Two recipes: Wild Damson Gin and Sloe Gin recipes
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Liqueurs | 713 comments
Wild damsons are a beautiful rich dark colour
Unlike sloes, wild damsons are hard to find. For every thirty wild plum trees there may be just one wild damson tree. When I spot wild damsons in the hedgerows, they are harvested into a special bag.
These, and the diminutive bullace, are the kings of hedgerow fruit. These tiny fruit make such an irresistible liqueur that overnight guests have actually turned down Danny’s famous cooked breakfast, and gone back to bed to sleep off the excesses of the night before.
Our damson and sloe gin is not the thick ultra sweet variety. We prefer the sugar to enhance rather than shield the flavour. Every three months or so it’s sampled and, if necessary, topped up with sugar. Usually no extra sugar is needed.
We try to keep our damson and sloe gin well away from the drinks tray! Each year we make a lot of fruit gin and vodka (more recipes to follow, in time). Sloe gin is the big craze at the moment around here, as sloes are more plentiful.
Here are our recipes for both. We are also starting experimenting with sloe gin see this post for details
Tips and tricks:
- Make more than you need the first year, so you can compare different vintages. This liqueur does improve over time.
- Some people drain the grog through muslin after a couple of months, to clarify the liqueur and bottle. We don’t bother as one old soak tipped that, once the gin is drunk, you can pour medium sherry on the fruit and start all over again! The latter is devilish and drinkable within three months. We have a recipe for this in our wine and gin section.
- Keep your fruit gin away from the light as this will maintain the colour. Unless it is in a dark green or brown bottle. Wrapping it in brown parcel paper will keep out the light.
- Make notes on a label of your fruit gin/vodka /sugar ratio and stick it onto the bottle(s) so that you have a record, if you make a particularly good batch. We note our responses as the grog matures. Yucky after sixth months can be to die for in a year (you will probably not remember without notes). Notes seem boring when you are making the grog but they are so worthwhile when you start again the next year. It won’t be long before you will get a feel of what works well for your taste (and the notes will come into their own).
- Adding almond essence to sloe gin lifts it from good to great. I haven’t tried this with the damson gin but return in a years’ time for our review.
- Don’t kill the liqueur with too much sugar at the start. Use the amount above to start your sloe or damson gin and then every couple of months take a tiny sip. At this time add more sugar if it is too sharp for your taste.
- Gin v Vodka? Vodka can be used as the spirit for these recipes. Although I’m a vodka drinker, we tend to stick to a gin base for our fruit liqueurs.
- A good damson gin can be made from ordinary damsons available in the shops. As they are bigger you would need to put them into a larger Le Parfait jar (I’d use a 2 litre size).
- People have been picking sloes from September 1st around here. Some people say that you shouldn’t pick sloes until after the first frost. This can be circumvented by putting your sloes in the freezer overnight. We don’t bother with either method and always have great results.
- This year we have made up a number of small (1lb honey jars) of sloe gin to give as Christmas presents.
| Wild Damson Gin and sloe gin Recipes |
Recipe Type: Liqueurs
Prep time: 15 mins
Total time: 15 mins
Ingredients
- Wild damson gin:
- 1lb/454gm of washed wild damsons
- 6 ozs/168gm of white granulated sugar
- 75cl bottle of medium quality gin
- Sterilised 1 litre (at least) Le Parfait jar or wide necked bottle with stopper/cork
- Sloe Gin:
- 1lb/454gm of washed sloes
- 4 ozs/112gm of white granulated sugar
- 75cl bottle of medium quality gin
- Sterilised 1 litre (at least) Le Parfait jar or wide necked bottle
- 1-2 drops of almond essence
Instructions
- Wild damson gin:
- Wash damsons well and discard any bad or bruised fruit. Prick fruit several times with a fork and place damsons in either a large
- Kilner/Le Parfait jar or a wide necked 1 litre bottle.
- Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with gin to the rim.
- 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). If you are planning to drink this after 3 months, have a nip afetr a month, and top up with sugar to taste.
- Some people strain the grog (through muslin/jelly bag) after 3 months and bottle it, leaving it mature for six months. We strain and bottle after a year. Don’t leave the straining process any longer than a year; leaving the fruit in too long can spoil the liqueur, as we found to our cost one year.
- Sloe gin:
- 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 strain and bottle after a year.
Leave a reply
Hi Joi
Drinking sloe gin in the day is lethal! Great story, thanks for sharing.
hi fn cant wait to find out myself.how i decoverd sloe gin.i was walking my dog and met doggy friends,iwas so cold i said im going home,dont go till you have had a drink[coffee i thought]we walk towards the kiosh,low and behold they were selling a shot of sloe gin and chew stick for dog.i tried it and was warmed through in a tick.i couldnt have any more because i was driving.i went and brought some from supermarket.a few weeks later i met my doggy friends again,they told me,they loved it so much they both continued to drink,by all acounts they rang there husbands to collect them at 11 pm at night they were so drunk and had to leave ther cars in park.from then on we seem to be hooked. joi
Hello Joi
I’d love to hear how the brew turns out!
thanks i have also tried muslin,i will try that,thanks
Hi Joi
Fine cotton hadkerchiefs are good for straining. Cheese cloths could be a bit coarse.
You need to put the cloudy bottle somewhere cool (garage or shed). After a couple of weeks the leys should settle at the bottom of a bottle you can then decant the clear grog.
Hope that this helps
hi great site,made sloe gin with dried sloes,could nt find any fresh.the drink is fab but has like a black smokey strand and cloundy,i have strained lots of times,and the black seems to stay,but i loose more gin by straining,useing cheese cloths.please help.thanks
Hi Pete
Thanks so much for this update on your festive spirit. I must try this combination next year!
We made a lot of sloe vodka this year and it has a freshness that the sloe gin just doesn’t have. In fact I had to move it to the barn as it was disappearing rapidly as it is so moreish. So elderberry vodka might be a great bet next autumn.
Hi there
Thought you’d like to know that last Autumn grand experiment – FESTIVE SPIRIT (damson, elderberry, blackberry gin) was a stellar success! Sadly, now all gone – I’m making a lot more next year…
I put a little orange peel, a small cinnamon stick and a single whole clove (head removed) in the 75cl bottle and otherwise followed the standard damson gin proportions for fruit/sugar/gin.
By early December it tasted heady and spiccy, if a little medicinal. By New Year it had mellowed considerably and was utterly stunning… I removed the fruit (excellent addition to a big apple crumble) after 3 months to avoid bitterness – thanks for that tip.
The colour is an intensely rich purple, I suppose from the elderberries. I made a tiny bit of elderberry gin, which was again a deep purple colour, and tasted very distinctive – it divided opinion, but I’m a fan. Maybe vodka for elderberries though?
Hi Sam
I’ve just done a search of all the comments on the blog and found this recipe from Peter
“add the ginned sloes to a good medium farmhouse cider¦then add a good shot of gin¦this is called SLIDER¦it is probably the most potent drink there is ¦but tastes lovely!!!!”
And from Douglas
“LEFT OVER GINNED SLOES- add cheap cider to bottle- drink next day, then add more cider- drink next week!! Gets most of alcohol out and is lovely.”
I read your original cider comment too. I think that it was a mistake to add the sugar as this would start to ferment and cause explosions.
hi fiona,
we made such a lot of it last year that we didn’t have enough glass bottles so we put the rest into plastic ones. the bottles went very rigid and that was a bit frightening too!! maybe i should just stick to the sherry idea….. shame though as good slider does sound delicious
sam