Superb sloe vodka recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Liqueurs | 130 comments
Sloe vodka on day one
We have found that most fruit recipes work equally well with gin or vodka. With a few exceptions. Raspberry gin is sublime and dessert gooseberry vodka is to kill for. Their cousins, Raspberry vodka and dessert gooseberry gin are companiable and gluggable but not the super stars of the cocktail cabinet.
We traditionally always make sloe gin. Lots of it. This year I has so many sloes that I decided to give sloe vodka a whirl. A litre of vodka made two 750ml bottles of grog. One for the cellar and one for testing and tasting.
I need to clear a space on the shelves in the barn to put our sloe gin and vodka out of reach. When I do this, it matures quietly, without being disturbed. I haven’t had time to do his so our kitchen side looks like a sloe liqueur drinker’s paradise. It has also had an impact on using the toaster which sits behind the bottles and jars. A careful, crane like movement is needed to operate the toaster.
Late one night, I spotted the sloe vodka on the kitchen side and thought that I’d have a teeny taste. It was wonderful. Clean, crisp, punchy and absolutely delicious. It was barely three weeks old. Made with the sloes that I picked from John’s garden on October 27th.
I had another toot the next night and then waved the bottle in front of Danny’s nose. Then other visitors were introduced to this ambrosia. Reviews were good and glasses refilled.
I am ashamed to announce that our tasting bottle is almost finished but delighted that I tried sloe vodka this year. I hate to admit it but I think that sloe vodka is better than sloe gin.
I had a 800g of sloes in the freezer so Jalopy and I rumbled over to Tesco on Saturday and bought an extra large bottle of medium priced vodka. Made 2 x 75ml bottles as per the above recipe and was left with 570ml of vodka. I added the remaining sloes (336g) and topped up with just over a kilo of sugar. This will produce the really ‘thick’ sloe liqueur that loads of our friends adore. This is the bottle in the photo with the white label. The label is actually the sugar -scary stuff! If we have a super party and a tasting, the sugar lovers will not be left out for years, as they have been in the past. We like the sharp taste of our grog. This bottle will be for sweet toothed visitors only.
If you still have access to sloes try our recipe. You won’t regret it.
I will report back on how the thick sugar solution sloe vodka develops in a few months time!
| Superb sloe vodka recipe |
- 1poud / 500gm of washed sloes
- 4 ounces / 112gm of white granulated sugar
- 2 empty 75cl vodka bottles
- 1 litre of medium quality vodka such as supermarket own brands
- Wash sloes well and discard any bruised or rotten fruit. Prick fruit several times with a fork and place sloes half the sloes in each bottle. I put several sloes in my palm to prick them rather than picking them up one by one.
- Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with gin to the rim. Always open sugar bags over the sink as sugar tends to get caught in the folds at the top of the bag.
- Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (try to leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for a year. As you can see from above it was overwhelmingly moreish at three weeks).
- Some people strain the grog (through muslin/jelly bag) after 3 months and bottle it, leaving it mature for six months. We will strain and bottle any that’s left after six moths as I want to try making sloe sherry and slider (farmhouse cider and gin/vodka soaked sloes as recommended into the comments section of our sloe gin posts). Don’t leave the straining process longer than a year; leaving the fruit in too long can spoil the liqueur.
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Hi Rob
You are lucky to have secured a job at Tesco. Apparently those jobs are like gold dust nowadays. You are also in a great place for recycling food that would otherwise be dumped!
I have made blueberry vodka. It tasted a bit thin. So if they are throwing out a punnet of raspberries I’d recommend adding a handful to pep up the grog.
I’ve never made or tried blueberry wine so can’t advise how it will turn out.
Hi all,
After taking a part time job at tesco’s (i know it’s a sinful place but i needed some money after redundancy) I found 24 boxes(300g each)of blueberrys being thrown into the crusher. I immediatley stopped this stupid waste and now have 3 gallons of wine and 2 litres of vodka on the go. Did anyone else try the blueberry vodka or will i have to wait an see how it turns out?
I am now also awaiting any other “Waste” that can be recycled in this way 🙂
Heloo Liz
Thanks for the recipe. Much appreciated!
Hi Jenny
I’d like to have a go at bramble whisky. I reckon that three months infusion is the limit, as with blackberry vodka to avoid the woodiness developing.
Hi Glen
We use sherry rather than wine. Our recipe is here https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=104
Thanks to everyone for all these great ideas and recipes. I’ve made sloe gin and sloe vodka for the first time and, of course, sampled it. It’s brilliant and seems to be getting better by the week (I think that repeated sampling is essential!)
I’m sure I saw somewhere on this site that you could also use the sloes again to make a sort of fortified wine. Can anyone tell me whether I need to use white or red wine and if I need to add sugar? On bottle of sloe vodka has already been drained and those sloes are just begging for some wine.
Many thanks.
Glen
Can I just add that if you freeze the sloes for 24 hours, the skins will split and you don’t have to do any pricking or scoring….
Flynn, bramble brandy sounds good; do you think that works better than blackberry vodka?
Hi,
Sure. I use kilner type jars. Prick/slit sloes and loosely pack in the jar till about 3/4 full. Add granulated sugar – 4oz to a 1lb jar, 8oz to a 2lb jar. Top up with gin, seal and leave 3-4 months in a cool, dark place. The earliest I decant mine into bottles is usually Christmas, but if I can resist for longer (or I have made loads!) then it gets better!
I have varied this recipe occasionally. It makes a very sweet liquer with a strong flavour which is delicious on its own or makes a very refreshing summer drink when served with tonic.
I tend to reduce the sloes to about 2/3 of the jar (out of laziness mostly!) and reduce the sugar slightly (especially if I have found the sloe sized wild plums which seem to be sweeter) as I like the slightly sharp taste that this produces. If I have enough sloes I make one sweet jar and one sharper, then blend the resulting liquers until it is just right!!
Hi Liz
Any chance of sharing your mother’s recipe? 😉
Thanks for the pricking tips.
My mother passed down her sloe gin recipe to me and we are now in our third year of successful production having found a blackthorn bush lurking at the back of the garden behind the shed! I am very much looking forward to trying the vodka version on this year’s sloes.
For anyone that finds pricking kilos of sloes a time-consuming nightmare like I do, I tried just scoring them with a sharp knife on one side (just through the skin), you can do several at a time and I find it much quicker – and the results are the same.
Hi J Manston
I have never seen them on sale apart from in London – Waitrose, £5.99 a punnet (late September).
Hello Flynn
I’ve heard that cranberry vodka is good and had forgotten about it so thanks for the nudge.
Must try bramble brandy too. Thanks!
Hi, just reading about your raspberry and sloe vodkas… will try those. Just thought I’d mention that Cranberry Vodka is pretty darn fine too. Same proportions and method as sloe gin, and it’s by far my favourite. Bramble Brandy (Again the same method and proportions) is alos a bit of a favourite. And both are far more forgiving of having too much sugar or too little, than Sloe Gin. Flynn