Capturing the spirit of plants

I meet Chloe (co-founder) of Loveday at their distillery just as the temperature drops and Cornwall is braced for snow. Our interaction is as warming as one of their cocktails. Chloe is dressed brightly for the season in bold green and yellow hues and focuses intently on the conversation through piercing blue eyes.

The entrepreneur duo and close friends, Chloe and Daisy founded Loveday in 2020 to solve the problem of fussy, sweet, and over-laboured spirits in favour of cleaner, botanical-led profiles with sustainability in mind. They aim to capture the spirit of the plants that are distilled, a living memory preserved at the peak of its freshness.

What did you do before Loveday?

Daisy and I both come from a culinary background. Daisy trained at le Cordon Bleu and made a career working on super yachts all over the Mediterranean.

I started cooking on a beautiful old sailing boat, run by my now husband. We would take guests exploring the west coast of Scotland eating very nice seafood cooked in a tiny galley kitchen, essentially a dinner party every night.

Has this influenced the way you approach distilling?

Absolutely. We focus on the freshest ingredients. We are very much ingredient led. When we devise a new spirit, we focus on a lead botanical. Daisy lovingly extracted and distilled botanicals into a taste library that we rely on as a reference for making new products. For example, our latest gin, The Glas House has Nasturtium as the lead botanical, and this is accentuated by the complexity of Rosemary and Lemon Thyme to deliver verdant, herbaceous, and peppery undertones.

What is it like working with your best friend?

Brilliant. It’s so funny. We have a laugh with each other and read each other’s minds. We have the same taste. It’s a real joy. Our mums were friends long before we were born so you could say ours was a bit of an arranged friendship. Growing up together in Cornwall in the 90’s meant mud pies, den making, picnics, roaming outside all day, camping, bike riding, dressing up, nicking our older sister’s things, bickering over Pokemon cards and boys and learning all the words to the Spice Girls’ hits.

Tell me why sustainability is so important to you?

I think if you are launching a business now it has to be. It’s something that has been core to everything we do but we have only really just started to talk about it recently. From our re-fill scheme to electric vehicles, seaweed seals on our bottles and feeding the residue dunder from our rum to local happy pigs. We have given so much thought to preserving resources and lowering our carbon footprint.

What does the New Year hold for Loveday?

We are looking to find a bigger premises to expand with our growth. We are converting our gin to organic so using up our current stock of ingredients and packaging. We’ve got some exciting collaborations and gift sets coming too. I think that’s enough for us.

Where is the best place to enjoy a Loveday Cocktail in Cornwall?

Wow, so many lovely places. St Michael’s Hotel, Castaways, The Standard in Gerrans, Roseland is a glorious spot in the summer months to enjoy a cocktail.

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs looking to launch a business in 2024?

If your anything like us and get easy distracted by shiny things, make sure you get your unsexy stuff sorted early on. Start with a solid business plan, get your numbers right and a good accountant on board. Make sure you know what problem you’re solving and find your niche.

Last cocktail on earth, what would it be?

It has to be a Negroni. King of cocktails. Equal parts Loveday Gold Organic Rum, Vermouth Rosso, Campari. I like mine served with a wedge of orange.

You can find the full recipe here.