No.3 London Dry Gin by Berry Bros. & Rudd 750ml

No.3 London Dry Gin was built on a specific and entirely achievable ambition: to make gin as it should be. Not gin as it had become in the hands of mass-market producers, or gin as it was being reinvented by the craft movement's botanical experiments, but gin in its most distilled classical form — juniper, citrus, and spice in perfect balance, produced with the precision and patience that only a house with three centuries of wine and spirits expertise brings to the task.

Berry Bros. & Rudd has occupied No.3 St. James's Street in London since 1698 — making it Britain's oldest wine and spirits merchant, a house that has supplied the royal family for generations and that brings to gin the same standards it applies to selecting a first-growth Bordeaux. When they set out to create their house gin, they spent two full years on development, enlisted Dr. David Clutton — the only person in the world with a PhD in gin — alongside leading mixologists, and refined a recipe from scratch rather than inheriting one. The result was No.3, bottled at 46% ABV for the expressly stated reason that 46% is the proof at which the six botanicals perform most completely in a cocktail.

The award record is unambiguous: World's Best Gin at the International Spirits Challenge in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2019 — the only gin ever to win that title four times. First gin ever to win the Global Spirits Championship. 92 Points from Wine Enthusiast. 93 Points from the IWSC. Richard Godwin of The Times named it his favorite gin of 2024, calling it "soft but steely, elegant but punchy." Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown of the Museum of the American Cocktail described "a harmonic balance that opens in proper gin tradition with soft sweet pine, supported with clementine notes, a hint of chai and a very clean dry finish."

This is the Martini gin. This is the benchmark.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Berry Bros. & Rudd was established at No.3 St. James's Street, London in 1698 — a shop that has operated continuously at the same address for over 325 years, supplying wine and spirits to the British royal family, the aristocracy, and discerning customers across the world. The name of the gin is its address. The key on the bottle's label is a literal rendering of the key that unlocks the parlour door at the heart of the shop — a symbol of entry into three centuries of expertise and tradition.

When Berry Bros. & Rudd set out to create No.3, they made a deliberate decision to distil it in Holland rather than England — the birthplace of gin, where the genever tradition that gave birth to the entire London Dry style originated, and where a family-owned distillery with over 300 years of its own history operates the 100-year-old brick-encased copper pot still in which No.3 is produced. That decision was both philosophical and practical: Holland's gin distilling heritage predates England's, and the specific copper pot still at the Dutch distillery produces a spirit of a character that no modern column still or newer pot still can replicate.

The botanical recipe was the product of two years of rigorous development and was deliberately limited to six — three fruits and three spices — chosen because each contributes a distinct, clearly identifiable character without overlap or redundancy, and because fewer botanicals allow each one to be heard individually rather than merging into an indistinct complexity. The six: Italian juniper berries — the foundation of all London Dry gin, providing pine and lavender; Spanish sweet orange peel — clean, crisp citrus freshness; grapefruit peel — an extra zingy citrus lift; angelica root — earthiness and dryness; Moroccan coriander seed — lemon flavor and peppery spice; cardamom pods — aromatic warmth and exotic spice.

Each botanical is weighed out precisely and steeped for over 16 hours in ultra-pure grain spirit before a distillation of over seven hours. The Master Distiller collects only the heart of the distillate — the precise cut that carries the optimal expression of all six botanicals — and the gin is triple-checked before bottling at 46% ABV. The 46% proof was chosen specifically: the distillery found through extensive testing that 46% is the optimal bottling strength for the six-botanical recipe, delivering the full botanical character across every cocktail format without the alcohol dominating the more delicate aromatics.

Critics Reviews

International Spirits Challenge — World's Best Gin (2012, 2013, 2015, 2019) The only gin in history to have won the title four times — and the first gin ever to win the Global Spirits Championship. Confirmation from the world's most rigorous spirits judging panel that No.3 is objectively the finest traditional London Dry gin produced.

IWSC — 93 Points "A delicate fragrant gin, with aromas and flavors of juniper and coriander." — International Wine & Spirits Competition 2021.

Wine Enthusiast — 92 Points "Fresh and aromatic, this traditional London dry style gin offers juniper, coriander, grapefruit peel and anise notes. Versatile and well suited for making gin and tonics."

The Times (Richard Godwin) — Best Gins to Buy 2024 "I don't like to choose — I love all my children — but No.3, the house gin of the venerable vintners Berry Bros. and Rudd, may just be my favourite. It's soft but steely, elegant but punchy, and it puts everything on a nice slant."

Museum of the American Cocktail (Anistatia Miller & Jared Brown) "A harmonic balance opens in proper gin tradition with soft sweet pine, supported with clementine notes, a hint of chai and a very clean dry finish."

Artisan Wines & Spirits "Each botanical is expressed articulately, with peppercorn, cumin and salt notes supporting the juniper. A creamy, savory, and very nice gin." — "A juniper-forward nose with some hints of spice, followed by a big and robust palate of sweet citrus, almost like limoncello. Well rounded, with a lasting citrus finish."

Tasting Profile

Nose Clean, immediately classic, and precisely structured — No.3's six-botanical clarity is apparent from the first approach. Juniper leads with an assertive, piney, slightly lavender-inflected quality that announces this as a serious, juniper-forward London Dry without hesitation. Soft sweet orange and grapefruit peel add a bright, clean citrus freshness alongside — orange contributing a rounded, slightly sweet lift and grapefruit adding the zingy, slightly bitter dimension that balances the sweetness. Coriander's lemon-citrus and peppery spice threads through the fruit notes, adding aromatics and structural complexity. Cardamom's warm, slightly exotic spice note adds depth alongside the angelica root's subtle earthiness — rooting the whole aromatic picture in something dry and grown-up rather than purely sweet. The overall impression is of a nose that delivers more than its six botanical count suggests: each botanical is individually distinguishable and each contributes precisely what it was selected to contribute.

Palate Juniper leads strongly — unrelenting in its piney presence — before the other five botanicals each leave their individual mark in sequence. Orange softens the juniper's assertiveness with a lightly sweet citrus quality. Angelica root delivers an earthy quality that works with cardamom's herbal pungency to give the gin its characteristically dry, savory backbone. Grapefruit and coriander carry peppery spice forward through the mid-palate — a building warmth that the Rum Howler calls "a fierce roar of spiciness" at the finish. A light lemony balsam flavour is interwoven throughout, and a subtle anise quality appears and disappears with each sip. The Artisan Wines & Spirits description of "a big and robust palate of sweet citrus, almost like limoncello" is apt for the citrus-forward impression — balanced immediately by the dry, earthy botanical backbone. The mouthfeel is rich and slightly creamy for a 46% gin — the 100-year-old copper pot still's contribution apparent in the spirit's texture.

Finish Long, dry, and spice-driven. The peppery, spiced quality from the coriander and cardamom leads the close with genuine persistence — a "fierce roar of spiciness" as one reviewer described — gradually softening into the angelica root's characteristic dry, slightly earthy finish that defines the best traditional London Dry gins. Grapefruit pith adds a pleasant bitter note at the very close. The finish is considerably longer than most London Dry gins at this proof — the six-botanical balance sustaining aromatic complexity well past the swallow before fading into a clean, crisp, classically dry conclusion.

Quick Overview

Serving & Occasion

The brand's own stated philosophy is that No.3 was designed to perform perfectly in three formats: the Gin & Tonic, the Martini, and the Negroni — and multiple critics confirm all three. The Martini is where No.3's juniper-forward profile and spiced dryness most fully express themselves; Berry Bros. & Rudd describe it as "gin as it should be in a Martini." The G&T with a light tonic and fresh herb garnish is the everyday signature serve. The Negroni is where the cardamom and grapefruit depth contribute a complexity beyond what simpler London Dry gins deliver. At 46% ABV the gin holds its character completely through any cocktail format — the specific proof at which the recipe was confirmed to perform optimally by the development team.

Cocktail Suggestions

The No.3 Martini (the definitive serve — what No.3 was built for) 2.5 oz No.3 London Dry Gin · ½ oz dry vermouth · lemon twist. Stirred over ice with precision, served up in a chilled crystal coupe. Berry Bros. & Rudd describe the Martini as the format that demonstrates No.3's purpose most clearly — the juniper's assertive pine, the grapefruit's bitter citrus lift, and the cardamom's spiced warmth producing a Martini of genuine architectural complexity and long, dry finish. Richard Godwin of The Times describes No.3 as "soft but steely, elegant but punchy" — qualities that the Martini format showcases most completely.

No.3 Gin & Tonic (the everyday signature) 2 oz No.3 London Dry Gin · premium Indian tonic · thin slice of grapefruit or fresh herb garnish. Built over a large ice cube in a Copa de Balon glass. The grapefruit peel botanical in the gin mirrors and amplifies a grapefruit garnish beautifully — a single thin slice is all that's needed. Light tonic allows the six-botanical balance to speak clearly rather than being suppressed by excessive sweetness or carbonation.

No.3 Negroni 1 oz No.3 London Dry Gin · 1 oz Campari · 1 oz sweet vermouth · orange twist. Stirred over ice, served in a rocks glass over a large cube. The cardamom's exotic warmth and the grapefruit's bitter citrus character make No.3 an outstanding Negroni base — the gin's dryness and spice adding complexity and depth that bridges Campari's bitterness and vermouth's sweetness with unusual coherence.

Gimlet 2 oz No.3 London Dry Gin · ¾ oz fresh lime juice · ½ oz simple syrup. Shaken over ice, served up. The 46% ABV holds up to fresh lime with complete botanical presence — the juniper's pine and the coriander's peppery lemon amplifying the citrus in a Gimlet of unusual structure and length.

French 75 1.5 oz No.3 London Dry Gin · ¾ oz fresh lemon juice · ½ oz simple syrup · chilled Champagne. Built in a Champagne flute. The grapefruit and orange botanicals carry through the Champagne format with a vivid, slightly bitter citrus character that is more interesting and more distinctive than less botanically assertive gins deliver in this classic cocktail.

Bee's Knees 2 oz No.3 London Dry Gin · ¾ oz fresh lemon juice · ¾ oz honey syrup. Shaken hard over ice, served up in a chilled coupe. The honey echoes the cardamom's natural warmth — lemon amplifies the coriander's lemon-citrus character — and the result is a Bee's Knees of unusual aromatic depth where the six botanicals contribute individually and collectively to a cocktail far more complex than three ingredients have any right to produce.