No.3 London Dry Gin

The first review for 2015 and I’ve chosen to kick off with No.3 London Dry Gin.

Before you ask “What happened to 1 and 2”, the No. 3 refers to the address of Berry Bros. & Rudd, London’s oldest wine and spirit merchant. Simon Berry, the 8th generation to work in the family business, launched No.3 in 2012, to a Berry Bros. recipe. His aim was to create a gin that would create the perfect Dry Martini.

Simon has an incredible pedigree in the wine world (he is Clerk of the Royal Cellars and wine merchant to the Prince of Wales) but brought in gin expert Dr. David Clutton to develop No.3 London Dry Gin from the original recipe. The gin is distilled in Holland by De Kuyper Royal Distillers (yes, the liqueur producers) using traditional pot stills.

The list of botanicals is short and sweet; juniper, orange and grapefruit peel, angelica, coriander and cardamom. Other botanicals and ingredients are considered a “distraction”.

On the nose it’s fresh and citrussy with pine notes of the juniper also detectable. On tasting neat, the freshness of the citrus comes through immediately. The flavour of piney juniper is followed by a warm spicy, peppery notes from the coriander and cardamom.

But what you really want to know is, “Is this the perfect gin for a Dry Martini?.

It would have to be close to perfection, there is no doubt. Clean and fresh, the zesty notes of the citrus in the No. 3 London Dry Gin worked extremely well in my martini. (I made a 3:1 martini with Noilly Prat and a twist). For lovers of dry martinis this gin would have to rate high on the “must-try” list.