Sack: The Hotel Bar Bringing Sherry Back

'Jamon In', says the sign outside Sack. 'Have a sherry good time.'

This is our first sherry bar. We're not anti, just apprehensive. But you can't argue with those puns. Or the promise of jamon.

Sack is on the ground floor of the Napoleon Hotel, an odd, one-room beauty where the bars outnumber the bedrooms three-to-one. The decor's bodega-inspired, all sun-faded barrel-top tables and candlelight. And the drinks menu is: sherry.

Alright, that's exaggerating slightly. Sherry sceptics are catered for — Estrella on tap, poured in Mediterranean smaller serves. A couple of token spirits behind the bar, for the unpersuadable. But mostly, it's sherry.

There's a cocktail list featuring sherry-based versions of classics: the Ole Fashioned with bourbon, bitters and Palo Cortado, the Tio Collins with Fino, elderflower and lemonade. Those act as a gateway drug into the neat stuff. It's not long until we're propping the bar up with samples ranging from flinty and crisp to figgy and treacle-thick.

We're surprised by how many of them we're into. It probably helps that our bartender's both fiercely enthusiastic about sherry and totally on-point when it comes to recommendations for novices. Several samples, a handful of salted almonds and a lot of education later and they're right. We've had a sherry good time.

Sack Bar, 9 Christopher Street, EC2A 2BS.