The nations favourite Scottish Gins 2020 revealed

Drumroll, please! The day is finally here when we announce the results of our annual Consumer Choice Awards.

Thousands of Scotland’s gin lovers have cast their vote in our 2020 Consumer Choice Awards poll and we can now reveal that Isle of Harris Gin is the nation’s favourite Scottish Gin for the third year in a row. In total, and amazing 19,169 unique votes were cast, more than treble the responses received in 2019, making this the biggest ever poll into Scottish Gin buying behaviour.

The gin-loving public again selected Isle of Harris Gin as the top Scottish Gin as it scooped 9.7% of the total votes. Self-described as ‘The Social Distillery’, Isle of Harris Gin is only available directly from the island distillery in order to support local jobs and the island economy. After receiving almost 1 in 10 of the votes cast, this unique distillery ethos has clearly captured the imagination of gin lovers across Scotland and built impressive customer loyalty for this award-winning brand.

Iona Cairns, Brand Ambassador for Isle of Harris Distillers commented:

“Our team at the Isle of Harris Distillery are absolutely delighted and very honoured to hear that our Isle of Harris Gin has been voted the nation’s favourite in The Scottish Gin Society’s survey for the third year in a row. We are extremely grateful to all the gin lovers who voted for us and to our loyal customers for their continued support as we mark the fifth year of producing our Outer Hebridean spirit.”

Smaller gin brands also enjoyed success throughout the survey, reflecting the loyal following of many smaller brands, and the diverse landscape of the Scottish gin industry in general.  Kintyre Gin came second for the second year in a row. Niall Macallister Hall, Director at Kintyre Gin says:

“We are delighted to have once again achieved second place in this consumer poll. It feels even more special this year given the large increase in voter numbers and also the vast array of Scottish gins in the market.”

Yet again, our poll shows the wonderful diversity that exists in the Scottish Gin industry, with thousands of the votes cast supporting some of the smaller and more rural distilleries as well as some of the big names.

The full top ten list of gins as voted for by the Scottish gin-loving public are:

1. Isle of Harris Gin (Tarbert, Isle of Harris)
2. Kintyre Botanical Gin (Campbeltown, Argyll)
3. Rock Rose Gin (Dunnet Bay, Caithness)
4. Goodwill Gin (Dingwall)
5. Redcastle Gin (Angus)
6. Downpour Gin (North Uist)
7. Glasgow Gin (Glasgow)
8. Kinrara Highland Gin (Aviemore)
9. Hills & Harbour Gin (Galloway)
10. Crag & Tail Gin (Angus)

Again, we also asked consumers what they prefer to drink with their gin. Unsurprisingly, 55% of respondents voted for tonic as their favourite mixer, with a further 16% specifying a diet tonic and 11% selecting a flavoured tonic. With an impressive 54% share of the vote, the nation’s runaway favourite tonic brand is Fever Tree, with Schweppes getting 16%, but smaller tonic brands such as Walter Gregor’s and Cushiedoos also received a good number of votes from the public.

The poll also asked what price respondents would usually pay for a bottle of gin and 45% of people said they’d pay over £30, with a further 40% saying they pay £20 – £30. This really highlights the move towards more premium gins, while people may be consuming a bit less, they’re prepared to pay more for a quality spirit.

To gauge how loyal the gin drinkers are, we asked how many brands of gin they drink regularly. The most popular response was 2 or 3, with 45% of the vote and 14% of people stick with just one brand.

Stephen White, Founder of The Scottish Gin Society said:

“We believe The Scottish Gin Society survey to be the largest of its kind and are delighted to have received more than three times as many responses in 2020 as last year. The results show that the popularity of Scottish Gin continues to grow, especially with even more new entrants appearing in this year’s survey. We would like to congratulate the brands involved as they are all producing exceptional products and look forward to the bright future of the gin industry in Scotland.”

We’d like to say congratulations to all of the gin brands who received votes from the public, with many of the gin brands receiving hundreds of votes and a huge thank you to everyone who voted, helping to make this poll such a success yet again!