High-fives to St Ives’ new drinks scene

Something about the seaside town of St Ives makes you feel giddy, even before you’ve had a drink. The sparkling light, the intense blues and whites, the cobbled lanes, palms and ancient fields give this fishing port on Cornwall’s north coast an almost dreamlike quality. It’s a trait that has attracted generations of artists, writers and craftsmen to the county – and now it’s attracting a new generation of exciting drinks-smiths too.

Howl & Loer is a new micro-distillery making spirits from some of England’s most traditional plants – burdock, yarrow, hyssop, herb bennet, sweet cicely. The distillery, whose name translates from Cornish as “sun and moon”, is the work of three, including two well-known faces on London’s hospitality scene. Will Besant was formerly distiller at Portobello Road Gin; his brother Leo was restaurant manager of Tomos Parry’s restaurant Brat. The company’s other co-founder is local boy Josh Quick, a botanist and forager with a tumble of brown curls. “For so long, in distilling, it’s been about a search for the exotic,” says Will. “We felt it was time to revisit all the forgotten plants.”

Howl & Loer Hogweed Seed Botanical Spirit #1, £39.50

St Ives Farmhouse cider, £3.50

Howl & Loer grow all their botanicals in a three-acre plot near Land’s End; a location we reach – in suitably surreal fashion – by travelling cross-country on the local open-topped double-decker bus. Here, among fields farmed since the Bronze Age, Josh cultivates dozens of different plants, which they distil back in St Ives with apple spirit from Somerset Cider Brandy, the distillery and orchard belonging to fashion designer Alice Temperley’s father Julian. I taste distillates of sage-y wormwood and cucumber-y salad-burnett; lovage, with its notes of celery and black pepper; and Granadian orange mint. Mugwort tastes, appealingly, like an old-fashioned men’s cologne; sweet cicely is piercingly sweet, like Black Jacks and anise.

I came to St Ives and basically never went home

Their debut release, a hogweed spirit, has notes of scented wax, green almond and pine (£39.50). Next is costmary, a minty, balsamic herb that Josh tells me was used in medieval times to bitter beer, like hops. “Its aromatic leaves were also used as bookmarks so it was known as ‘bible leaf’.” These spirits are best enjoyed in a similar way to an eau-de-vie or gin. You can find them at Rochelle Canteen, Brat, Silo and Tayēr + Elementary.

Just next door to Howl & Loer is St Ives Cider, winner of World’s Best Still Cider at the 2021 World Cider Awards. Co-founder David Berwick was formerly a winemaker in Suffolk: “Then I came to St Ives, drawn by its festival feel, and basically never went home. I realised there were all these stunning forgotten orchards around here where the apples were not being used.” His thirst-slaking Farmhouse cider picked up the World’s Best Still Cider accolade.

If you’re more in the market for cocktails, head to the small-but-perfectly-formed Little Palais. Launched during lockdown by local Jess Sampson and her partner Richard Crossan (Hawksmoor), it was originally housed in an art gallery with just 10 seats. This summer it reopens in a larger site in the Old Customs House on the busy harbour front. The bar’s proportions are still tiny, but its cottagey white-washed walls and sea-facing windows flood it with light. There is a bar, a bottle shop and Bruno Rey seating for 27, plus a menu of small plates. Richard’s cocktails include a delicious fig leaf G&T (made with homemade tonic and spirit by Howl & Loer) and a play on a Dirty Martini called a Fifth. There are also bottled cocktails including a grapefruit sherbet and Campari spritz (around £27 for 750ml), perfect for sundowners on the beach.

St Eia, a wine bar and coffee shop, is another gem created by London escapees. Co-owner Eleanor Vening was formerly events manager for Quo Vadis and Barrafina; her husband Mark Quick (brother of Josh and also former local) was wine buyer for Hawksmoor. Tucked away on a sun-trap backstreet, just a short walk from Tate St Ives, St Eia has all the clean lines and light of an artist’s studio; there are also a few small tables where you can sit outside. Creature Coffee comes in handsome pottery; there are pies from Coombeshead Farm and Neal’s Yard cheese. They’ve got chilled tinned Negronis, craft ciders and beers on standby for picnics. The really impressive bit, though, is the wine selection that lines the walls. It ranges from summery rosés through to some pretty starry pours: orange wines from Radikon, Chardonnay from Ramey Wine Cellars, Columella from South Africa’s Sadie Family Wines, and Agrapart Champagne.

Is this really what people drink on their hols in St Ives? Apparently so, says Mark: “They are so pleased to be here – they just want to celebrate.” 

@alicelascelles