Jensen’s Bermondsey Dry Gin                        

Founder Christian Jensen became obsessed with making finely balanced gin from traditional botanicals after tasting vintage gins from London’s lost distilleries. Jensen’s gin is made in Bermondsey in small batches, using techniques and ingredients religiously loyal to ‘the old ways’. Its Bermondsey Dry gin is a recreation of a classic London Dry style, and its smooth, delicate floral and citrus notes work perfectly in a dry martini.

70cl, £26.55, available at thewhiskyexchange.com; bermondseygin.com

Sacred Organic Sloe Gin

In 2008, Ian Hart decided to make it his mission to reinvent small batch distillation in the city, with a particular focus on quality. In order to preserve the richness of flavour and botanical aromas of his gin, he decided to use vacuum distillation, rather than traditional pot distillation. Sacred’s organic sloe gin is the perfect winter warmer, either splashed into sparkling wine or on its own in a hip flask. Sloe berries are steeped in gin for two and a half years, with the concoction given an extra kick of juniper before bottling, offering an intriguing burst of aroma.
70cl, £33.95; sacredgin.com

ELLC Premium Batch No.1 Gin

The first whisky, gin and vodka distillery in East London – the city’s historic home of distilling – in over 100 years, ELLC aims to reignite the industry back at its roots. The company’s Premium Batch gins offer exciting aromatic variations on the classic recipe. Made with 100% wheat spirits combined with botanical infusions of juniper berries, grapefruit peel and Darjeeling tea (among many others), Batch 1 is a complex and captivating tipple.

70cl, £30.95, available at masterofmalt.com

Portobello Road Gin Director’s Cut No. 4 ‘A Parsnip In A Pear Tree’

Portobello Road Gin is the brainchild of friends Ged, Jake, Paul and Tom. Five years ago, gathered above a 19^th-century drinking den on the famous London thoroughfare, they had collected a huge number of gin and alcoholic artefacts, which came to form what they called the ‘Ginstitute’. After nine months of experimentation, with their little copper-pot still nicknamed ‘Copernicus the Second’, they conceived Portobello Road Gin. Their most recent fabulous concoction is called ‘Parsnip In A Pear Tree’ and takes festive cues from honey roast parsnips and spiced pear liqueur. The sweet, complex and warming result of these seasonal ingredients combined with traditional gin botanicals from all over the world is a true Christmas miracle.

70cl, £39; portobelloroadgin.com

City of London Distillery Six Bells Lemon Gin

The only gin distillery in London’s ‘Square Mile’ and the first in the area for over 200 years, the City of London Distillery (COLD) boasts a plethora of multi-award-winning gins. Its new Six Bells Lemon Gin is named after the six bells surrounding the City of London in the traditional nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons. It has notes of lemon sherbet and the familiar aromatic flavours associated with a classic dry gin. These characteristics make it perfect for creating a sharp and citrusy gin and tonic.

70cl, £35; cityoflondondistillery.com