Image: Jez Timms/Unsplash

Even if you won’t be opening the first door on your gin advent calendar on Saturday, or dropping into the country’s first Gin Spa in Glasgow, you can’t have failed to have noticed how popular gin has become. Last year British consumers bought 51 million bottles of the trending tipple, an increase of 27 per cent on 2016. It isn’t just the UK that enjoys a glass of Mother’s Ruin either: here’s where to enjoy a G&T around the world.

Craft gin is huge in the UK, with any number of variations on the traditional recipe on offer (roasted pinapple gin, anyone?). You can try a great many of them at Rosewood London’s Gin Bar in Holborn. The bar features more than 500 gins and 30 tonics, from international brands to small-batch and local distillers, which by their reckoning means there are more than 14,000 possible gin and tonic pairings.Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world… New York’s Bathtub Gin has to be one of the most atmospheric. Bathtub gin was what they called bootleg liquor during Prohibition era, though it’s unlikely it was ever actually produced in a bath. The bar’s cocktail list showcases the classics from the same era and don’t worry, the copper tub is for decoration only.  One of the world’s most famous gin-based cocktails has to be the Singapore Sling, created in the Long Bar at Raffles hotel in Singapore at the beginning of the last century. The hotel is currently closed for refurbishment but when it reopens next year, it promises that one thing that definitely won’t have changed is its famous cocktail. After all, it’s practically Singapore’s national drink.Stockholms Bränneri is a small-batch producer, based in an old Jaguar workshop on the island of Södermalm. It makes a dry gin, a pink gin and an oak gin and organises events and tastings throughout the year.

Dublin’s Gin Palace claims to have Ireland’s biggest collection of gins, including Dingle Original Gin produced by the Dingle Distillery in Co Kerry. Gin Palace won the Best Gin Bar of the Year in 2015.

Don’t associate Paris with gin? You will after you’ve visited Le Tiger, a jungle-themed gin bar in Saint-Germain-Des-Près. It claims to have the best collection of gin in Paris, with 130 different brands, 11 signature cockails and 1,040 different variations on the G&T. 

BY MAGGIE O’SULLIVAN