Anyone on here make their own sloe gin? I picked a load of sloes today and I have a bottle of gin in the cupboard. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of it? Any preferred methods? I've never tasted it so just wondering what to expect. Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
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Make it no, but there again I don't have to. The beaters wagon supply is enough. Apricot Gin is a nice variation.

The original recipe calls for pricking 1lb of sloes and adding them to a litre of gin with 8oz of castor sugar. Skip the pricking but put them in the freezer for a couple of days and follow the above instructions. Freezing breaks down the flesh of the sloes so they give up their flavour into the gin.

Place in a cool dark place and shake the bottle every other day for the 1st 2 weeks and then once a week for at least 2 months (the longer the better).

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Tenets recipe is sound though I tend to use 10 oz of sugar which is sometimes granulated sometimes caster and on a few occasions caster brown. The longer you leave it on the sloes the better though much of mine only makes it for 3 months - 6month max before we drink it! I always use kilner jars to do the job.

I picked 5kgs sloes yesterday and 3kgs of wild damsons (which I will treat the same way but using vodka instead of gin). I never bother pricking the fruit but always freeze it which often causes the skin to split anyway.

When you have steeped the fruit and filtered off the gin don't chuck the fruit away! Use it to stuff game birds, chickens or pork joints or make another batch of drink using red wine to create a sort of sloe "port".

Put the sloes back into the kilner jar, add another 4 oz of sugar (or to taste - you can add more later if you think it needs it) add one litre of red wine (I use Sainsburys house wine, Merlot or Shiraz). Steep this mix for a month or two, shaking the jar daily for initial couple of weeks. When ready to bottle strain the wine off the fruit, taste, add brandy. I don't measure this precisely but I estimate I use about a quarter of a bottle of cheap brandy, you add to taste that suits you.

We like sloe gin and damson vodka neat but almost always drink it as a longer drink using angastora flavoured Fever Tree tonic and ice. The "port" gets drunk in a siimlar way, sometimes neat sometimes as a mixed drink.

Have fun and enjoy!

Haven't made it for years. Used to do 1lb of Sloes into 1 litre of gin. Used to slice the Sloes, not prick them. Can't remember how much sugar I used to put in now, but I always used the ordinary, never tried caster sugar, interesting. Stored it for 3 months and tried to turn daily. Used to add a drop (literally) of almond extract (or was it essence). 
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.

Yes there are various recipes that talk about almond essence and vanilla essence as additives but to be honest I never found that either added any "value" or improved the taste so abandoned both.

Other recipes say add as much sugar as fruit but again trial (never error as such as it was always drinkable!) has honed it down to 10oz sugar, 1lb to 1.25lb of fruit and 1 litre of spirit for me.

We went to the continent recently and bought some 47.5 proof, Tanquery gin on the ferry - £17.50 for a litre what a steal that was! At that price it will all go into this years sloe gin and will be perfect for Christmas / New Year.

I've read on other sites that I may have picked my sloes a bit too early. Should I hang on a bit and get a new lot at the end of September/early October? Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
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Providing that they are not hard bullets they should be OK BUT give them a week or so in the freezer. Better still buy some more gin and pick some more sloes and you can compare.  MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

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Steve D wrote:

I've read on other sites that I may have picked my sloes a bit too early. Should I hang on a bit and get a new lot at the end of September/early October?

This is the best Sloe Gin

 Common sense isn't very common.
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