Gin Guild Ginposium
12 May 2016
The exciting line up for this annual education event for the gin
trade is now complete. On-Line Booking is now open. Members(and those booking via members) get a discounted rate. For fulldetails see www.ginposium.com (or our main site
www.theginguild.com).
Please make sure that your colleagues and staff are aware of theevent. As part of our knowledge transfer provisions, please see
the footage of earlier events, including the 2014 and 2015 events,
on our website.
Join some of the world’s most respected personalities andexperts from the drinks and gin trade sharing their knowledge
and expertise on all things gin, in the third annual Gin Guildorganised Ginposium seminar.
Speakers include:
Emma Hibbert from Adnams
Robert Furse from UKTICharles Maxwell from Thames Distillers
Bernard Gormley from Nude Design

UK and EU legislation. What the future holds - Challenges,
opportunities what it means for gin.
Tutored tasting of gins: Innovation.
The importance of ABV? The percentage game/gain?
Food-pairing with gin.
Delegates will also benefit from a Gin & Tonic and networking
and are then invited to join the Distillers City Debate, which thisyear debates Craft Spirits. See below for details.
The seminar will be held at the London
Transport Museum in Covent Garden.

Gin Workshop at the Bermondsey Distillery
Guild colleagues Dr. Anne Brock and David T Smith are hosting aworkshop on Wednesday 11 May 2016 at the Bermondsey
Distillery between10:00-15:30. This is the day before theGinposium, so might build a useful full two-day trip to London
for those newer to gin, or for training for members of their staff.

Dr. Anne Brock from Bermondsey Distillery

The workshop will explore designing and distilling your own gin.
As well as instruction on the practical aspects of gin, theworkshop will allow attendees to discuss the more nuanced
aspects of bringing a spirit to market. Topics covered include:
production methods, “making the cuts”, working with botanicals,and filtration.

Miles Beale from Wines & Spirits Trade Association

Tickets are available via www.ginposium.com

Professor Katherine Smart, from SABMiller plc andInstitute of Brewing & DistillingDavid T Smith, from SummerFruitCup.com

Joanne Moore from, G&J Greenalls andValentine Warner from BBC’s ‘What to Eat Now’ who,
other than being a chef and writer’, has also added gin
brand owner to his portfolio.

Special Offer: Buy a ticket for the Ginposium and receive 20%
off the ticket price for the Gin Workshop.

Topics include:
Launching and marketing a new product.
Exporting gin.
Dr Anne Brock

Influences of different base spirits on gin.
The importance of the designer bottle in promotion andsale of your designer packaging.
Gin: An Education
Tutored tasting of gins: Terroir. Does it matter?
The effect of different botanical fixatives. Hit or myth?
David T Smith
The Gin Guild is the trading name of The Gin Guild Limited
VAT Number: 155 1522 31 Company Number: 08148932
Registered Office: 1 The Sanctuary Westminster Abbey Parliament Square London SW1P 3JTMembers
NewsletterP r o m o t i n g E X C E L L E N C E I N G I N D I S T I L L AT I O NIssue 9March 2016

DAT E S F O R YO U R D I A RY
Gin Industry Annual Dinner Thursday 26 May 2016
This year’s dinner will again be held at
The Savile Club, Mayfair, London. The
price, for Guild members, and guests
booked by members, inclusive of wine(and gin!), will be £93 inc VAT per person.
A booking form and event brochure will
be circulated (and will also be available
on request from the DG). Please book assoon as possible. Numbers are limited to
100 – it sold out in 2015. Members will begiven priority on booking (subject toavailability) until 25 April 2016.
Menu details will be as set out in thebrochure. Dietary issues should be notified
on the booking form when booking. The
event is lounge suit (not black tie).

The mini brochure for this event will givefull details of the event and will be of help
to secure any gin industry related
colleagues and/or guests that you may
wish to bring to the event.
New members of the Guild (those whojoined in October and who are joining inMay), are invited to bring samples of theirproducts to the gin bar forming part ofthe event. This will provide members withthe opportunity of sampling and sharing
their product during the two gin andtonic networking sessions. Please contact
the DG in advance if you would like yourproducts to be featured and ensure thatstock is sent ahead to the office.

Founders and Wardens who may beconsidering whether they wish to
introduce any individuals as Rectifiers tothe Guild, in recognition of their services
to gin, should advise the DG as soon as
possible and seek details of what isrequired.

Distillers - City Annual Spirits Debate –Member event 12 May 2016

Mansion House Autumn Installation andWCD Banquet Friday 7 October 2016

Gin Guild members are invited to the Worshipful of Distillers
annual Spirits Debate. This will be held on 12th May in London.
There is no charge for this event.

Please note the date andensure that you are planningahead if you intend to attend
the Gin Guild installation
event and the Worshipful
Company of Distillers
banquet. Further details will
be provided nearer the date.

The topic this year is: “Craft Spirits – the enemy or the friend ofglobal brands?”
If you would like to attend, please email KLyons@lbmw.com
Please ensure you include confirmation that you are a GuildMember.

BBC Radio 4 coverage

30 best gins under £30

In December we were contacted by the Radio
4 consumer programme ‘You and Yours’, whoadvised that they were researching for a
programme item on craft gins. Initially theirline of enquiry appeared to be aninvestigation (which sounded quite hostileand critical), as to why so many craft gins were expensive,
retailing at £30/£35 and above, and whether this was ‘a consumer
rip-off’. We supplied detailed background explanation, including
data and statistics and briefing, detailing why production costs
for smaller producers were more expensive.

We requested members late last year toprovide information to meet a request by ajournalist writing a feature topic in Epicuremagazine. This is described as a ‘high end food and drink
supplement’ produced by and distributed with Men's Healthmagazine (a periodical no doubt well known to many of ourreaders). Thank you to all who responded – it’s not on ourreading list, so if anyone sees the article, do send in a copy!

We also responded to their queries relating to gins produced bythird parties under contract, which were on occasion
misrepresented as ‘owner’ or ‘craft’ produced, yet with a pricereflecting smaller producer overheads.

We were scheduled to puton a talk and tasting atthese prestigious
international awards(sponsored by Rolls Royce), to be presented at the Hilton Park
Lane on 22 February. Unfortunately the business seminarprogramme into which we were to slot had to be cancelled, due
to lower attendee numbers than planned, for reasons outside thecontrol of the organisers, but we have been told that they hope torun that element again in 2017.

The resulting piece, helped by our responses, came out on theday as well balanced. The initial hostile price point issue had
been withdrawn and thepresenter did differentiate,with interviews between asmall distiller produced gin
and a brand owner of acontract made gin (albeit froman excellent producer), making
clear the marketing spin
applied to the latter.
Congratulations to John
O’Dowd of Liverpool Gin forgetting good coverage as theselected craft distiller.

International Hotel Awards

Consumer & Trade Shows
We lectured with tastings at the International Food Expo at
ExCel last year and are currently in talks with several similarshows (both trade and consumer) to speak at their events,
including the Restaurant Show in October, the Independent
Hotel Show at Olympia and possibly the Food & Drink Expo inApril. We will also be networking at ProWein in March.

UKTI – British Consulate General in Germany

The British Consul General in Germany asked the Gin Guild todeliver a gin tasting and introduction to British gins in Germany
in January. This was one of the UKTI initiatives around the world
designed to help British gin exports. It is anticipated that otherUK Embassies and Consulate offices will follow, with a gin format
having been deployed in several countries to date.
The event was held in a prestigious hotel in Düsseldorf. The
audience of around 70 included various senior trade contacts of
the Consul General, local key businesses, retailers and wholesales
as well as key bartenders from both Dusseldorf and Cologne,
along with a few high net worth individuals attending a majorinternational boat trade fair being held in the city at the sametime. Selecting the gins to illustrate the talk, to avoid the many
brands in the well stocked bar in the hotel, was the major
challenge.
The event was well received and the post event gin discussions
went on late onto the night. UKTI collated the feedback theyreceived from participants, including some direct quotes fromguests.
All in all the feedback is very positive. The guests seem to havereally enjoyed the event.
‘Accomplished and inspiring evening’‘Relaxed atmosphere’‘Very informative and enjoyable atmosphere’‘A great event that was well executed’‘A warm, inviting method of mixing people and ideas’‘Professionally arranged and prepared event which has also
been great fun’‘I benefit most from events if I can learn something new andhave a chat with interesting, pleasant people. This was verymuch the case with your event. ’‘Nicholas Cook held a great
presentation with a lot ofinteresting content.’‘This approach to education ismuch enjoyed’Thank you to all who provided stock for this presentation. We dotry and ring the changes and to give as many member brands as
possible an opportunity at the various tasting events we put on,
consistent with providing a suitable range of gins to ‘tell the gin
story’. Please respond promptly if we ask if you can supply stockand support our tasting and similar events.

Dortmund – supply to supermarket chain
The Senior UKTI Trade Adviser at theBritish Consulate-General in Düsseldorf,
Germany asked the Guild to circulate
details of a promotion opportunity to UK
brands. This related to an in-store
promotion within two REWE
supermarkets in Dortmund,(http://www.rewe-homberg.de).
The owner of the two stores has a strong
interest in British products.

A promotion is planned with a view toselecting four gins to be sold in thegroup’s supermarkets.
REWE has over 400 supermarkets in theDortmund area and decision

makers/buyers from the REWE Dortmund
group are to visit the two stores enabling
introduction of the new brand to theREWE group. Paper based information on
the brands that responded, as requested
by REWE, was collated and supplied by
the Guild, from brand members who
responded wanting to take part in theproject, as the first stage in the exercise.

Marketplace (New Website facility) Situations wanted and vacant (and goods andservices)
A new section (Marketplace) has been added to the Gin Guildwebsite in the members only section. Members arerecommended to check that area of the website from time totime.
We get approached on a reasonably frequent basis by those in theindustry seeking new positions and those in the industry who areseeking recruits for specific posts.
Rather than include posts vacant in the member newsletters,
which only come out at intervals, Guild members are invited toprovide a brief synopsis (of around 200 words plus contactdetails), of any positions that they wish to fill with a contact
number and email address and we will endeavour to post themon our Facebook page.
We will also post on the closed 'member only' area of our website,details of any industry member who approaches us looking for aposition. Applicants should supply a summary of around 200
words (alongside contact details and a separate CV which we can
supply to any member who wants to follow up, which will alsoenable this to be anonymous).
Similarly we also get approached by companies offering theirservices and goods to members. Again we will where practicalpost relevant details in case they are of interest to members.

Gin and Rum show Lucerne Switzerland
June 3 to 4, 2016
Marcel Telser (Guild member) and ArthurNägele (who is joining the Guild in May2016) are both well-known gin experts
and operate a service company called“International Spirits Advisors Ltd.”, a UK
company. That company organises sharedstand activities for Craft Distillers at Swiss
events including the Gin & Rum Festival inLucerne. They offer Guild members a
representation package at the show. Further
details from the DG.

World Gin Day Saturday 11th June 2016
We try to encourage members to get as much outof World Gin Day as possible and to use thevehicle of the Gin Guild to help them by quotingthe Guild in press releases to add verisimilitude
to their stories. Let the DG know if you would
like a draft of possible/supporting material.
Please contact your local TV and Radio stations/regions well inadvance and offer them the chance to interview you ahead of andin anticipation of the day itself. We have two pitches in hand tothe BBC, attempting to ensure that the day is covered, but, at thetime of writing, these are still in play.

Gin Guild Ties & cufflinks

Think Gin

Gin Series

Our tasteful woven silk blueties (£19.80 inc. p&p) andsterling silver cufflinks(£61.80 inc. p&p) areavailable from the DG.

The second annual Think Gin event took
take place in London on March 1. The
event brought together senior tradebuyers with both producers and sector
experts to drive growth in both the on
and the off trade. Attendees had theOnce again, supporting the Wines &Spirits Educational Trust, the Guild
hosted a two evening seminar series on
gin in February in Bermondsey forconsumers and WSET students looking tobe ginformed. Thanks to all our speakers,
including Guild Board members
Christopher Hayman, Charles Maxwelland Dr. Anne Brock.

Your Guild
membership –wear it withpride – boast alittle!
Members arereminded that theyshould wear theSilver Juniper Sprig
with pride wheneverpossible – it is surprising how often thissparks up a discussion. You are an elite,
so boast/don’t be shy about yourmembership. Don’t also forget that you
can mention your Guild membership on
gin bottles and your website. See
the members’ area for
detail and terms. We
may also be able to reproduce the logo in othercolours if required tomatch your own colourschemes.

opportunity to experience exclusive newgins showcases and to meet the producersof numerous key brands with over 35
distillers showcasing their brands. For thesecond year running the Guild was asked
to provide the keynote-opening speech,
confirming that we are very much in theeye of the industry.

Website – grows in popularity
There was good growth in visitors to theGin Guild website in December – up 3% toover 3,200 visitor sessions for the month.
The Interactive gin map views saw anincrease in the London-based map of 33%
Page views within the Ginopedia section
were up significantly in December – bySpice-up your life!
11% compared to November. Gin brands
continue to dominate this section, (somake sure your brands are featured andup to date) capturing 59%of this section’s
page views, but the Distillers pages arealso growing in popularity – theseaccount for 23% of the page views.

Articles (Website)

Member film clips

We need more reference and similarmaterial to publish on the website. Seefor example the Aged Gin article posted inDecember. The newly created Gin articlessubsection, fledgling though it is, enjoyed
182 page views in December. Do let us
have gin related articles, such as any
relevant research or brand historicalinterest materials etc. for consideration.

We requested useful gin footage content
from members. Some have responded andtheir clips are on the website – andgetting viewed – where are yours?

Ever wondered where those all-important
botanicals come from, and what effectweather and poor harvests have on thecrop? Beacon Commodities, one of our
several botanical supplier Guild members,
covers some of these issues in regular
newsletters. If you would like to know
more about the trials and problems of
securing good quality natural products,
please ask to go on their newsletter
mailing list and write totommy@beaconcommodities.co.uk

CardamonCassiaGin Data / CGA – Including new US data offer
Following interest by members who had
expressed the comment that finding reliabledata in a timely fashion was very difficult, a
number of members, at Guild instigation, werecanvassed by CGA Strategy, a leading research consultancy in thefood and drink industry.
The brief was that they put forward an offer to members toprovide relevant gin-based data in a form and with acommentary for direct use by members, including those without
specialist data interpretation skills. Enclosed with the newsletter
were the proposals put forward by CGA. Various levels of detailwere offered at differing prices. If anyone is interested in the
proposed materials let me know if they need a copy again orplease contact Mr Loudon, as soon as possible.
graeme.loudon@cgastrategy.co.uk 0161 4768382 / 077 3693 7273
Nielsen and CGA have just jointly launched Brand Index in theUSA, which they say is a ‘statistically robust’ forecast of on-tradeperformances for alcohol producers. This aims to offer brandowners a comprehensive view of the on trade market in the US

based on data collected through Neilsen CGA's clientele of drink
producers and retailers. They hope the data will showcase
potential opportunities, based on predictable data and reveal
trends of category segments and brands gaining new levels of
insight into the valuable and influential on the on-premisemarket. The first phase is already available and focuses on overall
US on trade performance including total drinking and eating
measures across nine census regions in six markets, including
New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Dallas and Denver.
With many members now looking to or already exporting, CGA
confirm that they are also likely to be able to provide a similar
package for France & Germany. Other key countries are also
under consideration. CGA say they would have to cost these up
differently as different datasets will be available, but are happy
to deal with these as they come through.
We are continuing to look at other offerings and sources ofinformation which may be of benefit to members. Suggestions,and feedback, from members is always useful.

And finallyThank you to those who have supported theGuild and its events to date. We look forward to
your continuing support. Please let us have ideas
for future newsletters (and the website), such as
the development of new products, or the trials

and tribulations of a new start up, or any othergin related items that may be of interest tomembers.
Email articles of not more than 100 words, witha picture where available tonicholas.cook@theginguild.com