^{Some of the gins featured below were kindly gifted. Article contains affiliate links.}

2021 was another odd year for just about everything and the gin category was no exception. While less gin may have been sold in 2021 than 2020, last year also saw the opening of 110 new gin distilleries (bringing the total number in the UK up to an incredible 820, according to the Office for National Statistics). To truly understand what all this means check out Olivier Ward’s insightful article What happened to gin last year? on Spirits Beacon. What I’ll say, is that there was definitely plenty to get excited about in 2021, and plenty of reasons to feel positive about gin’s future. So, without further ado, here are my top ten gins of 2021; technically not all were new to the market in 2021 (though most of them were) but they were all new to me and all stood out for different reasons.