With more flexible preferences and openness to new experiences in drinking, millennials are the main market who are driving the switch to the newly launched Ginto, the barrel-aged gin from Tanduay Distillers Inc.
“Ginto is a product for today’s adventurous drinkers, and those who have tried it have commended its unique taste compared to other gin products that are either non-aged or simply flavored. It is also a product that is proudly Filipino, and its name speaks for the gold standard that we always aim for at Tanduay,” said Tanduay president and chief operating officer Lucio Tan III, grandson of tycoon Lucion Tan.
The young Tan, himself a millennial, introduced Ginto in the first half of the year as the company’s way of capturing a share of the country’s growing gin market.
Despite a decline in global sales, gin continues to be a top product among drinkers in the Philippines. Citing Euromonitor, Drinks International Magazine in its 2021 issue of The Millionaires Club said that gin even surpassed brandy as the country’s most popular spirit in the past year.
The change, it said, was “the result of young Filipinos who see the category as a trendy alternative to the traditional vinous spirit’”
Drinks International is among the most prestigious publications that hands out the yearly World’s Number 1 award for different spirits categories. It collects data on 155 million-case brands from public company reports and requested results. It then calculates growth from the actual volume data supplied.
Tanduay, which has been declared the World’s Number 1 Rum by the magazine for four consecutive years now, is aiming to have a share of the country’s gin market through its new product, Ginto.
Ginto is available in Luzon, which is a predominantly a gin market. It is also available in select areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Tan said that while Luzon is a very challenging region for liquor, they are hopeful that they can capture a good slice of the island’s gin business as it is known to be more open to different types of drinks.
The pandemic has made it even more challenging for businesses, and Tan is thankful to have a strong team that knows how to hurdle the obstacles that come their way.
“Right now, our logistics arm and online sales platform are very essential to our business. They are the ones that bring Ginto and our other products to our customers,” Tan said. “So, despite the challenges, Ginto is performing really well. We have also been receiving good feedback from stores and in social media. There were inquiries from abroad as well since we came out with the product.”
Tanduay is known for its expertise in barrel-aging, a process that gives spirits a classic aged flavor like caramel, oak, vanilla and smoke. If the barrels were previously used for other spirits, the gin also takes the flavor of that spirit.
The company owns aging facilities that house 200,000 oak barrels with a capacity of 40 million gauge liters
Tan said that while taste preference is quite difficult to pinpoint, Ginto offers a product that gives a new flavor and a new experience in gin drinking.