Quayside tipples

A Cornish craft distillery, making small batch spirits with pride and passion.

When Copperfish Distillery opened its doors four years ago on Buller Quay in East Looe, the founders were keen to create great tasting, truly authentic Cornish drinks with a plan to grow the business, developing local employment and supporting the local economy. Four years on and the team of Bill, Jemma, Rob and Andy still share that plan, along with their quest of helping to put Looe on the Cornish food and drink map.

And why not? There are some truly fabulous restaurants, hotels and producers in the locality, including The Sardine Factory, The Sail Loft, great tapas at The Portbyhan Hotel, fish and chips at The Coddy Shack, along with some of best pasties in the county including Sarah’s, a firm favourite.

At the heart of what they do is great taste and quality. Rob, the distiller works tirelessly to create the best drinks they can by keeping to a simple mantra: “proper spirits made proper.” In essence, this means they don’t cut corners and use the best ingredients and methods they can. Take their rum for example, Copperfish Rum is one of the very few rums actually made from scratch in Cornwall. It starts from creating a wash from sugar cane molasses, which is then fermented before it enters the stills. This rich sweet earthy liquid is then heated gently up towards 80°C when the magic of distillation takes place. A pure white rum comes out of the still which is then poured into oak barrels to age for many months to develop taste and colour. Their great tasting drinks have been recognised by the Taste of the West awards where the team received four golds and three silvers in 2022.

So what’s next for Copperfish? The team have taken on an additional premises on the quay that will be developed into a visitor centre where tours, tastings and makings will be open to the public. However, if you can’t wait until Spring 2023 when it’s due to open, why not visit the shop and bar or check out their website for more information.

Copperfish Distillery

www.copperfishdistillery.co.uk