HAVE WE REACHED peak gin yet? Not so long ago, ordering a gin and tonic meant being served a rather bland but perfectly acceptable Gordon’s gin with a slice of lemon and a mainstream mixer.

These days, the picture is a little more complicated. Ask for the same drink and you’ll more than likely be asked to navigate your way around a back bar filled with dozens of bottles of boutique-distilled gin with names like Half Hitch, Opihr and Ransom Old Tom.

Tonic water isn’t what it was, either. It seems that handcrafted gin requires handcrafted tonic, and the sector is booming. Fever-Tree, which was launched in 2005, offering a “lighter, purer taste,” listed on the London Stock Exchange in November and its share price has more than doubled.