This past Thursday, Berry Bros. and Rudd, London purveyors of fine spirits and now part owners of Anchor Brewing, released two new spirits at Bourbon and Branch. In the dim lighting of the pseudo-speakeasy, they unveiled their new No.3 London Dry Gin as well as their King’s Ginger liqueur.

David King, the creator of both distillations, was on hand to explain the process of developing — or as he likes to say, “curating” — the new products. The gin, named for the company’s address in London (3 St. James’s Street), harkens back to the days of 1698 when Berry Bros. first began distilling gin. “I wanted to create the gin we would have made 250 years ago,” said King between sips of his preferred cocktail, the classic Negroni.

While many of today’s gins tout the abundant number of botanicals in their concoctions, No.3 is proud to be made with only six ingredients that would have been plentiful in Europe centuries ago — three fruits and three spices, including coriander, plenty of grapefruit peel, and, of course, juniper.

“It’s different from most London dry gins,” said Bourbon and Branch bartender Tony Devencenzi. “It plays more to the rose peel side. The juniper doesn’t overwhelm as others can.”

While the flavor of gin may have changed over the years, the story behind the King’s Ginger liqueur is even more telling of how times have changed. Just now being made available to the public, the liqueur is based off a recipe that Berry Bros. developed exclusively for the Royal Family in 1903. Back then King Edward VII — a notorious playboy — was tooling around town in one of the first ever convertibles. And the Royal doctor, worried that his ward would catch his death of cold, came to Berry Bros. and said (more or less), “Look, the King’s driving through the fog in this open-top horseless carriage and we’ve got to keep him warm. So you’ve got to distill something for him to drink while he’s driving. For his health.”

What they came up with is a delicious blend of ginger, lemon, sugar, and pure alcohol as smooth as a ginger beer. And at 82 proof, it also packs a kick. It was particularly enjoyable in one of the release party’s featured cocktails, the Rusty Tack, made of equal parts liqueur and Scotch. The tang and citrus of the ginger and lemon were followed by smokiness from the peat, each flavor washing the other down evenly.

We at Drink Me look forward to future unveilings from this new partnership between San Francisco’s oldest brewery and London’s oldest wine and spirit merchant.