INSPIRING WOMEN- LOVEDAY GIN
This Month of August we are so thrilled to have visited LOVEDAY Distillery. Owned and ran by the beautiful women that are Chloe and Daisy. In their own words; "Loveday is the work of old friends more than a little bit obsessed with flavour and with two decades of culinary & design experience, on an eternal search for beautiful, vibrant new things to sip on."
We spent a sunny morning with them at their distillery in Penryn, Cornwall. We were introduced to all the behind the scenes of this small batch distillery. The "Flavour" Library was a highlight, very much like the science lab for two creative and passionate gin makers! We chatted all things running a small business and the pride we feel to be in a community were women uplift and support each other.
What a real pleasure to watch this business flourish!
Exciting announcement...
We are over the moon to be collaborating with the wonderful LOVEDAY gin girls for our Autumnal Celebrations on the 9th September. We welcome you to have a drink, browse our latest collections and spend time amongst warm, loving and inspiring women.
Tell us a bit more about yourselves and wonderful LOVEDAY...
We are old friends obsessed with flavour and with two decades of culinary & design experience, on an eternal search for beautiful, vibrant new things to sip on.
We've brought Loveday slowly to life since 2020 over lockdowns, babies, coffee, sea swims and G&Ts in lovely Penryn.
We were a bit stumped by a barrage of sickly, overpowering flavour profiles, and tired of fussy, samey branding that seems preoccupied with telling women ‘IT’S GIN O’CLOCK!’ and really felt like there was room for spirits that feel modern, pared back, elegant and, you know, really bloody delicious. Made properly and sustainably using fresh and foraged ingredients with enjoyment in mind - unhurried get-togethers with favourite company and a glass of something darn good in hand is how we love to serve Loveday.
We have three gins to our name and in July this year finally released our made from scratch, organic, oak aged rums, and still cant quite believe we get to call this our job.
Daisy is the distiller and flavour department, and Chloe makes everything look and sound good (artwork, labels, branding etc)
What an absolute force you both are as a working duo... Whats your favourite thing about each other?
We've known each other so long we can read each others minds! so things can move quickly and making decisions comes fairly quickly and easily. We have the same taste and always make time for a lark which makes running loveday together a bit of a joy to do. (We even gave the same answer to this question so this is our joint answer!) Oh and we get to hang out with our best pal every day.
How does Cornwall inspire you?
Daisy- The thing that inspires me the most about Cornwall is the amount of brilliant small businesses, so many of them run by these incredibly creative women. It's a place of both jaw droppingly beautiful landscapes and a lack of industry opportunities, both of which culminate to produce this hot spot of art and ingenuity.
Chloe- The landscape for a start is just unbelievable, and like Daisy said, it's brilliant being surrounded by so many other small but mighty businesses.
Talk us through a dream cocktail party of yours...guests (dead or alive!) and menu...
Chloe- Some kind of beautiful outdoor space where you set up in a clifftop field overlooking the sea, the table covered with candelabras, miles of fairy lights, vintage table linen, flowers galore. (more is more) Everyone is dressed up to the nines, live music serenading us all, the menu is platters of seafood, hunks of bread- joyful, simple but beautifully made things to pass around. I'd invite Florence Pugh, Margot Robbie and Adele because they all seem like they'd be hilarious two negronis down.
Daisy- I mean it's hard to top that description- you can tell who the visuals department is can't you. Basically what Chloe said and I would invite Angela Hartnett and Nigella Lawson. I always remember listening to Nigella's desert Island discs and her favourite track is Yeke, Yeke by Mary Kante. I want that on at the end of the night so Nigella kicks her heels off and starts dancing.
What so far has been your proudest moment and where do you envision your brand in 5 years?
Daisy- Winning a Gold Outstanding at IWSC, which is basically the Oscars of the booze world. We were in the top 5 in the UK and Forbes named us as one of the top 20 gins in the world. In five years I would love for us to be in a space where we can welcome our community in even more, with events, workshops with local artists and makers and live music.
Chloe-The thing I'm most proud of has been releasing our organic rum... finally! Particularly the limited edition boxes for the first-cast bottles which include original lino prints, feels like a culmination of everything I've learnt creating this brand. I would love in 5 years to have the bigger, busier space that Daisy described, with an outside space that includes a garden growing ingredients for distillations and garnishes for our cocktail bar. I'd love for us to have a distilling apprenticeship programme running too.
Whats on the menu? A gin and a rum cocktail recipe?
Daisy- Lara, your favourite cocktail is a Margarita so I'll be making a riff on that using our gorgeous Gold Rum to make a smoky Daquiri.
Chloe- One that keeps things local with two of our favourite Cornish drinks companies: Knightor Vermouth and Wavelength Ruby Aperitif. These plus our Golden hour gin and a slice of grapefruit makes the most incredible Cornish Negroni
Daisy wears The Morwenna Dress and Chloe wears The Harriet blouse in Cumin.
You can find LOVEDAY's website here
Photos by Imogen Rosemary Photography