CAN gin BECOME a fashion Accessory?

FEW bars do not have a bottle of gin on the shelf or one on an optic.

Yet even fewer will report that the cool clink of a gin and tonic is as common as it used to be. Nico Ladenis a few years ago famously castigated customers who sought to render their palates unreceptive to gastronomic appreciation by means of a pre-prandial G&T.

Whether or not his dislike of the spirit is justified, gin remains an important product - a base for cocktails, in particular the noble dry martini.

The world's four top gin markets are the USA, Spain, the UK and South Africa. Worldwide consumption is reckoned to be 29 million cases per year.

But there has been a 4.5% decline in the gin market as a whole.

Is gin's popularity in the UK permanently in decline as wine and specialist beers continue to ride the crest of the fashion wave? Or is there hope for a revival?

A man who believes in the potential of the spirit yet understands its problems, is Clive Wilkinson, director of the Gin and Vodka Association, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.

"It's been around for so long that people sometimes forget it exists. Yet it is a light product suited to a wide range of mixers and in tune with modern lifestyles. There are distinct fashion opportunities for gin if the young are prepared to take them up," he said.

Mr Wilkinson hopes to heighten people's awareness of gin and its special qualities as one of the world's great drinks.

Gin is essentially a British product, long associated with the culture of this country. Dutch gin is a more powerfully flavoured drink, distinctive in its own right.

Members of the gin and vodka industry, founded by the great distilling families whose names are still on the labels - Gordon's, Tanqueray's, Borrough's and Gilbey - export gin to 177 countries generating more than ú130m in export revenue.

In the year to April 1993, revenue from excise and VAT was ú700m. Of the total gin market, 42% is produced in the UK and much of the remainder is produced by the overseas distilleries of British companies. More than 70% of gin produced in the UK is exported.

FEATURES

So what features might lead to a revival of gin's popularity on the fashion front?

Most important is the clean, spicy nose and taste which varies from brand to brand yet invariably carries the titillating, turpentine aroma of juniper.

In the back-to-nature mood of the present day, this and the other staple ingredients - among them orange peel, coriander, ginger and cardamom - combine the image both of the exotic and the benign.

Gin is, furthermore, a light spirit, in keeping with the delicate mode of contemporary taste. It is also notable for its purity.

Unlike whisky it does not derive its character from being stored in wood. It is based on a colourless, usually grain spirit, which derives its character from the addition of herb and spice ingredients known as botanicals.

The two distinctive styles of gin in the UK - London and Plymouth - have nothing to do with the type of water in those two cities. The former label signifies a particular style of gin - dry and distilled after the botanicals have been added. The latter has a more dominant juniper flavour, closer to some Dutch gins and must be made in Plymouth to carry the label.

The best gin is always made by adding botanicals to the spirit in copper pot stills and then distilling it for a second time. Cheaper gins are made by adding flavour concentrates to the neutral alcohol and avoiding the second distillation. Such products may not bear the label "Distilled" or "London Dry Gin" which signify that the base spirit has been distilled with the botanicals present.

Gin's British image and its potential for success is well expressed by the Beefeater brand. Its commercial decision to maintain its achoholic strength at 40% ABV and not to follow other gins in adopting 37.5% as the norm, combined with skilful marketing, particularly in the export field, accounts for the brand's growth - 23% in the year up to October/November 1993 compared with the previous year despite the market decline.

Beefeater has also done particularly well in the on-trade, increasing its sales by 17% in the year. With such success stories in hard times, there is clearly hope for gin as a whole and for the famous brands which play such an important part in the mythology of our drinking habits. o