Sea Arch

‘Crisp and bright with a hint of wildness’ is how the makers describe Sea Arch. That’s pretty accurate.  There’s a clean, clear, salty freshness to it that suggests great gusts of ozone-rich sea air, mixed with the scent of sea thrift and short thymey grass.  Although they describe it as a replacement for gin, the juniper is way down in the mix, offering at most a subtle bass note, and I like it like that.  Instead, up front there’s a clean vegetal flavour, almost grassy, with a hint of the snap of a fresh pea pod and the zing of orange zest.  It’s confident and controlled, and not at all buried by the tonic, as some non-alcoholic spirits can be.  The mix of ingredients looks initially like an ecletic mix where the constiituent parts may have nothing to say to each other – blood orange, kelp, samphire, coriander? – but what emerges is a first rate blend that sings with gusty sea freshness.  The milky blue opaque bottle with its elegant sea etching is a delight too.