Top three: Sours

Kentish Canteen Shebeen

A shebeen is an Irish speakeasy and here you can sample poitín, a highly alcoholic moonshine that was illegal in Ireland for centuries. Or play it safe and stick to a Sours cocktail (made with your choice of spirit shaken with lemon, sugar, egg white and bitters). If you make it for happy hour, it’s just £5.

300 Kentish Town Road, NW5 (020 7485 7331; kentishcanteen.com/shebeen)

5CC at the Exmouth arms

Hidden above a normal-looking pub, this cool bar is all vintage furniture, glassware and liquor — it’s stocked with discontinued or hard-to-find booze. The Honey Sour, made with a bourbon-honey liqueur, is sweet but balanced, while the summery Pear and Ginger Sour is refreshing and dangerously moreish (from £9).

23 Exmouth Market, EC1 (020 3664 6454; 5cc-london.com)

Reverend JW Simpson

Blink and you’ll miss this stripped-back space, but the drinks here are always classy. The cocktail list mixes classics with newer inventions. The Flower Sour is particularly good: gin with lemon, violet liqueur, rosewater, elderflower and egg white. Or go for a New York Sour: bourbon, sugar, egg white and wine (£8.50). Must book.

32 Goodge Street, W1 (020 3174 1155; revjwsimpson.com)