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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I have just been up my lane to pick the sloes. Only one bush this year with the sloes so meager helpings at New Year, i know we are meant to leave for three months, but no chance in this household. Just popping them in the freezer!!! as at moment sitting in the gardens in the sunshine and temperatures of 19c
Hello extownie
Blackberry vodka – only leave the blackberries in the vod for 3 months max of it will taste woody and vile.
Perhaps you could use Dirks method (above).
Don’t know of a recipe for sloe whisky, sorry.
Hi Lynda
I’d start of using plain vodka if I was you 🙂
Hi I’m new to usig sloes but decided to try some sloe vodka this year, but I only have orange vodka in the cupboard do you think it work?
Hi just love this site so many people with so much info! Since escaping to the country 6 yrs ago I have successfully made sloe gin and vodka. We tried blackberry vodka but it ended up looking brown and didn’t taste good either – where did I go wrong?
Recently found wild plum and yellow bullace trees all just ripe – 12 lbs of fruit were picked in no time.
Tasted Sloe Whisky with honey at a show recently promised my mum I’d make some anyone seen such a recipe?
There isn’t any difference in the length of time before drinking. All one is doing is using the osmotic pressure available within the sugar to extract more of the juice from the sloes.
The important thing is to make sure that the sloes are well pricked (or frozen) so that the sugar can get in to do its work. Another thing that happens is that one gets a more intense colour as the sugar also extracts the anthocyanins in the skin better than just the alcohol (greater osmotic pressure again).
If one likes one’s sloe gin/vodka sharp then once all the sugar has dissolved in the juice it has extracted, then one can add the alcohol straight away. I like it a touch sweeter, so there is usually sugar left still undissolved after a fortnight.
Don’t forget the almond essence (and use the real stuff). A few drops makes all the difference.
Hi Dirk
That sounds a novel way of doing it. How long would you start to drink it after adding the alcohol? Do you need to leave it couple of months?
I wouldn’t mind trying to flavour the drink with raspberries or blackberries one year. My crop of raspberries has just been a handful. very disappointing.
Maggie
Hi Dirk
This sounds an intersting alternative method. Can’t wait to give it a go. Thank you.
The trick that I find works best (and I can’t remember where I got it from) is to add the sloes to the sugar in a suitable container – but don’t add anything else at this stage. Turn the sugar + sloe mixture (or shake it about a bit) every day for a couple of weeks and then (and only then) add the alcohol and any other ingredients.
The rationale is that the sugar extracts all the juice that it can by osmosis and when that is finished, the alcohol gets the rest.
Hi Tim
I must try and get hold of glog. Sounds good.
Chilli sherry is great, it can lift a soup or a sauce in seconds. Also bracing head clearing stuff if you have a cold 😉
Hi Maggie
I’m going to make sweets this year too.
I made damson brandy and used the left over damsons to make chocolate sweets to go with the tipple of damson brandy. oooo it was heaven…. Not quite the same with sloes…
Maggie