According to the founding tale, Wing Commander Montgomery “Monty” Collins of the Royal Air Force – watch lover, cricket enthusiast, and globetrotter – was said to have been posted to the British sector of divided Berlin. Son of a British diplomat, born in Madras, Collins showed a knack for languages, learning no fewer than five – including German.

Supposedly, after arriving in Berlin following the war, Collins was profoundly affected by the capital’s destruction and devoted himself to the reconstruction of the Berlin Zoo, where he sponsored an egret monkey named Max.

The story continues that Collins left the Royal Air Force and, after a failed attempt at watchmaking, opened a guesthouse in the Black Forest called “Zum wilden Affen” in honor of Max. As a British gentleman, he kept certain traditions – chief among them a good glass of gin. With juniper, pure water, and local botanicals at hand, Collins created the basis for a unique Black Forest Gin recipe.

The tale trails off in the early 1960s – until, around the turn of the century, renovation work at the guesthouse uncovered a wooden box with a hand-labelled bottle inscribed “Max the Monkey – Schwarzwald Dry Gin” and a letter containing notes, photographs, and a description of the botanicals Collins was said to have used.