Is Vodka the New Gin?
There’s good reason to think that on-trend and health-conscious consumers may be swapping craft gin for premium vodka as the go-to drink of choice.
While gin has enjoyed something of a boom in the last few years, it’s worth noting that the market is reaching saturation. Along with some truly excellent and award-winning craft products, supermarket shelves are now crammed with gin and gin-based products promising all kinds of exotic and interesting flavour combinations. However, this diversity of offering comes at a cost — a compromise on quality, and the creeping addition of sugars and chemical flavours.
Consumers are more health conscious than ever, and more knowledgeable. This can be seen most clearly in the recent move in Europe towards including ingredients and calorific information on packaging for spirits. As the quality of gin on offer becomes less dependable, it’s more than likely that drinkers will look elsewhere for a refreshing drink.
Vodka can be enjoyed neat, with your favourite mixer, or at the centre of a vodka-led cocktail.
Recent market trends show that, while overall vodka sales are declining, this is almost entirely at the lower end of the market. High-quality and premium vodka offerings are growing year-on-year. This ties into the narrative that consumers are, more than ever, interested in transparency, quality, and provenance when making drinking decisions.
Grey Goose, market leader in the premium vodka category, has announced plans to invest heavily in marketing with its new Live Victoriously campaign over the next few years, meaning we can equally expect premium vodka branding to be ubiquitous in the coming summer months. It seems likely that consumer focus and brand recognition will increase for the entire category, with Belvedere, Ciroc, and ultra-premium newcomer, SKOTKA, all benefiting from the increased awareness this will bring.
SKOTKA® is the newest Vodka offering from Scotland.
All of the above suggests that premium vodka is poised to play a significant role in consumers’ drinking behaviour this year.
With the convergence of trends that call for less calorific mixers and locally-sourced produce, our hot-tipped drink is: premium vodka, mixed with soda or diet tonic, and garnished with fresh, seasonal fruit that has been sourced locally. You can expect to see this soon at a fashionable bar near you.