Clerkenwell Gin Bar Tasting Night Picker on the Old Wells

Isla is training as a distiller in Scotland, and when she came to London for a week she had one evening she refused to give up. She wanted to see where London Dry gin grew up, then taste it in the same streets. That meant Clerkenwell, the old district of springs and wells just north of the City, where several of the great London gin houses once ran their stills. Here is how she spent the night, and how you can borrow her plan for a gin tasting evening with a little history in every glass.

Clerkenwell takes its name from a well. Long before it was known for jewellers, printers and design studios, this hillside above the River Fleet was full of springs, and the clean water drew brewers and distillers. When gin became London's spirit, several of the names that later defined the London Dry style set up here, close to the water they needed.

You can still see the source of the name. On Farringdon Lane, a window at street level looks down onto the Clerk's Well, the old spring that gave the area its name. It is easy to walk past, which is part of its charm. Isla stood there for a few minutes before any gin was poured, because it made the rest of the evening feel connected.

A little further north, Sadler's Wells theatre carries the name of another spring that once drew Londoners out to drink the water and enjoy the gardens around it. Walking between the two gives you the shape of old Clerkenwell in under twenty minutes.

Before you sit down at a bar, it helps to know what you are tasting for. London Dry is a method rather than a place. The flavour comes from botanicals distilled together with the spirit, and nothing sweet is added afterwards, so the gin tastes crisp and dry. Juniper leads, usually with coriander seed, citrus peel and roots like angelica holding everything together.

Isla described it in terms she uses at work: a London Dry should taste like a straight line. Other styles can wander into flowers, fruit or spice, but a classic London Dry gets to the point. That is why it is the ideal centre for a tasting flight. Once you know the straight line, you can taste exactly how far other gins bend away from it.

Clerkenwell has a mix of old pubs, wine bars and cocktail rooms, and many of them carry a good gin list because of the area's history. For a tasting night, Isla looked for three things: counter seats, a menu that groups gins by style, and staff who could make a proper martini without being asked twice.

Weeknights suit this district well. The office crowd from nearby Farringdon thins out by mid evening, and the quieter bars become relaxed places to talk to a bartender. If you are not sure where to start, ask the Karpo APP for gin bars or cocktail bars near Clerkenwell Green with counter seating, and pick one that sounds calm rather than loud.

Isla also told the bartender why she had come. Saying that you want to taste London Dry side by side, and that you are interested in the area's distilling past, changes the conversation. Staff often have a favourite story about the neighbourhood or a bottle they keep for people who ask good questions. She left with two recommendations for other bars and a much clearer sense of how London gin is made today.

Isla asked for three small neat pours, all London Dry but from different makers. Tasted side by side, the differences are clearer than most people expect. One leaned heavily on juniper and pine. One was brighter, with lemon and orange peel up front. One was rounder and almost earthy, with roots and spice taking a bigger role.

She tasted each one in the same order: nose, then a small sip, then a drop of water and a second sip. The water matters. It softens the alcohol and lets the botanicals come forward, so the second sip often tells you more than the first.

Then she asked the bartender to make two drinks from her favourite: a classic gin and tonic with a dry tonic and a twist of grapefruit, and a very cold dry martini with lemon. Comparing the long drink with the short one showed her which qualities survived the tonic and which only appeared when the gin was cold and nearly undiluted.

If you are not a distiller, you can still play the same game. Write down one word for each neat gin, then see whether that word still fits once the tonic goes in.

Isla's walk started at St John's Gate, the stone Tudor gatehouse that once marked the entrance to the priory of the Knights Hospitaller. It still spans the narrow street, and at dusk it looks like a stage set. From there it is a short stroll to Clerkenwell Green, a sloping square ringed by old buildings that has been a meeting point for centuries.

From the Green she wandered down to the window over the Clerk's Well, then up towards Exmouth Market, a short pedestrian street of small restaurants and cafes that comes alive in the evening. Eating something here between the neat flight and the cocktails is a smart move, and the market's tables make a pleasant pause before heading back to the bar.

If it is raining, shorten the loop to the Gate and the Green, then go straight to your bar and order a glass of water while you dry off.

Once you have tasted London Dry carefully, other styles become easier to understand. A second night might set a classic London Dry beside a sweeter Old Tom style, a softer Plymouth style and a modern gin built around one bold botanical. Clerkenwell is a good base for that too, because so many of its bars treat gin as part of the neighbourhood's story rather than a trend.

Isla's own notes from the night went back to Scotland with her. The clearest lesson was how much a single botanical changes the whole spirit, and how the water and the method behind a London Dry give it that clean line. You do not need a distilling course to notice the same things; you only need three small glasses and a slow evening.

Keep the habits that made Isla's evening work: small neat pours, water, food in the middle and one or two drinks built around your favourite. Use the Karpo APP to find gin bars near you that offer flights or tasting pours, and bring a friend who has never stood over a well in the middle of London and thought about where their gin came from.