AN ORGANIC non-alcoholic cocktail is coming exclusively to a hotel owned by a celebrity hotelier.
The Star, which is owned by Alex Polizzi, is the first hotel in England to sell “Naked Eve”, a new botanical cocktail which contains hand foraged flowers, fruits, leaves and seaweeds.
The hotel in Alfriston, East Sussex, reopened earlier in the year after appearing on Alex Polizzi’s very own series, My Hotel Nightmare.
The cocktail, which contains the botanical Wild Eve concentrate, is mixed with apple juice and soda water to make a “warm, comforting” drink for those who want a drink with a kick, which is not alcoholic.
Naked Eve is their latest venture, having teamed up with the Wild Eve team, who forage all the ingredients on the Isle of Harris, in the Outer Herbrides of Scotland.
Amanda Saurin, an award winning apothecary and herbalist who is founder of Wild Eve, described the drink as “magic in a bottle”.
She spoke of the challenges of harvesting the ingredients in challenging conditions on the Isle of Harris.
Amanda said: “The weather on Harris makes the process particularly challenging, the plants are slower to emerge from the cold ground, slower to reach maturity and then much faster to dash to seed.
“Besides the challenges, the weather on Harris is enchanting and crucial to the premium finish. The water is amongst the softest in Europe which allows the flavours of the foraged ingredients to develop without interruption.
“From the wild roses growing on the land to the sugar kelp hand dived in the pristine waters, to the chamomile and oats growing on the croft and the chili plants that fill the windowsills, each of the botanicals are vital.”
Due to the painstaking work required to harvest the ingredients, Amanda said the drink will only be sold in small, sustainable batches.
She said: “The extracting processes are slow, gentle, and considered, where each plant is handled carefully and respectfully.
“This means Wild Eve will not be found anywhere demanding volume production including large supermarket chains. Instead, Wild Eve is boutique, created in small, sustainable batches, to be purchased directly with the distillers or through carefully selected stores that share their ethos.”
A bottle of Wild Eve costs £32 on their website, while a Naked Eve cocktail at The Star costs eight pounds per cocktail.
Alex Polizzi said she will be taking the recipe to her other two hotels at the end of the month, the Hotel Endsleigh and Hotel Tresanton, where the Naked Eve will also be served.
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