EU court bans use of ‘gin’ on non-alc drinks
In a landmark ruling, the European Court of Justice has determined that alcohol-free beverages cannot be called ‘gin’, even when labelled as ‘non-alcoholic’.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) published a notice yesterday regarding a case between German competition association Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb and PB Vi Goods, which sells a product called Virgin Gin Alkoholfrei.
The action, filed in a German court, was brought against PB Vi Goods to prevent it from selling its non-alcoholic product, which uses the word ‘gin’ in its name.
The association argues that Virgin Gin Alkoholfrei’s name is contrary to EU law, which states that gin must be made with a minimum alcoholic strength by volume of 37.5% and using juniper berries.
The German court referred questions to the CJEU, specifically, whether EU regulation enables a non-alcoholic beverage to carry the term ‘gin’.
In its judgement, the CJEU found that there is a “clear prohibition in EU law on presenting and labelling a beverage such as that in question as ‘non-alcoholic gin’, due to the very fact that that beverage does not contain alcohol”.
The Court of Justice emphasised that accompanying the name ‘gin’ with the term ‘non-alcoholic’ is “irrelevant” in this case.
The CJEU said the prohibition does not prevent the product from continuing to be sold, but it must not use the term ‘gin’.
For gin producers, this move preserves the clarity of the category and may help safeguard the value and reputation built by the sector.
However, this ruling means that some alcohol-free brands will need to rethink their positioning to avoid infringing on gin as a protected spirit category in the EU.
One zero-ABV producer that could be impacted is Lyre’s, which recently updated the name of its alcohol-free ‘Dry London Spirit’ to ‘Gin Alternative’ as part of a global rebrand.
In recent years, many gin producers have taken a dim view of low- and no-alcohol brands that are describing their products as ‘gin’.
The Gin Guild, which represents gin makers across the world, has taken action against ‘unacceptable’ products that are contravening the rules, including Belvoir’s Alcohol Free Gin & Tonic, and The Pentone Family, the makers of the 29% ABV Red Storm and Ocean Storm products, which were labelled as ‘gin’. After the trade body issued a pre‐legal action notice, any mention of ‘gin’ was removed from the products.
Another firm that was required to change the name of its product was no-alcohol producer CleanCo, founded by former Made in Chelsea star Spencer Matthews. The company’s Clean Gin was renamed ‘Clean G’.
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