It was history in the making for Broken Clock as we stirred up some "awfully english" vodka martinis at Berry Bros & Rudd's first-ever late-night cocktail event in their rather splendid new spirits shop.
Established in 1698, Berry Bros & Rudd is Britain's oldest wine and spirits merchant, counting a host of famous names in its sales ledgers as well acting as the official vintner for the English royal family since the reign of King George III.
It was around this time that Berry Bros came up with a somewhat novel marketing idea, inviting customers to visit their St James' address and to weigh themselves using their enormous set of vintner's scales.
Nobility, heads of state, poets, actors and celebrities flocked to the London shop to have their vital statistics recorded in The Berry Bros Weight Book and it's even recorded in 1822 that Georgian-era dandy Beau Brumell snuck back secretly to London to record his weight having fled to France six years earlier to escape the debtor's prison.
And two centuries later a similarly illustrious and discerning crowd attended the St James's store for Berry Bros' inaugural cocktail evening where the biggest thing guests needed to weigh up was whether they wanted their Broken Clock vodka martini wet or dry or with lemon peel or olive.
