What, no gin? EU ruling will force low & no brands to get creative

When is a gin not a gin?

According to EU lawmakers, when it is less than 37.5% abv and not made “by flavouring ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin with juniper berries”.

In a landmark ruling, the EU’s Court of Justice has ruled that non-alcoholic drinks cannot ride off the coattails of gin’s established reputation.

“There is a clear prohibition in EU law on presenting and labelling a beverage such as that in question as ‘non-alcoholic gin’, due to the very fact that that beverage does not contain alcohol,” the Luxembourg-based judges said in a statement late last week.

Not even the use of qualifiers such as “non-alcoholic” offer protection. “The fact that the legal name ‘gin’ is accompanied by the term ‘non-alcoholic’ is irrelevant,” the judges added.

So, what exactly does the ruling mean, and what can low & no suppliers call their products?

EU ruling ramifications

In the most literal sense, the ruling – which came after a German association against unfair competition sought to prevent the sale of a non-alcoholic drink called ‘Virgin Gin Alkoholfrei’ – doesn’t change anything for UK suppliers, who are no longer bound by EU laws.

However, those wishing to export to the bloc will need to comply with its rules, which now clearly prohibit the sale of these products being described as gin, alcoholic or otherwise.

That won’t be an issue for major brands like Gordon’s, Tanqueray and Beefeater, which have already erred on the side of caution. Pick up a bottle of any of these brand’s non-alcoholic variants and the word gin is entirely absent.

These mainstream brands know that – because consumers know and recognise their logos, bottle shape and packaging – there is no need to risk the wrath of EU lawmakers, or the UK-based Gin Guild for that matter, by referring to 0.0% abv variants as gin.

One brand that could be affected, however, is Lyre’s. The brand rebranded its London Dry Spirit as ‘Gin Alternative’ as part of a global refresh last month. 

For smaller brands like Lyre’s, the temptation to lean on the term to help market non-alcoholic products is understandable. Drinkers know, understand and are familiar with the rituals associated with gin, aiding conversion at point of sale. This is particularly important in the off-trade, where brand reps and mixologists are not on hand to explain how a product ought to be served.

Category reputation at stake

However, critics argue that describing non-alcoholic alternatives as gin risks muddying the reputation of the category.

The Gin Guild has been tenacious in its pursuit of those not following the rules. The industry body has issued pre-legal action notices against suppliers using the term gin in a way that contravenes EU laws. It has also previously referred cases to Trading Standards where it believes products have been marketed in ways suggesting they were gin (a soft drinks supplier I worked for was contacted by Trading Standards about its non-alcoholic gin & tonic back in 2021).

“The Guild takes these steps because misuse of the term gin risks misleading consumers and undermining the integrity of the category,” says director general Pal Gleed. “Products that present themselves as gin when they are not can erode trust and unfairly disadvantage authentic distillers.”

It’s no wonder, therefore, the Guild has welcomed last week’s EU ruling.

“The new CJEU judgement provides clear legal backing for the Guild’s long-standing stance that the definition of gin is enforceable and cannot be applied to products that do not meet the legal criteria,” says Gleed. “It confirms that misleading uses of ‘gin’ – especially for non-alcoholic or very low-alcohol products – are not simply branding concerns but impact fair competition, consumer protection and the integrity of the category.”

Creative alternatives

Any brand wishing to market their non-alcoholic drink as an alternative to gin in the EU will now therefore need to get creative. For premixed products, “non-alcoholic G&T” is the obvious choice, as adopted by the soft drinks supplier I worked for, and latterly by the likes of Fever-Tree.

However, for brands selling a booze-free tipple designed to be mixed by the consumer, alternatives are harder to come by.

In best-practice guidance published on its website, the Gin Guild strongly discourages any use of the word gin, unless some of the spirit has been used to create the drink. In this instance, a descriptive name such as “low-alcoholic drink made with gin” may be used, it says.

However, if gin has not been used to make the product, the word gin may not be used anywhere on the labelling, the Guild states. This includes other characters and numbers – so “g!n” or “g1n” won’t make the cut either.

Instead, the Gin Guild recommends producers use “a clear descriptive name” such as “non-alcoholic botanical drink infused with juniper”.

Catchy. I wonder why it hasn’t caught on?