Downton Dispatches — News

James Bond 007 ordered his first Martini in Goldfinger written in 1964, but the following year he ordered a Pink Gin in ‘The Man with the Golden Gun.’ This type of pink gin was with Angostura bitters and not using the brands we now find on the supermarket shelves.

Pink gin has been a phenomenon over the last three years with everyone trying to get into the market. It started back in 2013 with Pinkster and by 2020 it was a market for all! Gin Foundry summed it up “It was as though Mr Blobby himself had exploded across the Gin hemisphere, filling bottle after bottle with weird, sweet, not-quite-gin flavours and bright, bold, dusky pink colours”.

The Wine and Spirits Trade Association reported that Flavoured Gin had driven half of all growth in Gin sales in the UK in 2018, coming from nowhere to represent one fifth of total Gin sales at the beginning of 2019. That number has increased in the year that has passed with many experts saying that flavoured gin is now one third of the category in the UK.

By 2020 there were over 200 pink gins in the UK market. Gordon’s Pink Gin sells well over 15 million bottles a year now and is growing at a considerably faster rate than its flagship dry. 

Gin Foundry estimate that at least half of all British brands have now put out a Fruit Infused Gin at this stage, no matter how seriously they would all like to be perceived as category-protecting artisans. They also wager that many of those infused Gins will be pink in colour and have a good dose of sugar to sweeten them. So how are these pink gins made?

The techniques used within the industry fall into three categories. To be pink distillers must add some form of colouring, as not many pink things come out of a still!

Natural Flavouring & Colouring:

Many brands use natural flavour essences. This allows them to ensure the flavour is identical between batches, with no variance or seasonality. There are often teams of scientists working with these companies who combine multiple natural or artificial compounds to create the intended flavour. However, these flavours do not add colour, and these must be added providing the bright vivid hues that we often see on the supermarket shelves.

Addition of a Second Non-Gin Liquid:

This is the least travelled route, as it requires a partnership with someone who can provide either wine or juice of some type. The second non gin liquid is added to the gin post distillation.

Warner’s adds Rhubarb juice (34%) to every bottle providing an authentic flavour and colour. In 2017 they sold over 350,000 bottles of Rhubarb Gin. Whilst Mirabeau Rose Gin has Rose Wine added to it sourced from their own distillery.

Post Distillation Maceration:

This is the most common way distillers create their products, using natural and fresh ingredients. Maceration is where the fruit sits within the gin post distillation. The alcohol extracts both the colour and flavour of the fruits. This method also means that the gin could have sediment or organic material within it if it is not filtered prior to bottling.

What about the sugar content?

Sugar is used to provide the sweetness for some of these pink gins. Warner’s Rhubarb Gin has 64g of sugar in a bottle whilst Beefeater have 32g in a bottle. For those who like London Dry gins you will be glad to know they are not allowed to be artificially sweetened.

Is Pink Gin a Gin?

This is a good question. Gin must have juniper within it and be over 37.5% ABV with minimal amounts of sugar. Pinkster uses piles of raspberries within their London gin whilst Warner’s Rhubarb uses their Harrington Dry gin as their base. Starting with a quality gin is the first step to creating a high-quality pink gin.

At present there seem to be few rules governing pink gin, the market is wide open but is it a fad that becomes the downfall for the larger category? Time will show us.

Over the last couple of months it has been wonderful to see how different sectors have come together for the greater good of both their communities and supporting the front line services. The Gin Foundry recently published the below on how distilleries around the country have stepped up to overcome a shortage of hand sanitiser.

Gin is proving to be the spirit of generosity

The switch from booze production to hand sanitiser solutions is in full swing in a majority of gin distilleries now. Gin maker’s fleet footed response to the crisis is turning heads too, billed as an example of how private businesses are rallying to help “the public” almost every night on British news channels. In a bizarre change of fate, such is the massive demand for alcohol solutions that a few distilleries are actually making more income from producing sanitiser now than they did as ginsmiths. Move over strawberries, rhubarb and raspberry – turns out ethanol is where the zeitgeist is…

Aside from handwash, there’s also a lot of distilleries doing fantastic things with less obvious media friendly headlines, like those sending teams to transport food to those in long term isolation and other indirect ways to be of service to their community. It seems that being generous in spirit, literally, has helped many gin makers stay in business with their teams active and on the payroll. In turn, this is helping keep the public’s love affair with their local gin makers firmly in the limelight.

It’s a beautiful sight but it’s not just the plucky micro-distillers rolling up their sleeves either, the multinationals have contributed some substantial help of their own. Pernod Ricard, Bacardi and William Grant have mass produced millions upon millions of bottles of sanitiser, while mid sized companies like Brewdog, Chase and others have been producing them by the tens of thousands as well.

For the bigger conglomorates, it hasn’t just stopped at the WHO approved formula either. Diageo pledged millions of pounds in aid to assist the now out of work trade with William Grant, Baccardi, Campari, and Pernod Ricard also doing the same. Beam, Brown Forman, Sazerac, Constelation, Zamora and a few others have all pledged in the hundreds of thousands and it’s fair to say that when it came too it, the big boys of gin are holding their hands up (presumably squeaky clean after all that gel) and are playing their part too.

Of course it’s been a little disappointing to hear the silence of some of the bigger names who have yet to roll out strategies on how they will emerge from this crisis having been a force for good. However, begrudging someone for surviving a storm the best they can because they didn’t also help others whilst doing so, seems a touch unfair to say the least.

Take Halewood, who are copping a fair amount of flack at the moment. Despite posting revenues up 26% to £335 million last June and producing millions of bottles of gin each year in the UK, they haven’t announced anything so far (or at least anything we could find having searched through all news, sites and feeds related to the half dozen gin distilleries they own, as well as their own press statements). Take the longer view however, and it’s just too early to tell the full story of any distillery group, as while many seem to be flourishing in the adversity there is an equal amount looking at the very real prospect of having to amputate everything they can simply to have a business on the other-side. It’s hard to tell which companies are going to be fine and who will be ravaged by the crisis. Either way, there’s no need for the hasty judging.

Moreover, not all companies have the ability to nimbly switch over to a different strategy in less than three weeks, with the likes of Greenall’s and Alcohols Ltd operating vast production operations that take a while to manoeuvre into something else. Once shifted the ‘solution’ will need to last not just a few weeks of hiatus but most likely the next four to six months and that’s before they even ensure they are doing so with full governmental compliance too, which is no easy feat at that scale…

It’s why in the positivity bubble that gin finds itself in (especially with the omnipresence of social media meaning that companies can’t simply do something, they must be seen to be doing something), those currently silent aren’t necessarily just sitting on their hands. From the big boys mentioned to the medium sized firms or the one-man-band operations, they may well be up to all sorts of brilliant activities but simply be too busy dealing with the carnage to be tagging it on Insta. If they aren’t, take a moment to appreciate that there are many producers facing some of the most brutal times of their business’ history, consuming everything they have to simply avoid bankruptcy or do right by their employees.

Yes, cheer loudly all of those who have been able to help and proactively contribute. Admire them, applaud them, champion them – but we should all take a moment and ease off the peer pressure for those who aren’t until the whole picture can be understood. The outlook for the hospitality industry is bleak right now and with so much yet to overcome a broad mindset of care, compassion and careful words should extend out to those merely ducking their heads as opposed to being very public about going the extra mile – be they a small producer or a giant firm so often seen broadcasting profit margins.

It’s also worth keeping the snide remarks offline about some companies doing the smallest things that may at first seem tokenistic due to their scale. Of course a little humility would go a long way, but it’s all coming from the right place so why begrudge it? Surely every shred of positive community driven energy helps. Besides, when did it all become a competition? That’s not even a rhetorical question anymore as there’s even light hearted talk of creating a sanitiser award category in a major Awards body going on in the Twittersphere… It may be tongue in cheek commentary from them at this stage, but it reflects just how easy it is to get lost in it all, to accuse, to brag. Isn’t the entire point of altruistic ideas and stepping into assist meant to be about the people being helped, not those doing it?

Just like every other industry, spirits will need to adapt over the months ahead but we hope that by finding this generosity of spirit those making gin will have faired better than most. Many a distillery will have kept its workers busy, content and proud to doing worthwhile endeavours. In doing so they have ensured they paid their employees and helped keep their families’ finances afloat when so many people now face stark realities. While immeasurable, they will have also built up huge amounts of good will for stepping into the breach when we all needed to rally together.

Hopefully when all returns to the new normal, whatever that is, those who did stand up to be counted, that gave with generosity of spirit and who paid it back (or forward) will reap the rewards of having done so. Most of all though, we just hope that many simply survive to be able to produce more fantastic booze on the other side, regardless of what they had to do (or not do) in order in order to bounce back.