‘Watch this space’: Kopparberg is selling a strawberry and lime pink gin

Swedish cider brand Kopparberg is launching a strawberry and lime-flavoured pink gin, and hinted that more spirits could be in the pipeline.

Kopparberg’s gin is being rolled out in 700 Greene King pubs for six weeks from 6 May, before it will become available in the UK off-trade.

The gin is produced at 37.5% ABV in a 70cl bottle, and will be available in in Morrisons from 22 May and Asda from 10 June.

The new spirit will also be available at UK festivals this summer, including London’s house music-focused We Are FSTVL (24 -26 May) and Birmingham’s Made Festival (27 July), which is being headlined by Chase & Status this year.

The gin, which takes flavour inspiration from Kopparberg’s strawberry and lime cider, is also flavoured with juniper, lemon zest and coriander botanicals.

The new variant will be supported as part of Kopparberg’s £6 million ‘Outside is Ours’ marketing campaign.

A Kopparberg spokesperson told the drinks business that there may be more products like this in the pipeline.

“We wanted to create a unique offering, infused with our famous strawberry and lime flavour that our consumers know and love,” they said, “To ensure that the product met the high standard that consumers expect from Kopparberg takes time, and therefore perfecting this was crucial to the development.

“We carried out rigorous consumer testing to ensure we got it right.  This is also true of the design of the bottle and packaging, which needed to capture the spirit of Kopparberg in a premium gin.”

The spokesperson said the cider brand’s expertise lies in “flavour and innovation.”

“Based on this I’d watch this space.”

Marketing boss Rob Salvesen, said: “We brew and distil many other drinks in our brewery in Sweden and with over 10 years’ experience in distilling gin, as well as our success as flavour leaders here in the UK and around the world, it was an obvious decision for us to introduce Kopparberg Premium Gin in one of our most iconic flavours. This focus on flavour, combined with our premium fruit refreshment positioning, is what we feel will set us apart from other pink gins on the market.”

Calum Cameron, senior category manager at Greene King, said: “We’re very excited to be exclusively launching Kopparberg’s first UK gin in our pubs. Kopparberg are known for their array of different flavoured drinks and this one is no exception.”

Kopparberg has also recently launched an “alcohol-infused sparkling water” brand in the UK’s retail sector to capitalise on the growth of low-sugar drinks.

Balans, which comes in two flavours (mandarin and lime) is produced in a similar way to cider, fermented from an apple juice base to break down sugar into alcohol, which provides a “low-calorie alcohol base”, according to the brand. A combination of apple juice and cane sugar are added after fermentation alongside natural fruit flavourings.