Topic: Newbie wanting to get started

[laurie]

Hello all, I'm a complete newbie to all of this and was just wondering if there is any drink I can make that will be ready for the summer months. I love the idea of sloe gin but think I've missed the boat on that. I've seen the thread on turbo cider, so I'll give that ago. I've got six demi johns in the shed that are half filled with a reddish liquid that I'm not sure what it is. As I said I am a complete novice at this so any advice would be very appreciated.

[cleo]

Laurie-scroll down to my post on `Elderflower Wine`-the book I suggest there is now very old but if you can find a copy it`s well worth looking at.

[laurie]

Excellent. Thank you.
Anyone else have any ideas?
Whilst we're on this subject can someone tell me how to make sloe gin.

Thank you

[triffid]

Sloe Gin
(you'll need to save this recipe till autumn unless you have a stash of sloes from last year in the freezer)

2 lb sloes
2 pints gin
8 oz sugar (or half-half sugar and honey)

Wash the sloes and bung them into a freezer bag. Freeze them fast so their skins split (this replaces the traditional chore of pricking each sloe with a needle or a blackthorn thorn, which is definitely a mug's game!)

When you remember your bag of frozen sloes, retrieve them and tip them into a large jar. Add the gin and sugar (or sugar and honey). Close the jar firmly and give it a good shake.

Every day so so for the first week, give the jar a good swirl to help the sugar dissolve. Then put it out of temptation, somewhere cool and preferably dark, for at least three months (I leave mine for a year, but I like my SG very sloey).

After three months, taste -- if you like, leave it to soak up a bit more sloeyness -- if you're happy with the taste, filter it and enjoy. The ginny sloes themselves also make a wonderful, boozy topping for dark chocolate ice cream.  :P
 

[Barnowl]

I'm a traditionalist - I prick my sloes. ;)

[triffid]

I'm a traditionalist - I prick my sloes. ;)

My fingers get bored. And blue. And perforated!
The freezer treatment evolved a few years ago when I flung the last couple of pounds of unstabbed sloes into the freezer because I couldn't bear pricking any more (I'd done 12lb that night ...  ::) ) ... When I finally thawed them out, I realised that the freezing had done the job perfectly well, thanked my guardian angel and never looked back!  ;D

[Barnowl]

But I found sloe gin prepared with frozen sloes tended to go brown after a year or two, whereas my traditional 10 year is still a lovely red. Don't think the taste changed for the worse, just the look.

Yes I know what you're going to say - how do you keep it so long? Because we go mad making vast quantities for three or four years in a row, then miss a few years because we're not provoked into action until we see a nearly empty store.

I also blend the different years/ bottles to get the right balance of sweetness (I'm a bit inconsistent with the sugar). Sort of Bodega system ;D