the remarkable popularity of gin in the Philippines
I've been sampling lots of excellent gins recently, with most of them coming from either Scotland or elsewhere in the UK. I thought we really loved our gin on this island, but our love for the drink is absolutely nothing compared to the love that Filipinos have for gin.
The best way to demonstrate just how much they love their gin in the Phillipines is just to give you some facts. For starters, the average annual consumption of gin per Filipino is 1.4 litres per year.
To put that into perspective, in the USA, the annual gin consumption per person is around 0.25 litres.
In the UK, it's about 0.5 litres, so double the US but a third of the Philippines. And we really love gin in the UK, it's basically where gin was invented.
The Philippines accounts for almost half of gin consumption globally, which is impressive for a country with a population of around 110 million.
So why do they love gin so much? Well, basically, it's super cheap in that country. And as a gin distiller once told me, it's impossible to make a bad gin, even if you make it super cheap.
Finn H
Finn is the editor of You Well and has been writing about travel, health, and more for over 10 years.