They say that 2017 was the year of gin, but it seems as though this particular tipple has a contender for the title of the UK’s favourite drink hot on its heels.

A new report from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has just revealed that rum is predicted to exceed the £1 billion sales mark for 2017, a feat that gin succeeded in doing the year before.

Total rum sales in the UK to September 2017 reached £991 million, a rise of five per cent on the same period in 2016… the equivalent of 34.3 million bottles sold in shops, supermarkets, bars, pubs and restaurants.

But it’s not just the sales figures that show how popular rum is at the moment. In 2006, there were just 50 rum brands available to buy, but in 2016 there were more than 150… so it’s not just gin that’s been currying favour over the last few weeks and months.

Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, said: “We are pleased to see a rapid growth in the number of distilleries in the UK which has enabled our innovative spirit makers to expand their ranges with many introducing a rum into their portfolio. In turn, this has led to more and more rum bars emerging and established bars stocking a greater range of rums behind the bar.”

Of course, there’s no slowing the advance of gin at the moment either. The WSTA has also just revealed that there are now 315 gin distilleries in the UK – more than double that were open five years ago.

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