It seems as though, from our limited research, that the variation in recipes are huge! Essentially, if you've got a sweet tooth, pile the sugar in and if you haven't got time, it seems that pricking each of the sloes isn't essential! Don't quote us on this though, just enjoy!
Chris’s Sloe Whisky Recipe
Fill a demijohn up to a quarter with sloes, no need to prick or freeze them, get some long kebab squewers and stab them through the lid of the demijohn, this is the quick way of not pricking each individual one. Fill up to half with sugar (I know it’s lots, but I like it sweet and tastes great). Fill to the brim with Whisky. Leave it for 3 months but turn regularly before trying. I accidentally left some for 5 years and found it last year, it was fantastic!
Louise’s Mum’s Sloe Gin
Half a bottle full of sloes, which have either had a frost over them or put them in the freezer if not, 250 grams of sugar to 1 litre of gin, shake every day for at least 3 days. Leave for a year for a more matured taste, or if you can’t wait until then, give it 3 months!
LiquerWeb General fruit liqueur recipe:
1 lb. (450 g) berries or fruit
3 cups (710 ml) 80-proof vodka (or 1.5 cup pure grain alcohol + 1.5 cup water)
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1 1/4 cup (300 ml) granulated sugar
Rinse the fruit or berries. Fruit must be cut into small pieces. Place berries or fruit in a container, add vodka. Cap and store in a cool, dark place, stir once a week for 2 - 4 weeks. Strain through metal colander. Transfer the unsweetened liqueur to an ageing container (glass bottle or container with tight cap). To 3 cups (710) ml unsweetened liqueur add 1 1/4 cup (300 ml) granulated sugar. Let age for at least three months. Pour carefully the clear liqueur to a new bottle. Add more sugar if necessary.
The fruit used for liqueur making can be used as deserts: mix with sugar and use with ice-cream.
Storage of liqueurs
The flavor of almost all liqueurs improves during storage. Fruit and berry liqueurs should be stored for at least 6 months for maximum taste. Some lemon liqueurs (e.g. Limoncello) should not be stored for a long time.
Sugar content
Liqueurs should contain approximately 1 cup sugar per 3 cups finished liqueur (300-350 g sugar per liter). If your liqueur is too sweet, add a mixture of vodka and water (1:1).
Sweetness change during storage
Sugar is converted to glucose and fructose which are simple sugar types with less sweet flavor. Therefore sugar must sometimes be added to homemade liqueurs after storage for some months.
Alcohol content
The alcohol content should normally be 20-30% for fruit and berry liqueurs, except for citrus liqueurs which might have higher alcohol content. If your liqueur has too strong alcohol taste, add some water (or fruit juice) and sugar. If your liqueur has too low alcohol content, add vodka and sugar.
Liqueurs of fruit mixtures:
Don't mix more than two types of fruits or berries in liqueurs. You can make successful mixtures of bitter berries with mild ones, like blueberries and cranberries. If you mix more types you might end up with a sweet-sour drink with no interesting flavor.
The Cottage Smallholder –Wild Damson Gin and Sloe Gin Recipe
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.
Wild Damson Gin Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1lb/454gm of washed wild damsons
- 6 ozs/168gm of white granulated sugar
- 5cl bottle of medium quality gin
- Sterilised 1 litre (at least) Le Parfait jar or wide necked bottle with stopper/cork
- 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.
Ingredients:
- 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
- 2-3 drops of almond essence
- 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. Don’t leave the straining process any longer than a year; leaving the fruit in too long can spoil the liqueur.
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.
Some Comments from our friends on Twitter and Facebook
GrainUK Chris Tye
@GunsOnPegs Freeze the sloes then 1/3 of the demi john full of sloes, cover with sugar then add the gin....keep turning the jars regularly!
RVWPUGH RVW Pugh Ltd
@GunsOnPegs prick the sloes pop them in bottle + sugar & gin then leave for 6 months turning occasionally, sieve & leave 3-4mnths more
eddiej35 Eddie Jones
@GunsOnPegs use strawberries and damsons but only use half the sugar you would normally . do it now and it will be beautiful at christmas.
foxdentonestate Foxdenton Estate
@GunsOnPegs Now that would be giving away trade secrets! However number one rule- always use less sugar than the recipe says!
HurworthPhotos Country Lady Amy
@eddiej35 @gunsonpegs I made strawberry, raspberry & damson gin for the first time last season. Lovely tipple. Made double this time!! ;)
robertmehigan Robert Mehigan
@GunsOnPegs loads of cloves, and when done try Sloe Brandycountrypath.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/60/
foxdentonestate Foxdenton Estate
@GunsOnPegs Another trick for Sloe Gin- Dissolve the sugar in the gin over heat first. Saves having to shake to dissolve the sugar!
Matt Nwi 3kg sloes,few days in the freezer if no frost,,,1kg sugar,1 stick cinnamon few cloves in a large glass jar toffee jar keep turning each day until all the sugar has gone and leave for as long as possible. i have one from two years ago still to decant!
Luke Gallagher 9oz slows, 9oz sugar, n 9 flu oz gin,
Trevor Lodge I've just made some for the hunt season ie; 1 ltr gin, half lb raspberries, half lb blackberries, 3 eating apples diced, 2 pears diced, 1 tbsp demerara sugar, 1 tsp mixed spice, 1 tsp ginger and a little fresh mint. Put it in boiled kettled water and just let it cold. Keeps for 4 weeks. For a party - miss the ginger out!
Jack Russell One gallon demi-john. 4kg of pricked sloes (no freezing or frost required - if they feel plump & springy between finger & thumb, they are ripe) 5 bottles of cheap Aldi gin, 2 cups of caster sugar & a vanilla pod. Agitate every day for a week then turn daily. Decant, store - if you can - share, or mix with champagne for a sloegasm.
Edward Coles Pound of sloes, or damsens, pound of sugar, 75cl of gin, vodka or whisky. Stick them in a kilner jar, give it a stir and wait till all the sugar dissolves.
Alex Prentice Put all your slows in a casserole dish with a bit of water and half the sugar and stew in a low oven for an hour or so, strain the juice and syrup into the gin and add the rest of the gin with almond essence to taste and leave for two weeks, voilà ready to drink!!!!!! No need to hang around for months!!!!!!!
Wayne Rule 3lb sloes, 2 litres of gin (use Tesco's own here), 1 lb sugar. Prick the sloes (I often just use a small sharp knife and put a slit in them if they're not too ripe), put them in a 1 gallon demi-john. Add the sugar and the gin. Shake to dissolve the sugar. Place in a dark cupboard and shake once a week for a few weeks. Then just leave it. I usually give it a swirl once a month thereafter. Use a pipe to siphon the liquid from above the settled sloes and thus get a lovely clear result.
Dickie Sansome Here in New Zealand Sloes are hard to come by so we make Damson Vodka. I use 5l demi johns. Put in 2 litres (an ice cream container) damsons, frozen and pricked, half a litre sugar and fill with 45% spirit from the still (we are allowed to distil). This year I made 15 litres and had about half a pint left at the end of the shooting season. Malcolm Williams drank most of it and the rest evapourated!
If making it is all too much for you, visit our friends below who are professionals at it!
http://www.foxdentonestate.co.uk/
http://www.myndtownwines.co.uk/Chilton_Damson_Gin.aspx
Matt Nwi 3kg sloes,few days in the freezer if no frost,,,1kg sugar,1 stick cinnamon few cloves in a large glass jar toffee jar keep turning each day until all the sugar has gone and leave for as long as possible. i have one from two years ago still to decant!
Luke Gallagher 9oz slows, 9oz sugar, n 9 flu oz gin,
Trevor Lodge I've just made some for the hunt season ie; 1 ltr gin, half lb raspberries, half lb blackberries, 3 eating apples diced, 2 pears diced, 1 tbsp demerara sugar, 1 tsp mixed spice, 1 tsp ginger and a little fresh mint. Put it in boiled kettled water and just let it cold. Keeps for 4 weeks. For a party - miss the ginger out!
Jack Russell One gallon demi-john. 4kg of pricked sloes (no freezing or frost required - if they feel plump & springy between finger & thumb, they are ripe) 5 bottles of cheap Aldi gin, 2 cups of caster sugar & a vanilla pod. Agitate every day for a week then turn daily. Decant, store - if you can - share, or mix with champagne for a sloegasm.
Edward Coles Pound of sloes, or damsens, pound of sugar, 75cl of gin, vodka or whisky. Stick them in a kilner jar, give it a stir and wait till all the sugar dissolves.
Alex Prentice Put all your slows in a casserole dish with a bit of water and half the sugar and stew in a low oven for an hour or so, strain the juice and syrup into the gin and add the rest of the gin with almond essence to taste and leave for two weeks, voilà ready to drink!!!!!! No need to hang around for months!!!!!!!
Wayne Rule 3lb sloes, 2 litres of gin (use Tesco's own here), 1 lb sugar. Prick the sloes (I often just use a small sharp knife and put a slit in them if they're not too ripe), put them in a 1 gallon demi-john. Add the sugar and the gin. Shake to dissolve the sugar. Place in a dark cupboard and shake once a week for a few weeks. Then just leave it. I usually give it a swirl once a month thereafter. Use a pipe to siphon the liquid from above the settled sloes and thus get a lovely clear result.
Dickie Sansome Here in New Zealand Sloes are hard to come by so we make Damson Vodka. I use 5l demi johns. Put in 2 litres (an ice cream container) damsons, frozen and pricked, half a litre sugar and fill with 45% spirit from the still (we are allowed to distil). This year I made 15 litres and had about half a pint left at the end of the shooting season. Malcolm Williams drank most of it and the rest evapourated!
If making it is all too much for you, visit our friends below who are professionals at it!
http://www.foxdentonestate.co.uk/
http://www.myndtownwines.co.uk/Chilton_Damson_Gin.aspx
