2019-06-01_Market_Watch

(Chris Devlin) #1
44 MARKET WATCH | MARKETWATCHMAG.COM | JUNE 2019

G


in,


Artisan Spirit


t Glendalough Distillery in County Wick-
low, Ireland, the flagship Wild gin contains
over 30 botanicals, picked from the
surrounding hillsides by the distillery’s
forager, Geraldine Kavanagh, whose name
and signature are on every bottle. “Foraging
is who we are—it’s at the core of the brand,”
says Glendalough co-founder and marketing director
Gary McLoughlin.
Glendalough isn’t alone in this intensive attention to
detail. In recent years, scores of craft distillers have launched

gin expressions touting unique origin stories and botanical
compositions of their own. While many of them have seen
success in European markets like the UK and Spain, the
U.S. has been tougher to penetrate. Gin consumption in
the U.S. has fallen steadily since 1975, when depletions
stood at 18.43 million cases, according to Impact Data-
bank. Last year, the market stood at half that volume level
at 9.28 million cases. But the tide may be turning, as bartend-
ers increasingly champion gin in cities across the country and
the number of innovative expressions continues to rise, from
both stalwarts and craft distillers.

A

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