Sloe gin

I reckon add the sugar last, as you'll know by taste how much fruit sugars have come out.

Go steady with it though, my mate & I drank it by the wineglass full the first time we tried it.

Talk about a hangover the next day

 

Add the sugar from the beginning because it's the sugar solution around the sloes that draws out the juice (that is a less concentrated sugar solution).

 

Don't worry about the sugar and sloes, just drink the gin

 

Today is Sloe Gin day. In Aberystwyth walking yesterday spotted loads of plumb softish berries. Called in Café at top of Constitution Hill to scrounge Carrier bag. So after a bit of Googling I have come up with 1litre Good Gin 500g Berries and some sugar. Prick berries throw all into suitable sterile airtight container, shake for a week or so (must make your arms ache) and wait for ever( at least 3 months)

Is there anything I am missing or suggestions please.

 

I have made Sloe Gin both ways. The best by far is to extract all the flavour colour and sugars from the pricked berries first and then to thicken with sugar syrup to taste at the end. I still have a couple of bottles from a few years ago if anyone wants to call over and test my theory

 

I'm not sure about the extraction process....one of the chemicals involved is benzaldehyde (natural almond flavour)...can't remember my chemistry and its solubility in water vs alcohol.

I use Lidl or Aldi's premium vodka instead of gin and add sugar at the end. I start off with damsons and bullace, which fruit earlier in the year than sloes (bullace are basically big sloes with a 'plum b*m'). And then I move onto filling jars with sloes later in the year. I've got about 8 litres of bottles filled with fruit now, including some with Morello cherries, which I'm trying for the first time this year and some quince & honey I'm not sure has worked. Anything that comes out tasteless (e.g. I tried thornless blackberry a couple of years ago), I just recycle with sloes the next year.

I prick the fruit by putting them on a baking tray and rolling the zesting side of a grater over them. This is much quicker than pricking them.

I do the filtering through expensive kitchen towel cut into a circle and shoved into a funnel.

Then bottle up (e.g. posh glass water bottles) with folksy labels and raffia and give as Christmas presents.

You can re-use the sloes (they recommend in whisky or port) or stone them (easy to remove stones after soaking and bought truffles are £1 each!!!!) then blitz in blender and make into sloe chocolate truffles or put into fruit cake. I now take along the remnants of this year's early fruit as choc truffles to the family Christmas do, where I have a very elderly aunt who works her way through a tray of them getting slightly tanked in the process!

 

The typical drink here made with sloes is Patxaran, but it's made with anis instead of gin. Some people add sugar, others a stick of cinnamon or a few coffee beans. After trying all these combinations, I'm sticking with anis+sloes and that's it. It always tastes more than sweet enough to me. I did make sloe vodka two years ago which I added sugar to, but can't remember how much... perhaps I shouldn't have been slugging the vodka during the process...

 

Dont worry about pricking them, just chuck them in the freezer overnight, that breaks the skins structure down so you dont need to prick.

 

Interesting topic. I have only ever enjoyed a Tanqueray gin.

We don't have that fruit here but I see that our LCBO has Hayman's Sloe Gin for sale..

 

oooh Sloe Gin, I've not made any this year....I still have some from a couple of years ago!
I add the sugar first.
I've also made Sloe Vodka...that was nice too

 

Great I am on the right track. I have pricked berries enough to make 2 lots 1 kg. So 500grams to 1litre of gin I added 100 grams castor sugar to each batch and shook for a min or 2 until sugar completely dissolved. I used Gordons Gin mostly because I had some in stock. All seems well and after just a few hours in dark cupboard the mixture is turning pink.
Temptation is to go to Lidels tomorrow and get some cheaper Gin just to see if there is much difference at the end. Obviously this extra batch would be for research purposes.

 

update
Ended up making 3 lots. 2 lots with Gin and 1 lot with Vodka. The Vodka brew is 2 weeks behind the Gin but all look to have a very deep red colour. Tasting/ temptation could start anytime from now on but I will try to wait until the New Year. It may be a difficult decision.

 

Should you need any help, you know where we are!