Discovering bourbon on Brick Lane

When I was stationed in Kentucky I never drank bourbon. It wasn’t until I came to London that the drink became something special to me. I always passed a bowling alley on Brick Lane with fluorescent lights and unmarked taxis waiting by the door. One night they had two for one drinks, so I went inside. It was just as I suspected: clattering pins and certified drunks. But the barman, Mike, loved bourbon.

‘People here only have this with Coke,’ he lamented, and snuck a drink from a small tumbler without ice or water. Booker’s, an uncut, small-batch bourbon made by Jim Beam, was his choice. But behind him on the shelves there were about 20 other options.

Bourbon takes its name from Bourbon County, Kentucky, and many distilleries are based in the hills of the Bluegrass region in the northern corner of the state. By law, bourbon must be distilled in the US and made from a grain mixture that is at least 51 per cent corn.