The craft beer trend has taken a turn for the finer, as a threefold increase in the number of applications for distiller’s licences suggests boutique spirits are the new booze-based craze.
Spirituous start-ups that have launched over the past few years - such as gin-maker Sipsmith, Hoxton Gin and The London Distillery Company, the city’s first whisky distillery to open in a century - helped drive the growth in licence applications to 20 last year, according to the accountancy group UHY Hacker Young.
It follows a trend in the beer market, where registrations for Beer Duty have increased from 101 in 2010 to 291 this year, as entrepreneurs jump on growing interest for artisanal beer. Cider Duty applications also doubled to 24 in the last year.
Demand for craft beer means that there are now more breweries per person in the UK than in any other country in the world, according to the Good Beer Guide. In the past year, 170 new breweries were opened, taking the total to 1,285.
Following years of decline, beer sales in the second quarter increased at the fastest rate in more than 15 years.
Almost a quarter of Britons over the age of 18 - and 38pc of those who live in London, have drunk craft beer in the last six months, according to the market research firm Mintel.
(via Telegraph)
