Ask for a G&T 10 years ago, and a lukewarm tumbler would be plonked before you, along with a sorry looking excuse for a lemon. How different to today, where you’re faced with a baffling array of bottles when you walk down the average supermarket aisle, and several types of tonic compete for your custom.

There’s no doubt that gin has undergone a revolution in the UK. The fortunes of the spirit, once depicted by artist William Hogarth as the scourge of the 18th century, have undergone a sharp turnaround to become the trendy spirit du jour amid an explosion of craft distilleries. Six years ago, there were five gin distilleries in the UK, and today there are more than 35, according to The Gin Guild, an organisation that exists to promote gin distillation.

In 2013, 139m bottles of gin were exported from the UK (PDF) to foreign markets. And after years dominating the market, it’s not all about the likes of Diageo and Chivas Brothers – according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (PDF), locally produced gins account for 93% of the total value sold in the UK.

We speak to three small businesses capitalising on growing consumer thirst for gin.

Rock Rose Gin

Caithness, in the northernmost extremity of mainland Scotland, isn’t the most likely place for a trendy gin distillery. But that is where husband and wife Martin and Claire Murray launched Rock Rose Gin last year.

The couple have enjoyed brewing and distilling since their university days in Edinburgh, but only recently decided to turn their hobby into a full-time job.

“We wanted to move home to Caithness and to promote our area and provide jobs,” says Martin. “That was one of the things that appealed about building a distillery – we could use berries from the forests near us.”

When the couple first put their business plan together they hoped to sell 10,000 bottles in the first year, but eight months in and they have already surpassed their own target and sold 12,000, with the first batch selling out in 40 hours.

Martin puts this success down to buyers’ interest in their heritage. “They liked the story, the fact that we are a small family company, and our location. And they liked what we were trying to do, that we were going to harvest local berries.”

Despite this, it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Their location made setting up the distillery quite challenging – they ordered their still in November and it didn’t arrive in Caithness until July.

However Claire has used her talent for social media to create an engaged online following, and the Murrays have started a Gin Taylors club, where members get to vote each month on the botanicals to make a gin. “Last month we got them to look at a local honey in a gin. It’s a really good way to trial new products and they are excited about getting a one-off,” says Martin.

Rock Rose Gin is part of a wave of distilleries reflecting people’s new-found interest in gin. “We had seen the likes of Sipsmiths come on the scene and people really responding,” Martin says. “Buyers have really bought into it and have started attracting investors and consumers.”

Pinkster gin

In a heaving market of new gin brands, Pinkster is easy to spot. The Cambridgeshire gin is steeped in raspberries, and as a consequence is light pink. Founder Stephen Marsh, a chartered accountant, was determined to make a fruit gin and “had been through the fruit bowl” before he got to raspberries and hit a winner.

Marsh gave up his day job last June and is now selling Pinkster through wine merchants and online shops like Ocado. Last year he sold 8,000 bottles, and this year expects to sell four times as many, while looking into starting to export.

Early on, Marsh decided to work with G&J Distillers, instead of setting up his own distillery.

“It is very expensive to build your own distillery. I could get the country’s oldest and best distiller in for a relatively small amount of money,” he says. “We do the maceration [of the raspberries] in our premises – a 2,000-square-foot barn. It then goes back to G&J for bottling.”

Customers have been attracted by the Britishness of the product, says Marsh, who has no regrets about leaving a successful career in accountancy. “I have had more fun and probably worked harder in the last two years than ever before,” he says.

With around 350 gin brands in the UK, the market is getting crowded, but there has been an “explosion of quality” as well, Marsh says. Now gin is a far cry from the “filthy stuff brewed in people’s bathtubs” once upon a time.

Portobello Road Gin

Increasingly gin brands are doing more than just distilling. Look closely on the bustling Portobello Road in Notting Hill and you will spot a sign for the Portobello Star – 18th century pub, the second smallest museum in London and home to the 30-litre alembic still where Portobello Road Gin is produced.

At the museum, a recreation of a traditional gin palace dubbed The Ginstitute, customers sip cocktails while learning about the chequered history of London Dry Gin from expert Jake Burger. The big draw is the opportunity to create and bottle your very own gin using a personalised mix of botanicals.

Ged Feltham, managing director of Portobello Road Gin, explains the fascination with gin in the capital: “It’s London’s spirit – a history of gin is a history of London.” But despite the change in gin’s fortunes, Feltham says it will never sell on the same level as craft beer – for most pubs, beer still makes up 25% to 50% of sales.

As a brand Portobello Road Gin is growing fast in the UK, and targeting key export markets in Spain and the US. Feltham says: “The provenance of the address is playing an important factor in the interest in the brand, particularly in America where we are increasingly being seen as a brand that communicates London’s rich drinking history.”

Finding a niche

Christopher Hayman is chairman of Hayman Distillers and grand rectifier of The Gin Guild. Hayman Distillers is a family company dating back to 1863 – Hayman’s children are the fifth generation to work for the business. This long heritage has been part of the secret of their success, he says.

“There’s a great future for gin and all the gin distillers need to maximise that opportunity,” Hayman says. “There’s a real desire for people to know more about gin.”

The Gin Guild has existed for three years, and couldn’t have started at a better time, says Hayman. “In the last five to 10 years a lot of people are becoming more passionate about gin again. A lot of people go: ‘When is this going to stop, when will the bubble burst?’ But I don’t see that happening.”

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