Global Spirits Masters Awards 7 Gins Top Master Honors

Q: With Iceland and Slovenia now crafting elite gins, has the UK officially lost its crown as the world's gin capital?

No. The latest awards suggest the gin world is far more competitive and international, not that Britain has been dethroned. What has changed is the map of excellence. The Global Spirits Masters and other 2026 competitions show elite gin now comes from Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and Canada as well as Britain. Marberg Icelandic Dry Gin and Slovenia’s Gin Burje are strong evidence that top-tier gin is no longer confined to traditional centers. Judges are rewarding both classic London Dry styles and terroir-driven gins built around local botanicals. But the UK still has a strong claim to being the world’s gin capital by scale, heritage and commercial weight. Britain remains the historic home of modern gin, London Dry is still the category’s reference point, and UK brands such as Tanqueray, Plymouth, Hendrick’s, The Botanist and Mayfair continue to win major medals. Trade data in the supplied material is even clearer: the UK accounts for more than half of global gin exports, British gin exports reached £602 million in 2025, and export growth continued into 2026. So the better reading is that the UK has lost its monopoly on prestige, not its status altogether. If “gin capital” means where the category was defined, where many benchmark brands still sit, and where export power remains concentrated, Britain is still there. If it means where the most exciting innovation is happening, the crown is now shared across a much wider world.

3 articles · Updated · Forbes · Jul 15

Seven gins won the Global Spirits Masters’ highest Master designation in the latest blind-tasting awards for premium spirits.
The competition, run by The Spirits Business, judged entries solely on quality with an international panel of distillers, buyers, educators, journalists and bartenders.
Among the named winners were Marberg Icelandic Dry Gin, Gin Burje, AmberChes Botanical Gin and LØV Nordic Gin, each cited for distinctive regional botanicals and balanced distillation.
Winners spanned producing regions including Iceland, Slovenia and Norway, reinforcing the competition’s view that top-tier gin now extends well beyond traditional centers such as England.