How to Make Sloe gin

How to make Suffolk sloe gin
Intro: This is an old country recipe from Suffolk, England. It was handed down from my neighbour's great aunt, who lived on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. It's not really a recipe, more just a loose set of instructions. The nice thing about sloe gin is that it lends itself to improvisation; because everyone in the countryside seems to know how to make it, everyone tends to make it a little differently. It's useful to have some basic guidelines to start with though, before one starts improvising.

Step 1

Step 1. Materials and Equipment
This recipe is enough for two bottles of sloe gin

Ingredients
Gin: one litre
Sloes: (more on that in the next step)
Sugar: approximately 300 grams (more on that as well)

Equipment
Container for collecting sloes (we used plastic bags and got juice all over us. I would recommend a plastic Tupperware or something similar)
Large needle or small fork or anything that you can pierce with
Wine glass
Empty bottle

Comments

[longredfingernails]

Im just about to make my second batch of sloe gin,but noticed in sainsburys that you can now buy sloe gin already made.much easier option.

[pastymuncher]

Here's nother good step by step easy way to make sloe gin with some suggestions about what you can do with the boozey sloes.

[gthrelfall]

Thank you for these instructions. I love the way they're written, gave me a few laughs!

[JohnEvans]

Some of methods shown are good BUT BUT - the REAL method involves pouring half of the gin down the loo or giving it to a neady friend -- or to me. Next it is ESSENTIAL to prick the sloes either with a silver needle or with a thorn taken from the same bush as the sloes you have gathered. Nothing else will produce satisfactory results. Try your own methods first if you wish but the results will be second rate. You can then save face by sending the resultant mis-hits to me for correction. I drink a lot of this stuff and I KNOW.

[hans1]

Once you've made your sloe gin and decanted it, don't throw the sloes away, just add a pint of cream sherry to the sloes. leave for a few months ( the longer the better)and then decant and enjoy the fruits of your Hard!! labour.

[samand]

Hi Just made my first sloe gin
its handy for me as i am a volunteer in a new planted woodland(5 years) so there are several blackthorn bushes,so handy


Picked a coffee jar full of sloes washed and cleaned them
Bought a 1 ltr gordons gin
Halved it into another bottle
Put in150 gms sugar in each
I pinch (squeeze) the sloes before putting inthe bottle
And thats it
I don't drink
but i will have lots of friends by christmas

[Thisgirl]

For even better results you could tap each sloe with a small hammer whilst frozen but this slightly increases the finger hurty risk.

[longredfingernails]

ive just learned how to make sloe gin but didnt realise I had to defrost the berries before pricking them!!!! wow frostbitten fingers..I added 4 ozs sugar to half a bottle of gin(all I had in the cupbpoard) I tasted some of a friends and wow just a tiny amount realy warms the cockles and it did my cough a power of good...

[lilybet]

Or bake them into a very boozy pie :)

[lilybet]

There is an easier way to do this step to save your fingers; if you bag up your sloes in freezer bags and freeze them overnight they will burst because the water expands inside them - then you just let them defrost in your bottle/demijohn thing and add the gin and sugar - works the same but takes less finger hurty stabby effort.

[lilybet]

We make plum gin every year - and damson gin - but have just moved house and have a sloe bush so now we're adding to our collection :) plum gin is delicious, sweeter than either sloe or damson gin.

[ax89]

I have learned some new things today - I had no idea that there was a type of berry called a 'sloe' or that there was actually a delightful sounding beverage called sloe gin. I am aware of a font called "sloe gin rickey" - is that a beverage too??

[Gill Lyden]

I am making damson gin - I made it 2 years ago exactly the same way as sloe gin - but I have lost the recipe! I have a pound of damsons in a bowl, with a pound of sugar (that's the amount of sugar my original recipe used). The unexpected damsons were picked yesterday (did not see any blossom this year, but saw damsons which had fallen!).There were far less damsons than previous years, but twice the size and not very visible until I went up the ladder. I have 4and a half pounds placed in plastic jars from bottled fruit bought in the supermarket,. I put them in a jar on the windowledge in the sun, as some were not quite ripe. Today one jar was full of juice, so I am having to make some gin quite quickly. I've put the rest in the freezer for later attention. Do I need a litre of gin for this amount of damsons? Please reply urgently if possible! Gill

[gong55]

And there's life in those sloes yet!  When they've done in the gin and you've taken them out, cover these gin-soaked sloes in sherry (fairly sweet is fine, but it depends on what you like) in a sealed container and leave for a week or two, shaking occasionally if you can remember.  It won't get the richness and colour of a good sloe gin, but it perks up a cheap sherry...

[PKM]

Someone needs to think up a cocktail involving this that you can set on fire, just so you can call it a "Sloe burner". Or maybe a "sloe comfortable (censored)"... If you follow this Instructable, don't be tempted to eat raw sloes. They have the magical ability to suck all of the water out of your mouth and replace it with a very strange, bitter, powdery sensation. There's an entire glass of sugar for a reason.

[littletom34]

There really is a drink called a "Sloe Comfort-able Screw" which is a variant of the classic screwdriver. It's made with sloe gin, Southern Comfort and orange juice.

[PKM]

I... wow. The levels of punning in that name are turning my brain inside out. Also, it sounds delicious.

[littletom34]

I never knew that sloe gin was really made with gin. Ya learn somethin' new every day, if you're not careful. Your method works with any fruit/alcohol combination. Vodka works best if you want the flavor of the fruit to be the main focus. Everclear gives you a really "potent potable" as they say on Jeopardy. x)

[djbarista]

use dragon fruit

[jello666]

I did something similar this fall with crabapples and rose petals using mason jars instead of water bottles. It turned out quite well.

[gr8gran64]

Can you only get Sloe's in England?? Dumb question probably.....I don't know if we have them here in the States...

[jongscx]

...I have no idea what sloes are... can we just use blueberries instead?

[susie]

Awesome to know in case they bring back prohibition with the depression! Isn't gin made with juniper berries? Those are plentiful, in California anyway.

[jongscx]

...this is just a way of flavoring the gin... You'd still need to get gin to make this...

[bustedit]

but what do you do if there's a bustle in the hedgerow? need I be alarmed?

[1arrow24]

naw, that's usually just a spring clean for the may queen:)

[bustedit]

heh, heh, good ol zep. nice instructable, too. very easy, cept for the waiting. I assume this could be adapted to any berry? i know that liqour containing sugar can give a nasty hangover, will this if taken in excess??

[faraway]

it probably could be adapted to most berries, I would think, although the fact that people having been making sloe gin in the countryside for a long time does kind of make you wonder...i mean, you never hear about plum gin or raspberry gin, for example. but it's worth trying it out. As for the hangover, drinking a lot of sloe gin reminds me of taking Nyquil (or Night Nurse in the UK)...kind of groggy but not in a bad way. but I suppose it depends on how excessive is excess :)

[AndyGadget]

AARGH! I hate it when that happens.
I was getting all geared up to do a sloe gin instructable, and you beat me to it! All I'm missing is the sloes and I'm planning on sloe hunting this weekend (although my usual favourite places have had a very poor crop this year).
Nice work though, I think you've covered everything, and I'd second your comments about the sugar. Many of the recipes use way too much (for my taste) and you end up with a very sickly end product. I think you've got it about right.
I usually make sloe gin in demijohns, and had a three-john-year last year, so drinking plenty this winter. It changes and improves with age, and develops a taste similar to a tawny port after a couple of years - if you can keep it that long. We finished off our three-year-old sloe gin a couple of weeks ago.

[jessyratfink]

I've never heard of a sloe before today, but this is really interesting. I don't really drink, but I think the things people do with alcohol are amazing. :D

[faraway]

yeah, it is kind of weird. i had always thought sloe gin was spelled 'slow gin' and i thought it was some kind of process for making gin (not that i had ever really thought about it that much). when i moved to the country and people talked about picking sloes for gin, i just had to try it out. it's much nicer than it sounds - beautiful color, really easy to drink and very strong.

[jessyratfink]

Yeah, I love the color!

I'm still really curious about this whole fruit/berries + alcohol thing. I think the closest I'll get here in Kentucky is the cranberry infused vodka!

[sonic_dan]

An easier method than pricking them all is to just put the sloes in a bag and put them in the freezer. This splits the skins - this is the way I've always done it and i've never had a problem! Just put the frozen sloes into your gin mixture and they'll thaw out. Another reason this is great is if you pick too many sloes (this inevitably happens), just keep them in the freezer, and you can use them whenever you want, without the need to prick them. I make sloe vodka in a similar way. I just pour the vodka out of the bottle (70cl bottle) into a jug, and fill the empty bottle roughly 1/3 full of sloes, add sugar until the bottle is about half full, and then pour the vodka back in - as much of it as you can. Then I just shake it every week, or whenever I remember to. This results in a really sweet sloe vodka that is great in the summer with lots of ice and lemonade, in a jug. I have a bottle that is nearly 2 years old that I haven't got round to yet! Nice instructable. 5 stars :)

[faraway]

the freezer bit is a very good idea. pricking the sloes is a pain after the first five minutes of novelty has worn off. plus it gives you time to get more gin or vodka if you've picked too many sloes. we almost ended up making sloe cognac (possibly interesting) and sloe Baileys (truly disgusting) before we found a forgotten bottle of vodka...

[chrisreeve]

In Surrey, the done thing is to add the sugar to your own personal taste after about two months.

[faraway]

that makes sense...

[code_e]

I suspect a completely acceptable version of this could be made using Chokecherry fruit, Prunus virginiana, by us yanks that don't have access to sloe berries. Chokecherries are a wild shrub in the same genus that is popular for making things like preserves, jelly, pies, etc.. They also share the characteristic of being horribly astringent when raw (hence the name), but make a superb cooked product.

[faraway]

chokecherry fruit is a fantastic name. My parents used to occasionally drink really cheap gin that they referred to as 'rotgut' (no doubt for a reason). I think if you used rotgut gin you could make 'chokecherry rotgut' which would sound really cool. I would definitely be intrigued/impressed (maybe possibly alarmed) if someone gave me chokecherry rotgut for a Christmas present...

[ast]

I like the country picture. Are those two sproggets allowed to drink sloe gin (even when cold ridden)?

Have to say, as well, nothing beats a Cornish [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_(barrier) hedgerow].