vodka as Australia’s spirit of choice with the average number of monthly gin drinkers nationwide growing from 633,000 adults in 2010 to 860,000 in 2015.

It's also receiving global recognition for its quality. Just last week, Four Pillars Gin competing against global gin players in the UK to win two Masters at the 2017 Gin Masters.

The Aussie brand was awarded the Master status for two of its gins: Four Pillars Navy Strength Gin and Spiced Negroni Gin.

The Navy Strength Gin was awarded Master status in the Navy Strength category for the third year running (2015, 2016 and now 2017) while Four Pillars Navy Strength Gin was deemed as having the “wow factor”.