The Great Sloe Gin Challenge – Three variations of our sloe gin recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Liqueurs | 162 comments
Beautiful ripe sloes on the bush in September
“Pick after the first frosts,” advise the traditionalists.
“Pick them in September, before the bushes are stripped bare,” chortle the enthusiastic.
“Pick them now and give them a chilly blast in the freezer, to give the effect of the first frost,” suggest the practical.
There are other questions too. If the sloes are left to mature until the first frosts, do they have a better flavour? Does the quality of gin affect the liqueur? Should one strain gin from the sloes after three months, six months, ever?
I telephoned Gilbert to discuss this multiple conundrum. His advice was simple.
“Whatever you do, write it down on a label and stick it on the bottle. Then, if your brew is superb, you have the recipe. Note the tree, the time of picking, the gin and the amount of sugar and sloes. If you used almond essence, note how much on each label.”
I recalled that the most interesting part of his cellar was the vast liqueur wall. The label on each bottle and demijohn was covered in microscopic notes.
“Remember that the combination of gin, sloes and sugar is always better that the separate ingredients, no matter what you do.”
He is right. sloe gin sipped on a cold winter’s night is deliciously dangerous.
We have decided to run The Cottage Smallholder sloe gin test. We are going to make sloe gin now under laboratory conditions in the Cottage Smallholder kitchen. The sloe gin will by tasted and evaluated by a team of three experienced sloe gin drinkers.
Using the same gin (supermarket medium quality) and the same recipe, we are going to make sloe gin with three batches of sloes harvested from the same tree.
- The first bottle will contain freshly picked sloes, picked now in mid September.
- The second will have fresh sloes picked now but which will have had a night in the freezer.
- After the first frosts we are going to return to the same tree with a ladder to collect the frosted sloes that an average height forager can’t reach. The third bottle will contain these.
We will publish are results in a few months time.
Two years later we published the results of the sloe gin recipe challenge.
Sloe Gin Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1lb/454gm of washed sloes
- 4 ozs/112gm of white granulated sugar
- 1 75cl bottle of medium quality gin
- Sterilised 1 litre (at least) Le Parfait jar or wide necked bottle
- 1 small quarter tsp almond essence
Method:
- Wash sloes well and discard any bruised or rotten fruit. Prick fruit several times with a fork and place sloes in either a large Kilner/Le Parfait jar or a wide necked 1 litre 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.
- Add the almond essence.
- Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for a year).
- Some people strain the grog (through muslin/jelly bag) after 3 months and bottle it, leaving it mature for six months. We usually strain and bottle after a year. We use some beautiful old heine brandy bottles with cork lids. If you are feeling flush Lakeland sell some pretty bottles here. Don’t leave the straining process any longer than a year; leaving the fruit in too long can spoil the liqueur.
For loads more tricks and tips on making sloe gin see the original sloe gin recipe
Leave a reply
This has certainly been a very interesting read. I am in the process of making my 1st batch of sloe gin and sloe whisky.
I know now that you can re-use your gin soaked sloes to make sloe sherry and or wine. What do you think about reusing the whisky soaked sloes in the sherry or wine? or would you advise against this?
Hello,
In Exeter, this year has been great for sloes and I have collected a huge amount over the last week. I am looking at a number of recipes and styles from dry to sweet and I will also be making sloe vodka.
I found your site helpful as your recipe uses less sugar for a drier sloe gin, as with sherry I prefer a dry to medium, so I have decided to make both and post my findings.
As there seems to be more parties during the winter months I am looking at experimenting with recipes for the sloes once removed from the gin.
I hope to see the New Year in with a Sloe Fizz made with Champagne, Cava or Sparkling wine with a shot of sloe gin and a sloe for show.
I have a few recipes on my blog at www.mybigfoodblog.com, where I will be updating readers on my progress along with pictures and a few sloe based recipes.
Have you ever heard of the Tavistock Badger, whilst conducting my research I found a site Legendary Dartmoor, a link can be found on my blog, a great site, with an amusing story.
Good luck and happy hunting.
Hi all,
I hope someone can help. I have just strained my very first batch of bramble brandy & am wondering if there is anything I can do with the blackberries? It seems such a waste to throw them away especially as they are so beautifully infused with brandy. Could I add them to some plain blackberries to make an alcoholic jam do you think?
Hope someone can help.
Thanks,
Hazel xx
Hi Grams2Lissy
If you taste the blackberries you’ll find that they might be brandy infused but they have lost a lot of their blackberry flavour. Jam would be good if mixed with some fresh blackberries, I reckon.
Sloes are already in the freezer. Do they have to be defrosted before making the gin or can you put them in frozen?
Thank you
Jane
Hi Jane
You can put them in frozen
I have been using a friend’s mother’s recipes for sloe gin for over 10 years and it includes a few burnt almonds. Another recipe I was given asked for ‘a bit of almond essence’. I decided that the burnt almonds was the easier route to take as I could never find the almond essence in the shops. This year’s sloes picked today. Just wondered if there are some blackthorn bushes with fewer thorns, as the fruit looks the same but larger on the almost thornless bushes.
I have recieived a number of replies (thanks to all who replied) but nobody has yet told me where I can purchase almond essence that doesnt contain oil. HELP!!!
Hi Alan
The method is here
https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/sloe-sherry-recipe-104
In a previous reply you said you had a recipe for adding sherry to damsons/sloes once the gin was used up. Looked for it but cannot find it. Now that I’m ready to decant this years gallons of grog I’ve got the sherry ready but what to do???? Just tip it in the jar or are there other ingredients?
Hi Pete
Yes you are right. Don’t use almond essence with oil in it. I did this one year and ruined several litres of grog.
HI, I JUST LOVE YOUR WEB SITE,IT`S A SHAME NOT MORE SITES ARE AS INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE AS YOURS IS. I WANT TO ADD ALMOND ESSENCE TO MY SLOE GIN THIS YEAR BUT HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO FIND A SUPPLIER WHO CAN SUPPLY IT WITHOUT SOME KIND OF OIL IN IT.THE LATEST ONE I FOUND HAS SUNFLOWER OIL IN. I READ SOMEWHERE THAT YOU SHOULD NOT ADD ANYTHING TO YOUR SLOE GIN THAT CONTAINS ANY KIND OF OIL,IS THIS CORRECT ?? HELP WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED.