It begins with data.
Many parts of the drinks industry already benefit from robust insights. Research from global firms like Nielsen and IWSR provides valuable analysis on consumer trends, product performance, and category value. These tools are essential for understanding the market, informing journalism and making wise decisions as brand owners.
But they don’t reflect what it’s actually like to be a distiller. They don’t show how many staff a distillery employs, what kinds of suppliers it depends on, or how much local tourism supports its business.
And that’s fair enough. They aren’t indented to tell the full story of the UK’s diverse distilling community. They are generated to give accurate volume and value numbers overall.
This project and the idea of doing a census seeks to fill in the rest of the picture. And it’s strange that it would be the first for the UK, as in other countries, it’s the norm.
Others do this, annually.
In the United States, the American Craft Spirits Association and DISCUS each produce detailed annual reports on the state of distilling. They cover economic output, representative volume contributions, geographic distribution and more.
In Australia, similar information has been created and funded through government support. It’s then been the basis off which campaigns, lobbying and strategy have been established to help distillers secure funding, grow exports, and shape future policy.
In both countries it’s been successful in delivering that outcome too. Something similar (to a certain extent) exists in Ireland and the work Bord Bia do.
But in the UK, we’re missing that kind of comprehensive, openly available data. There’s no single source that details more about what the distillers are doing, how they operate, and what challenges they face – across all categories and regions.
Though a census, we can begin to build a real profile of what the UK maker landscape actually looks like – its diversity, its specialisms, and its growth dynamics.
A necessary first step
For the UK distilling sector to grow stronger, it needs a more detailed and widely understood picture of itself. That’s what this survey is aiming to provide – not a perfect record, especially in year one, but a meaningful first step.
There’s no sign-up list, no hidden fees, no CRM funnel. Just a commitment to building something useful, trustworthy, and representative of the real UK distilling landscape.
It will take time to earn people’s trust, and rightly so. But just as I did with the Gin Foundry consumer surveys years ago, we’ll do what we say we will: collect the data, protect anonymity, present it clearly, and never ask for more than what’s needed.
If you’re a brand owner reading this with a degree of scepticism, that’s fair too. Most of the time when you’re asked to share information, it comes with strings attached – an upsell, a campaign, a hidden motive.
This isn’t that.
This is about creating a resource the whole industry can use, regardless of size, category, or business model. It’s not limited to distilleries with visitor centres or whisky warehouses. If you make spirits in the UK ( or have them made here under your direction) your experience matters.
And it’s not just about what’s happening today. Even in its first year, this survey will help us see where priorities lie, how business models are evolving, and where growth or pressure is starting to show. Repeat it over time, and we’ll begin to track the evolution of the sector in a way that’s never been possible before.
It’s also worth pointing out at this stage that we’ve encouraged larger organisations, associations, and data sources with bigger platforms to take the lead. But no one has.
That’s why I’m stepping up. Because this kind of work is too important to keep waiting on. I am not doing this to represent the industry – I’m doing it to reflect it so that we can all better understand the landscape we work in and want to further develop.
“For it to work, it needs to remain free of commercial influence. Put bluntly, there’s no commercial play at hand – I’m doing this because no one else is.”
What the survey asks (and why)
The survey focuses on practical information and a broad base of inputs – nothing financial, nothing commercially sensitive, and nothing that only an owner would know.
It’s all multiple choice to help anonymity and desensitise the answers so that more feel comfortable and able to enter, and each question has a purpose.
We’ll ask about production size and batch volumes. That helps show what scale really looks like across UK distilling – from the smallest setups to more developed operations – and reveals what kind of infrastructure or support different producers might need.
We ask what kinds of spirits you make, because that gives insight into innovation, category diversity, resilience to shifting consumer preferences and how the industry is evolving beyond headline trends. We also explore sourcing, to better understand supply chain, and how much the sector relies on local versus international ingredients and materials.
The survey also covers how you sell – via trade, export, DTC, or online – to map route-to-market realities and highlight where producers might be missing out or facing challenges. And we’ll ask about your team, tourism, and local employment, because these are the real economic and social contributions that never show up in shelf data or retail reports. It’s through these kinds of insights that we can start to tell a much richer, more accurate story of UK distilling.
The survey has been designed so that any senior or reasonably informed team member can take part – whether that’s a distiller, marketing lead, operations manager, or founder.
All results will be shared only in aggregate. There will be no raw data download, no ability to view individual submissions, and no way to cross-reference answers to identify or profile participants.
How does that shape up in the end?
What you’ll see is the full breakdown of responses to each multiple-choice question, as they were asked and as they were answered – made publicly available for anyone to explore.
That means you’ll be able to see, for example, how many distilleries produce rum, or how many use UK-sourced packaging. But you won’t be able to filter that further and say, “of those who make rum, how many also operate a visitor centre and export to Canada.” That level of segmentation simply won’t be possible. And that’s intentional.
It’s how we protect participant trust while still creating a shared resource for the industry – transparent, accessible, but never invasive.
What’s the benefit of a Census? What this will enable
Data like this gives the industry something it’s never truly had: a factual, anonymised benchmark. Producers will be able to compare themselves not against vague assumptions or inflated averages, but against the lived realities of other UK makers, with relatable real-world numbers.
That allows for better planning, clearer decision-making, and a deeper understanding of how business models vary across regions, categories, and scales. It gives producers insight into where they sit compared to others in how they approach staffing, structure supply chains, or view the value of tourism – and helps show what’s common, what’s niche, and what’s evolving.
It also gives weight to our collective voice. With robust data, trade bodies and associations can campaign more effectively. Journalists can report with accuracy and context. Government and agencies can assess the sector not just in terms of headline exports, but in terms of employment, cultural contribution, and economic resilience.
In countries like the US and Australia, this kind of data underpins everything from lobbying to skills training to grant justification. It provides the baseline for policy, for planning, and for investment – allowing those outside the industry to see its value more clearly and set realistic ROI’s.
Independent. Trusted. For the makers.
Here in the UK, the craft sector has long punched above its weight – but often without recognition. Too often, it’s been invisible, or misrepresented by stats that don’t reflect its scale or structure. This survey can help change that.
Done transparently and shared freely, the insights it generates will help shift the narrative. It’s not just about global brands or export totals. It’s about creative jobs, rural resilience, cultural heritage, and skilled, hands-on production. There are hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses making a tangible difference at community level. And with the right data, we can not only prove it – but use to build on it.
It takes ten minutes to complete, with the full results published in the first week of October – here. The more responses we gather, the more accurate and useful the final insights will be.
Please be part of the movement and let’s build something better, together.
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Written by Olivier Ward, 28th June 2025
