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
Concerning the right time to remove the sloes, I drank my sloe gin with the fruit in and it was like nectar. They had been in the liquor since I made it, 30 years previously.
Hi
I’ve just been picking blackberries along my hedge and noticed that there is a heavy crop of sloes this year and they do actually seem to be ripe although it’s only August 21st!
Should I pick them now or is it really too early – or do I wait and risk losing them to the birds?
I’ve always wanted to have a go at sloe gin but never had enough on my bushes before.
Thankyou again, will add a teaspoon&just keep trying to see how sweet I want it 🙂
On a different note the left over fruit Ive heard about doing a crumble with but after just tasting one I can’t see how this would taste good as they just taste like pure gin! Any ideas how to loose the alcohol taste a bit? Or how to make it a bit less pungent? As would like to use it for a bit of flavour rather than the whole flavour if you know what I mean? X
Brilliant 🙂 thankyou soo much for your reply. Will get adding some caster sugar,any thoughts onto how much to start off with? & how long each set of sugar will take to dissolve?!
Hi Sarah
I’d try a teaspoon at a time. No idea how long it would take to dissolve but it should be fairly fast.
Hi was wondering if someone can help me?! I’m ready for straining the gin now but just tried a bit&its a little too soar for my liking so was wondering if after straining if I add sugar to the strained gin&leave it for another couple of months if that would work? Or would I end up with a lot of sugar at the bottom of the jar with the gin sitting on top?! Any help I would appreicate.x
Hi Sarah
If you add caster sugar it will dissolve quite quickly if you keep on shaking the bottle. Add it incrementally, shake and taste until you have the right degree of sweetness.
Thanks fn!
I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. Thanks! Now I’ll have a go!
Hi Pam
Don’t worry. I’m sure the freezing process must have killed off all germs and the alcohol will do its work too. Don’t wash them after freezing.
Welcome to the world of homemade grog. Hic!
Hi there everyone!
I am a ‘newby’ to this game! Already, I appear to have made my first mistake and havn’t started yetI! I have frozen my sloes without washing them! Help please! I’m dying to get started, but don’t know if I’ll ruin everything by washing them after freezing. Thanks for anyone’s advice.
Hello Michael
Yes I do believe that freezing/frosted sloes taste sweeter.
Re the quality of the gin we try to avoid the cheapest gin – the hangover is bad if you over indulge. Bombay Sapphire gin and Gordon’s probably make a great sloe gin but we haven’t had the funds to test out the theory. I tend to buy one up from the Tesco’s blue stripey or the Waitrose cheapest. Both quite drinkable as gin and tonic.
Hi..brilliant site! I’ve just started my first batch of SG. I have patiently waited until the first frost, and froze them for several hours to make sure it does whatever frost does. Does it alter the flavour like frost on Brussels Sprouts and Parsnips I wonder? They are sweeter after frosts. Does the quality of the Gin matter? There is a vast price difference between Bombay Saphire or Gordon’s for instance and Tesco’s own blue stripey.