Could boutique spirits be the next phase of the craft beer revolution?

Spirituous start-ups that have launched over the past few years - such as gin-maker Sipsmith, Hoxton Gin and The London Distillery Company, the city’s first whisky distillery to open in a century - helped drive the growth in licence applications to 20 last year, according to the accountancy group UHY Hacker Young.

The craft beer industry has been credited with nudging the wider alcoholic drinks market into recovery by forcing larger companies to innovate. Following years of decline, beer sales in the second quarter increased at the fastest rate in more than 15 years.

The Small Breweries Relief Scheme, introduced by the government in 2002, aims to encourage entrepreurship in this area by providing tax relief for start-up micro-breweries producing beer at a relatively small scale.

“The increasing number of new start-up brewers and distillers demonstrate just how dynamic the drinks market has now become,” Roy Maugham, head of tax at UHY Hacker Young, said. “The Small Breweries Relief Scheme contributes valuable aid which can boost the growth of small brewers. The tax relief allows the smaller brewers to become more competitive than the larger breweries.”

Almost a quarter of Britons over the age of 18 - and 38pc of those who live in London, have drunk craft beer in the last six months, according to the market research firm Mintel.

Cider Duty applications also doubled to 24 in the last year.

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