Drinkers have never had it so good

British drinkers have never had it so good. The craft booze revolution – be it in ale, lager, cider or spirits – has opened up a world of opportunity to the consumer looking for something special.

And what’s good for drinkers is good for retailers. Quality drinks made by passionate people and with a genuine USP, not just the slick marketing and fancy bottles that have passed for innovation for far too long in the drinks industry, command a significant premium over the commoditised, mainstream end of the market.

Take BrewDog, whose Punk IPA product has become the 19^th biggest ale brand in the supermarkets this past year, driving much needed value into a category undermined by the lingering ‘pile high, sell cheap’ mentality in canned ale. Punk’s sales have more than doubled. What’s more, despite a fall in price driven by deals, Punk still sells for nearly twice the market average. Kerching.

The same is happening in spirits. While prices are being eroded among the market’s biggest sellers, the burgeoning craft spirits market is up by almost 50% as brands such as Sipsmith and Chase convince drinkers that products such as marmalade vodka and over proof gin are worth paying considerably more for than your average value voddy.

But it’s wrong to assume that ‘craft’ has to mean small. This, of course, has always been the central tenet of the positioning of brands such as BrewDog (essentially: small equals good; big equals bad), but there’s no reason why brewers and distillers working in the big multinationals can’t create equally well-crafted products.

Just look at Guinness’s turnaround – the subject of our final video to mark today’s launch of Top Products 2015 – for proof. I’m not about to start arguing for one ale over another (they all taste the same to me - I prefer cider), but the numbers speak for themselves: by launching premium, crafted ales (and a lager) Diageo has finally convinced drinkers that Guinness is worth paying more for.

Now I’ll drink to that… just make mine a cider.