· 20,388 votes counted in UK’s first consumer powered craft spirits leaderboard
· 80% of top ten producers based in England
· Vodka producer beats 166 gin brands to the top spot
English distillers have triumphed over Scotland in a recent Twitter campaign.
Over 20,000 votes were cast to create the #HotCraftSpirits Twitter leaderboard where consumers were asked to vote for their favourite small producers. The top ten was dominated by English or Northern Irish producers with Scotland and Wales lagging behind.
The overall winner was a Northamptonshire distiller, Jelley’s Vodka gaining 5,012 votes.
Cornwall is emerging as a hot craft county with six of the top 20 producers generating 5,124 consumer votes. Hicks & Healey whiskey was Cornish winner finishing 3rd with 3,176 votes.
Northern Ireland based Ruby Blue Vodka and Jawbox Gin also performed strongly finishing in 5th and 7th place respectively.
The campaign tracked over 200 brand of which 80% were gin however half of the top ten winners comprised of whiskey (10%), rum (20%) or vodka (20%).
Launched in March #HotCraftSpirits encouraged consumers to support their favourite spirits brand by voting for them on Twitter. By using the campaign hashtag and the brands Twitter handle Tweets were turned into votes which powered the leaderboard which ran from March through to May. 20,388 votes have been counted.
All brands finishing in the top ten have won listings with 31Dover.com, #HotCraftSpirits online retail sponsor.
Jason Navon, co-founder of social media agency Clarity Comms who created the campaign said; “We expected gins to dominate given the amount of brands out there. However, we were pleasantly surprised to see half the top ten taken by vodkas, rums and whisky.
Jelley’s vodka and Muttuga rum show there is an appetite for interesting premium spirits and that gin isn’t the only player in town. We’re looking forward to seeing how this develops next year.
It was also interesting to see English distillers are challenging Scotland’s crown, this is likely to increase as many of these producers will be introducing whiskies over the coming years.
Thanks to all the brands that got involved. The results exceeded our expectations and it’s been fantastic help drive consumer awareness for the UK’s small batch distillers.”
HotCraftSpirits 2016 Results
1. Jelley’s Vodka, Northamptonshire 5,012 votes
2. Masons Yorkshire Gin 3,200 votes
3. Hick & Healey Whiskey, Cornwall 3,170 votes
4. Wight Mermaids Gin, Isle of Wight 1,460 votes
5. Ruby Blue Vodka, Belfast 1,091 votes
6. Matugga Rum, 995 votes
7. Jawbox Gin, Belfast 865 votes
8. Revolver Rum, Cornwall 740 votes
9. Trevethan Gin, Cornwall 495 votes
10. Twisted Nose Gin, Winchester 449 votes
DRINKS ENTHUSIAST 