After opening the doors to our new Spirits Shop this spring, we pause to look back on a rich history of bottling spirits at Berry Bros. & Rudd.

If we cast our minds back in time, and think of spirits in England, images of Hogarth’s Gin Lane might spring to mind. Or perhaps, Cornish rum smugglers squirreling away their wares in a cove under darkness.

Our shop at No.3 St James’s Street has witnessed many great tumultuous changes over the centuries: thankfully the gin is much better these days, and you don’t have to solicit a smuggler for a weekend tipple –our new Spirits Shop at No.1 St James’s Street is, in fact, perfectly catered to such needs. As we open the doors to our new store this spring, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the journey up to this point. Let me take you on a bottled history, so to speak, of spirits at Berry Bros. & Rudd.

What do we know?

In February 1944, four German bombs fell between King Street and Pall Mall. Thankfully, our home at No.3 St James’s Street wasn’t destroyed but the impact shook the building (and its people) to the core. Sadly, many of our pre-war records were lost in the ensuing fire on the top floors, and there are many things we’ll never know.

Our earliest existing record referencing a commercial spirit comes from 1853. This is the date of the oldest known Berry Bros. & Rudd own-label cask bottling, relating to a bottle of Scotch whisky. This firmly places us as one of Britain’s oldest independent spirits bottlers, and we still bottle spirits to this day.

In 1854, one year after our first known bottling, George and Henry Berry took the reins at No.3 St James’s Street, after their father’s death. This is when we became “Berry Brothers & Co.”, a name we retained until the Second World War. The business was still very much a grocers at this point, with wine and spirit sales coming on slowly.

In 1896, the last stocks of groceries were sold for good.

As the Berry brothers fostered relationships with the great and good of the era, trading the much-quaffed wines and spirits of the day began to make obvious business sense.

1882

In 1882, the spirits offer was “pretty basic,” says Jon Newman, archivist at Berry Bros. & Rudd. “The annual stock book tells us a few quantities of Scotch and Irish whiskey were offered, but no detail given as to name or quality – except for one Islay. It also confirms that Berry Bros. & Rudd were holding whisky in both bottles and barrels at this date. That was until 1897 when a Glenavon is listed – which became ‘our Glenavon’ in 1902.” In the decades to come, the Berry brothers built a reputation for delectable liquids.

1903

In 1903, King Edward VII’s physician approached us with a task. He was concerned about the King getting cold and potentially ill while out driving his “horseless carriage” – one of his much-loved Daimlers – and wanted the brothers to concoct a warming remedy. Henry is credited with having created the brandy and ginger cordial which we still sell today as The King’s Ginger. Clearly, there was a mastery of spirits in the water at No.3 St James’s.

1907: The impact of Prohibition

By 1907, the market for spirits, particularly whiskies, was gaining significant traction. The company was now producing price lists for customers, like a catalogue of wares, to showcase the range of wines from far-flung places and unusual spirits on offer. Our price list from that year lists such illustrious names as the 1897 Macallan Glenlivet and an 1885 Talisker. Over a century later, we still work closely with both distilleries.

1914

In 1914, Hugh Rudd joined the company, taking the reins alongside Francis Berry (two generations down from the Berry brothers). Meanwhile, across the pond in the USA, the impact of Prohibition was being felt by its people. Smuggling and “whiskey running” were rife, capitalising on alcohol’s scarcity.

1921

In 1921, Francis visited Nassau in the Bahamas where “Berry Brothers” branded spirits were proving very popular. He decided to sell to agents in Nassau and the Berry and Rudd feet were now firmly in the door of the American market. And they knew just what to do next. Francis and Hugh decided the company should produce a light, blended Scotch whisky to cater to the preferences of the day. “It was originally referred to as ‘Scots’ rather than ‘Scotch’ whisky,” says Geordie Willis, our Creative Director, eighth-generation Berry and proud Scotsman.

1923

In 1923, over luncheon in the Parlour at No.3 St James’s Street, Francis and Hugh discussed the idea of a light blended whisky with Scottish artist James McBey, who suggested the name “Cutty Sark” – after the Scottish-built tea clipper. Not only did James conceive a name but he scribbled an illustration of the ship for the bottle’s label on a napkin, there and then. At the point of production, the napkin was sent to the label printers with a request that the final article should “look aged”. In an act of serendipitous error, the labels arrived in that widely recognised, vivid shade of yellow.

Cutty Sark whisky was favoured by Captain William McCoy, a trader working out of the Bahamas and shipping alcohol into international waters. Apocryphal sources have it that he is the eponymous “real McCoy”, and that his association with Cutty Sark led to his name being synonymous with authenticity and quality.

1961: Cutty Sark’s unstoppable voyage

This superlative whisky fuelled Berry Bros. & Rudd’s successes for over 90 years. When Prohibition was repealed, 80,000 cases were exported within the next three years.

In 1961, it became the first Scotch to sell over 12 million bottles in the US market in one year. “Cutty Sark features strongly in our archives, as befits our most successful spirits brand,” says Jon Newman. “Perhaps the most interesting records are a small selection of films of the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race that we sponsored through the 1970s and ’80s, and some period television adverts made in the ’70s for our international market.”

The secret of Cutty Sark’s domestic and international success has often been put down to its smooth, light body and its lack of peat or smoke on the finish – making it perfect to enjoy before dinner with its accompanying Claret.

In 2010, it was sold to our friends at The Edrington Group, where for many years, it sat proudly alongside another famous brand of ours, The Glenrothes. Since then, it has been sold to La Martiniquaise.

2008: The turn of the millennium

With the advent of the new millennium, the gin boom arrived. Far from being a renaissance of the Hogarth-ian days of “mother’s ruin” and anarchy in the streets, it was a revival of the Martini and a new dawn for the elegant, botanical spirit. And we couldn’t let a piece of the gin pie pass us by.

In 2008, then-Chairman Simon Berry challenged the Spirits Team at Berry Bros. & Rudd to create “the world’s best gin”. Our No.3 Gin was born. Made for us by De Kuyper distillery near Rotterdam, it is crafted to be enjoyed in a cocktail, particularly the classic Martini. Since then, it has won top awards at the International Spirits Challenge no fewer than four times.

More recently, we have launched our Own Selection flavoured gins, our Classic Range of spirits (including whiskies and rums) and our Perspective Series of exclusive Scotch whisky bottlings. We work with some of the world’s most innovative distilleries and creators and seek out those well-hidden gems.

2024

In 2024, as we open the doors of our first dedicated Spirits Shop at No.1 St James’s Street, a new age of collecting and enjoying spirits is upon us. “It is the piece of the jigsaw that completes our property, and a statement on how seriously we take fine spirits,” Geordie tells me. He has been involved with the project throughout, working with architects Mowat & Co, interior decorators Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler and the building firm EC1. Of Mowat & Co, Geordie says, “They’re a fantastic team and were also behind our wine shop at 63 Pall Mall, which opened its doors in 2017. It’s never straightforward working with historic buildings, but our intention has always been to work with the site rather than against it. It’s been great fun.”

We look forward to introducing new collectors to the magic of spirits, and sharing our centuries of knowledge on all things spiritous. From No.3 St James’s Street to No.1, by way of Scotland, the Bahamas and Dutch gin producers – where will this adventure lead us to next?