At Distil (the spirits part of the International Wine Show at Excel) the other day BarLifeUK was on the hunt for the next new thing in the world of liquid joy. With the seemingly nonstop amount of new gins being launched at the moment you can forgive our slight reservation when Nick Worthington from Inspirit Brands collared us and suggested we try the new gin from Berry Bros & Rudd – No.3 London Dry Gin.
Well just for you dear readers we decided to give it a go and for that we have to thank you as it was an all round lovely experience! It seems to be the trend recently to use as many botanicals as possible in your gin to give it ‘flavour’ (which let’s be honest doesn’t always work) but with No.3 they have definitely take the less is more approach. In fact they have used just 3 fruits and 3 spices in the gin which is then distilled in traditional copper pot stills. What are they? Well they’re Juniper, Orange peel, Angelica root, Coriander seed, Grapefruit peel and Cardamom pods.
On top of it tasting great the bottle is bound to get some of your customers intrigued with a key being inset into the green glass. The key (we were informed) was inspired by the key used to open the door to The Parlour, a room at the home of Berry Bros. & Rudd since 1698, which has had diners such as Lord Byron, William Pitt and Napoleon III in it – don’t you know!
So it tastes good, looks good and has the obligatory story to accompany a new gin these days but how is it best served? Well the suggested serve by Inspirit Brands is a Classic Dry Martini with a twist of Amalfi lemon which we have no doubt would be excellent. Elsewhere Nick Wykes from IPB suggests it would make a very nice Gimlet with a Grapefruit twist and Stuart Fitz over at LAB Bar leans towards an Aviation. Us? Well when our bottle arrives we will do some serious research and let you know!
No.3 London Dry Gin is produced by Berry Bros. & Rudd and distributed through Inspirit Brands in the UK.