The Worshipful Company of Distillers was established in 1638. The author recounts the origins of the distilling industry, the early difficulties in founding a Livery Company, interrupted by the Civil War, and its subsequent rise to prominence when gin became the Londoners' favourite drink. Always closely bound up with the commercial distilling industry, the Company has survived through more than three centuries of involvement in the civic life of the City of London and, unlike many other Livery Companies, the close association with its trade still survives today.