BS: Sloe Gin

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: paula t
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 05:29 PM

My sloe gin is even now sitting in a dark place, where it will be until I decant it at Christmas.Can't wait!

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 02:01 PM

Rumtopf

JM

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: gnu
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 01:46 PM

My buddy used to put a layer of peach slices, top it with dark rum.... and so on with diffrent fruit, in a large jar, set it in the window for months. He would spoon a bit on dessert cakes, slice of toast, whatever. Zome shockin good, me zon, me zon.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: GUEST,Bardan
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 01:39 PM

Oh and a similar idea, putting vanilla in (dark) rum for a while. One pod seems to do the job. Tastes divine.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Sooz
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 03:12 AM

I think the sloes were in single figures last year nationwide due to a very cold spell of weather at blossom time. Loads this year though!

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: bubblyrat
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 07:16 PM

WFD and I have had more luck this Autumn picking Sloes than last year,which was a bit fraught (at least in the Marlow area).But this year's offerings from the noble Blackthorn Bushes are somewhat of an improvement : in fact,we have been busy picking Blackberries and Walnuts (our fingers are still brown ) as well, and,indeed,Karen has already laid down a bottle or two of the elixir.My Sloes are still in my freezer,but I intend making some Sloe Vodka ere long,as I feel the urge coming on !

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: gnu
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 06:28 PM

Cure them to prunes. Make your liqueur. What a way to get the day STARTED.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Sooz
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 02:49 PM

Mmmm vanilla and ginger two of my favourites!
BTW the sloe gin is bound to be weaker as the juice will dilute the alcohol.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Morticia
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 02:21 PM

I've done redcurrant vodka with redcurrants from my allotment as well as the usual sloe gin. Put a vanilla pod in one bottle and a small lump of root ginger in a couple of the bottles just to see what it turns out like.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: GUEST,Bardan
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 02:21 PM

They ,ake incredibly sweet but quite nice stuff in the basque country called patxaran with (I believe) some other member of the sloe family and aniseedy alcohol stuff. The commercial stuff comes out about as weak as the commercial sloe gin for some reason. The unlabelled bottle variety packs a bit more of a punch. The nicest home-made spirit type thing ive ever had though is calva.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 11:23 AM

Try lemon vodka. Use a zester, and put all the wee curls of peel into a bottle, the zest off 2 lemons is usually enough, about 6 Oz sugar, and a drop or two of almond essence.

Yummo

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Sooz
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 11:10 AM

We put a lot less sugar in - about 5 oz to the pound.
Blackcurrant vodka is lovely as well. I've made some raspberry vodka this year but haven't bottled ot yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Mr Happy
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 10:39 AM

I've done both damson gin & vodka - both brill & good cough mixture too!

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: GUEST,Dazbo at work
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 10:12 AM

Tried the freeze sloes first approach, didn't seem to make it any easier/quicker to me. I just hold each sloe between thumb and forefinger and with a sharp knife cut along as much of the circumference of the sloe as you can easily reach and drop into demijohn (actually a Weston's Old Rosie scrumpy bottle as mentioned above).

My brother spends a long time each year in France and they have plenty of sloes but don't make sloe gin (although they do use to flavour a different alcoholic drink but he couldn't remember what it is).

Sloe vodka was awful when I made it. Sloe (dark) rum was nice though.

My recipe:

1 bottle cheapest gin (7ocL)
1 lb of sloes
1 lb sugar (although I tend to put a bit less in, say 12-14oz)

Shake demijohn every day till sugar is dissolved

Leave for as long as possible (at least three months and years better)

Decant into bottles for use (I filter through an old but clean hankie)

Enjoy!

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 09:56 AM

I prefer Sloe Vodka these days. I have been told that Sloe Whisky is nice too, not tried it though

JM

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 09:49 AM

I believe the 'traditional' method is to prick the sloes with a thorn from the tree ( . . . actually, I think I heard that from Eddie Grundy on 'The Archers' . . . ).
In fact I never bother with either pricking or freezing, just put them in a big jar, such as those used in sweet shops, add a bit of sugar and plenty of gin, and the sloes swell and burst all by themselves.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Mr Happy
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 07:35 AM

Yup, it's that time of year again, for getting the sloes, damsons etc ready for some winter warmers!

I note above that when some folks are doing sloe gin, they prick the fruits to aid juice extaction.

This is a really fiddly & time consuming way of accomplishing it.

A much easier way is to stick the fruit in the freezer 'til it's froze, then leave to thaw.

You can put it in your jar/ brew vessel so's not to waste any juice.

Then continue the proces as normal.

A sieve or jellybag can be used to remove stones, stalks etc

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 05 Dec 08 - 12:41 PM

Another strangely interesting thread of the type that keeps me coming back to mudcat.

Anyway,
I am a geezerish yank and usually respond to "thank you" with "you're welcome."
The "kids" I work with usually respond with "no problem."

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Genie
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 10:36 PM

Aw, Janie, yer such a generous soul! LOL   (Yeah, not necessary, but t'anks so much for sharing!) LOL

Genie

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: folk1e
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 08:37 PM

or ........ "No, thank you"

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 04:41 PM

The correct reply to "Thank you" is "Not at all".

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 03:36 PM

*smile* Hi, Noreen...

I almost never hear Americans say "you're welcome" anymore....especially on news program interviews. The standard reply to "thank you" is just......"thank you". I have commented on it for several years.
I'm always surprised when anyone says it the 'old-fashioned way'.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 03:23 PM

sorry, Noreen; I should have said, "In my 17 years living in the UK, I cannot remember ever hearing a British person saying 'You're welcome' to me, and in fact my British partner, whom I would not describe as a particularly young person, teases me because he perceives it as an Americanism."

Is that better? :)

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Noreen
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 03:19 PM

They don't really say "you're welcome" in the UK- major generalisation there, Ruth!

I still say 'you're welcome', as do my family. I think it has dropped into disuse among young people.

I feel a thread coming on...

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 03:33 AM

Richard: it's the easiset thing in the world to make at home - and it's definitely stronger than that. Go for it! (Though you'll have to wait till next year now, unless you have a friend with a sloe stash in their freezer.)

But I still recommend the chocolates.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: paula t
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 07:55 PM

Ruth,
the fruit was also rather nice with ice cream!

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 06:46 PM

(and *I* still use loose Tea, also...I have drunk good tea for 50 years now, and I have won bets about being able to taste the paper in a row of cups made both ways.)

hmmmmm...the Sloe gin is nice! Sweeter than stuff I usually drink,(like single malt) but a pleasant after-dinner taste...

Thank you Andrew & Carole, if you read this... If not, I will send PMs.. *grin*

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 06:39 PM

I was presented with two small bottles of homemade Sloe gin by some very nice folks recently...have never tried it. I will now open one and try it as I sit here...

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 06:15 PM

Flaming Heck, that's a HALF bottle, still only 26% ABV and fifteen quid! I think I can feel building my own still coming on!

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 04:28 AM

Here you go:

Sloe Motion

It looks like they've changed the chocolates - they used to have a whole sloe in the middle surrounded by a sloe jelly; now they seem to make sloe truffles with the fruit instead. I feel a Christmas order coming on...

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 03:40 AM

"That tip earlier to coat the fruit with dark chocolate sounds a great idea. I am going to try that."

If Sloemotion is still going, you should check them out. The company is based in north Yorks, and makes really good, homemade-style sloe gin. But then they make gorgeous chocolates with the spent sloes....I think you can order them direct. Great for Christmas.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 03:14 AM

So does Manitas.... he says it doesn't leave a scum on the water (thinks, isn't that a Deep Purple song?), but it is a pain in the ass when he clogs up the plughole with it, or manages to flick it down the kitchen wall when emptying it into the bin.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 06:28 PM

I still use loose Tea

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 06:08 PM

Rumtopf is usually chunkier.

Take fruit and a big wide necked jar. Put slices of fruit (apricots, pineapple, grapes, whatever) in layers, sprinkling sugar over each layer. Top up with rum. Continue until the jar is full. Tap hard several times to get the air out. Put a saucer or something on the top, to press it down then put the lid on. Leave it for a month.

Take the fruit out and eat it in a fruit salad, a trifle (although you may have trouble getting the jelly to set), with cream, with ice cream... anywhere you'd have fresh fruit. But this will have a kick.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: greg stephens
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 03:08 PM

Ruth Archer's theory that the sugar turns into more alcohol sounds like a folk myth to me. Surely things can't go on fermenting if the liquid is 26% alcohol or whatever?
I always add sugar by the way. And don't confine myself to sloes, I just pick any berries as they are in season and bung them in.Sloes, damsons, blackberries, raspberries. I think they call this rumtopf in Germany..is it made with rum? I use gin, or occasionally some dubious stuff in plastic lemonade bottles that friends from Bosnia used to bring in in their luggage. That stuff, incidentally, was a very great deal stronger than commercially available gin.
DRink the stuf(normally the Christmas after it's made, sometimes a year or more later), eat the fruit, possibly with icecream. That tip earlier to coat the fruit with dark chocolate sounds a great idea. I am going to try that.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 03:07 PM

If you want to speed up the process, Richard, you just need to freeze the sloes first, as someone earlier said. They give up their juice as they defrost.

Most people I know say "Cheers" for "Thank you".

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Bonecruncher
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 02:57 PM

Richard.
Don't try the blender thing. Part of the flavour of sloe gin comes from the stones, some of which burst and allow the gin to take up the slight almond flavour of the kernel.
Mashing fruit with a blender causes the cell walls to disintegrate and form almost a colloidal suspension. It takes months for that sediment (the lees) to lay down so that the drink can be racked off.
It is well known in wine-making circles that, sometimes, a wine will not clear until the fruit comes into season the following year.
Obviously, if our forefathers could have found a simpler way of making any beverage more simply the it would today be common practice. Look how teabags have usurped the tea caddy!
Colyn.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 01:09 PM

The formal English response to "Thank you" is "Not at all"
The informal English response to "Ta" is "Cheers" which fits well with the subject matter.

My late father once made some home-made gin - not using a still - and it was just drinkable but probably well underproof. It might be the thing to do with the sloes.

I'm wondering if it would be practical to stone the sloes and then wizz them in a blender and leave in the gin to settle.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 11:55 AM

Poppagator - "is that a UK practive/tradition that never made it across the pond?"

Not entirely sure but I don't think the blackthorn plant made it across the pond. And if it had, Health and Safety would ban it due to those aforementioned inch long thorns... the clue is in the name!

The blackthorn is a relative of the plum, sloes look a lot like miniature plums and have a single, very hard stone. You could use damsons or any other small, dark, sharp plum fruit.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: PoppaGator
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 10:59 AM

I think the Canadians say "no worries" as well.

Rum sounds like a great idea for soaking those beans

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 10:43 AM

"Irish-Kahlua-cream"

Substitute Baileys for the whiskey and you've got yer actual Mudslide. We used to drink that by the pint in my youth...lots of ice. In fact, they're gorgeous frozen, too.

They don't really say "you're welcome" in the UK - my partner always makes fun of me when I say it. I guess "No worries" is an equivalent, but I think that's originally Australian...

What about coffee beans and rum? That sounds like it should work.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: PoppaGator
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 10:10 AM

Ruth, is there an appropriately colloquial response to "ta" which would be equivalent to the more formal "you're welcome"?

Anyway, you're welcome.

When I first heard that "homemade Kahlua" recipe, I wondered about the use of vodka. I suppose it's the most tasteless available form of alcohol in which to infuse the coffee ~ the best alternative to avoid masking the coffee flavor. Now that I think about it (again), I'm intrigued by the idea of soaking the coffee beans in Bushmills instead of vodka, making a sort of concentrated Irish-coffee liqueur.

Irish whiskey, incidentally, is an excellent substitute-for/improvement-upon vodka in the White Russian recipe: Irish-Kahlua-cream instead of vodka-Kahlua-cream.

Of course, without the vodka, the drink is no longer Russian at all. It doesn't make a lot of sense to call the revised libation a "White Irishman"; in homage to the Coen Brothers' character The Dude (in The Big Lebowski), I prefer to call it an "Irish Caucasian."

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 08:13 AM

"is that a UK practive/tradition that never made it across the pond?"

I guess it depends whether you have sloes round your way or not...I never knew anyone who made their own booze in America, but I know loads of people who do in the UK. Maybe it's because the UK countryside is a bit more accessible, with so many footpaths and such...people think nothing of going and picking blackberries or other hedgerow fruit if it's on a footpath, whereas in America you'd either be scared you'd die intstantly from eating anything you picked off a bush in the forest, like they always warned us in Girl Scouts, or scared the landowner would shoot you for nicking his berries.

The coffee bean thing is definitely my next project. Ta for that.

Subject: BS: Sloe Gin
From: GUEST,Malcolm
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 07:39 AM

I used to make sloe gin with fresh sloes, when we lived near the New Forest. It was a delightful pink colour.
Put your sloes in a screw top jar, cover with sugar, add gin (any - I used cheap stuff) to comfortably cover.
Shake the jar every time you walk past past. After a couple of months or so, strain off and bottle. Sweeten/fortify to taste. Leave to mature for as long as you can bear.
It wasn't terribly scientific, but after a glass or two who cares?

You can buy dried sloes, but it's not the same. The colour is brown (commercial sloe gin is often brown) and the taste wasn't the same.

Be careful if you pick sloes - the thorns are absolutely evil, straight and strong, wounds hurt like mad and take ages to heal.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: PoppaGator
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 05:14 AM

My first and last experience with sloe gin occurred in 1972. I had recently relocated and met up with a crowd who were enthusiasts at the time. I drank too much too easily and got really puke-ass sick. Never again!

It was standard-issue storebought sloe gin, and I believe we were drinking it straight-up, not in mixed-drink form (e.g., "slow gin fizz"). I was not aware that people made their own; is that a UK practive/tradition that never made it across the pond?

Just a few months after the sloe-gin-regurgitation episode (and many miles away, on the opposite US coast), I encountered a young lady whose mother regularly provided her with an ongoing supply of homemade Kahlua. I believe the procedure was to soak/marinate coffee beans in vodka (which is why the discussion of sloe gin production reminded me of it). Now, THAT stuff was very good!

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Bonecruncher
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 09:01 PM

Just keep your sloe gin, andall other spirits, away from the refridgerator and the ice.
All spirits are meant to be drunk at slightly less than body heat, which is why a brandy glass is tulip-shaped. Indeed, there are particular shapes of glass for red wine and other shapes for white wine, each designed to augment the nose of the liquid.
The individuals who add ice to drinks demonstrate their total lack of class.
The only thing to add to Scotch is Highland water or (preferably) more whisky.
Colyn.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 08:51 PM

My mother made strawberry vodka and kept it for ages - it definitely got much stronger over time, and she was told that this was down to the sugar.

I haven't made cinnamon vodka this year, Dave - but I finally cracked the elderflower and lemon vodka last summer. it was stunningly good.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 02:44 PM

This thread is developing a rather gratifying life of its own!

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: paula t
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 02:21 PM

Made damson gin many years ago. It was gorgeous! I then took the damsons from the gin and dipped them in good dark chocolate. Lovely,potent chocolates.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloe Gin
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 02:02 PM

Gawd Genie......You were one of those huh?

Yeah, back in college a lot of people got into sloe gin and Southern Comfort since they were cheap and sweet and all that. I remember a lot of them having the same basic result off the mixture. I could never quite take the syrupy sweetness of those assorted concoctions and preferred to throw up after a night of Jack Daniels or Old Granddad. Whatever your choices, there is something memorable about half a dozen or more people sprawled on the tiles of the dorm floor's communal john surrounded by, in, and/or adding to the pungent and heady aroma of stomach contents partially digested.

Spaw