How bar closures accelerated customers’ appetite for gin

Home wines and spirits in Langata [Photo: Samson Wire]

A new taste for gin has swept across Kenya. And in their war rooms, alcohol dealers are already high from the profits promised by the revolution. “Gin is exploding across East Africa,” said Andrew Cowan, outgoing chief executive of East African Breweries Ltd (EABL).

The brewer’s net sales for its spirits business have grown 10 per cent in the past six months, according to the company’s latest financial disclosures, lifted by demand for gin. With its beer business hurting, EABL is now set to direct resources to potent drinks where consumer behaviour has shifted. “There are some emerging segments that we are interested in driving really hard,” Mr Cowan said at a virtual briefing on Friday, referring to the preference for gin across the region.