News to lift the spirits... G&T is now the nation’s favourite tipple

YoU can buy gin advent calendars, gin marshmallows and even gin cheese.

So it’s no surprise that the spirit has been named as the nation’s favourite tipple – albeit in the more traditional form of a G&T.

The drink topped an annual poll of 2,000 people by the Wine and Spirits Trade association, up from third last year.

Some 29 per cent of drinkers named the gin and tonic their favourite spirit, ahead of whisky (25 per cent) and vodka (23 per cent).

This is matched by a boom in sales – a record 47million bottles of gin were bought in Britain this year, up by seven million on 2016.

an estimated 70 per cent of British gin is now distilled in Scotland, often alongside established whisky brands.

Gins are made across the country, from Hendrick’s in Girvan, ayrshire, to Lussa Gin on the Isle of jura, Eden Mill in St andrews, Fife, and Porter’s in aberdeen.

once considered a drink for spinster aunts, the spirit has become popular with younger drinkers.

This year, it was added to the official basket of goods used by the office of National Statistics to calculate inflation.

Despite the surge in popularity, gin still has a little way to go to beat whisky and vodka in terms of sales. Nevertheless, it has undergone a remarkable journey from the scourge of the working classes to a style statement.

Cheap and often distilled in bathtubs, in 18th-century London gin was hawked by barbers, grocers and even sold on market-stalls.

Such was its impact that it was demonised as ‘mother’s ruin’.

The spirit went out of fashion until the 1970s, when the G&T became the dinner party drink of choice.