Distillers Georgia
A one-page guide to Georgia for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Tbilisi
- Official languages
- Georgian, Abkhaz (in Abkhazia)
- Currency
- Georgian lari (GEL)
- Time zone
- UTC+4 (GET)
- Area
- 69,700 km²
People
- Population
- 3.9 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 3.2% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 61.2%
- Aged under 15
- 20.5%
- Aged 65 and over
- 16.0%
- Life expectancy
- 74.7 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$38.1 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$9,692 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 7.46% (2025)
- Inflation
- 3.87% (2025)
Climate
Two main zones: humid subtropical in the west (heaviest rain in autumn) and a transition from humid subtropical to continental in the east, with hot summers and relatively cold winters in the lowlands. Mountains have cool, wet summers and snowy winters.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 for on- and off-premise sales of all beverages (WHO 2018 country profile, status 2016: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profiles/substances-abuse/GEO.pdf)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 14.44 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 18%, wine 43%, spirits 39% (2016)
- Traditional drinks
- Chacha (grape-pomace brandy, about 40% in commercial bottles, up to about 85% homemade)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - Georgia (country); Wikipedia - Chacha (brandy); WHO country profile GEO; PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries: Georgia - other taxes; Georgia Revenue Service: exemption of goods from duties (brochure); National Wine Agency of Georgia (state body); ProWein, Dusseldorf (international wine and spirits fair); Vinoge: Georgian brandy history. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.