I avoid commercially available sloe gin. It’s too sweet to my liking, and the flavour is one dimensional and boring — no better than Ribena with alcohol. But home-made sloe gin is easy to make. You can adjust the sugar level to your preference. And if you can be patient enough to let it age for a year or more will develop a wonderful deep flavour.
Sloes are the fruits of the blackthorn, and an ancient variety of plum. They’re found in traditional in hedgerows. Their spikes had the task of barbed-wire, keeping cattle in the field. You may stumble on ripe sloes during a late autumn walk. But then you may not wish to leave it to chance, and identify a bush close to home, and monitor the ripening fruit.
To avoid all disappointment, and leave nothing to chance, I planted a good number of sloes in my garden. We replaced our privet hedge with a fruity hedgerow, to make jams and of course sloe gin. Last year I harvested over 1kg of sloes, enough for almost 2 litres of sloe gin.
Recipe for sloe gin
450g / 1lb of sloes
700ml (1 bottle) of gin – cheap gin from Lidl or Aldi works fine
100g of sugar
demi john or Kilner jar
Step 1 − picking your sloes.  Sloes will start to ripen in November, and by December birds (or other sloe gin makers) will have removed much of the crop. So find your bush in time, and carefully pick your crop from the thorny plants. Wearing gardening gloves is advisable!
Step 2 − freezing your sloes. Tradition has it that sloes should be picked after the first winters frost − like Brussel sprouts and kale. The frost releases sugars in the berries, and also helps soften them. Hover, a night in the freezer has the same effect. And it allows you to have the first picking!
Step 3 − Mix the ingredients and wait. A large Kilner jar or a small demi-john are ideal for letting the gin infuse. Shake the closed jar to dissolve the sugar and store in a dark place. The gin will gradually turn deep crimson.
Optional last step − making sloe gin jam.
It’s a shame to throw away the boozy shrivelled sloe berries! With a bit of effort you can make the most delicious sloe gin jam. Weigh the berries and chuck the fruit in a small saucepan with an equal weight of sugar and some additional water. Boil until it reaches 104°C − or use the saucer trick described in the crow berry jam recipe. Rub through a coarse sieve or colander to remove the stones and pour into a small sterilised jar. Absolutely divine!
Straight or with sparkling wine
Home made sloe gin is wonderful on its own. The sweet fruitiness is wonderfully balanced with a slight bitterness. But is also forms a great mixer, especially with sparkling wine − a worthy twist on the classic kir royal.
Time and cost
Picking the sloes is by far the most laborious and time-consuming step. The stages combined take less than an hour to complete. The only cost is the price of the bottle of gin and the sugar.