Gin's popularity on the rise in Australia: poll

Gin is shaking off its reputation as a grandma's drink and quickly growing to rival vodka as one of the most popular white spirits in Australia, according to research.

The juniper-based spirit has gained several hundred thousand drinkers over the past five years to become the second-most popular across all age groups, research by pollsters Roy Morgan says. Vodka remains the most popular white spirit consumed around the country, though fewer people are drinking it now than they were five years ago.

More than 17,000 Australians were polled from April 2014 to March 2015 as part of the research, which asked subjects which alcoholic drinks they had imbibed in the past four weeks. For 18 to 24-year-olds, vodka was the most popular, followed by tequila at a distant second, but both spirits declined sharply in popularity for other age groups.

However, a demand for gin - the third-most popular for the 18 to 24 crowd - equalled that of vodka in 35- to 49-year-olds, eventually coming out on top for those aged 49 to 65.

The polling group's general manager of consumer products, Andrew Price, says 220,000 more people drank gin in 2015 than in 2010, with popularity increasing for all ages.

"Bombay Sapphire is the top drop among 18 to 24-year-olds, Tanqueray and niche brands hit the spot with gin drinkers aged 25 to 49, and Gordon's remains the sentimental favourite among those 65 and up," he says.

The co-founder of boutique Victorian distiller Four Pillars, Stuart Gregor, says right now is the most exciting time for gin in generations.

Since his product launched 18 months ago, demand has been around 200 per cent higher than expected, and the company has plans to open a second distillery this year.

"Bartenders have played a huge part in this," he says. "As Sydney and Australia has become more interested in cocktail bars, and there's been a rise in great bartenders, gin has naturally shown core growth."

A rise in smaller distillers who all use distinctive flavours - such as Four Pillars' use of oranges - is part of the appeal of the spirit as a whole, giving it an advantage over other kinds of alcohol.

"The difference between vodka and gin is with vodka you are endeavouring to make a product that essentially lacks individual character," he says. "The best vodkas are the ones that taste the least, whereas the best gins are the ones that are distinctive. I want people to go, 'Oh my gosh, that is a Four Pillars gin', or 'I recognise that as a Hendricks'."

Mixologist Charlotte Voisey, who is presenting cocktail classes as part of Melbourne's Top Shelf drinks festival in Melbourne on August 8, agrees that a larger variety in gin flavours has given the spirit increasing appeal around the world.

"It's only recently that gin's crept back into favour, and I think there's two main reasons," Voisey says from her home in New York City.

"The first is the rise of general classic cocktail culture.

"The second reason is a bit more practical in that gin is delicious, and for the longest time we had a couple of great gin brands available, but they were very juniper forward. They were what we call the classic London dry style of gin, which are fantastic gins, but they're quite aggressive in flavour profile and basically the only way they were served was in a gin martini or a gin and tonic, which are two fairly strong drinks to sort of get your palate around. So if you're a younger drinker trying drinks for the first time, you're probably not going to levitate towards gin, because those were the only two on offer.

"Nowadays globally we have bartenders who understand mixing flavours a whole lot better, who are approaching gin cocktails with a softer touch, a bit more creatively."

Gin is at the centre of several trends in the US, including "clarified cocktails", which Voisey will present a class on at the festival. (For the uninitiated, the process involves taking one component of a cocktail and modifying it to enhance the flavour or change the presentation - for example allowing an orange-flavoured cocktail to be crystal clear.)

The spirit is also popping up in unexpected places, including in tiki bars where you might expect rum, Voisey says.

On this, Melbourne has proved its trendy credentials once again: the concept has already proliferated in Collingwood, where tiki bar Aloha Sailor makes the "suffering bastard" cocktail with Beefeater gin, served in a crystal skull.