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Just happened to pass by here - DON'T make sloe gin - the children and grandchildren seem to think it's a FRUIT DRINK - after all that work!! = Tim

Tis nectar Tim! And very highly revered in our house! DP

You can substitute damsons for the sloes and make a wonderful damson gin, same method.  You can also use the damsons for a crumble when you have strained the gin off.  
Janet H

Yummy Janet!  Good first post, alcohol and pudding related!  Fab!!  Just need to find me a Damson tree now!

Okay, sloe gin is heading down to the west country this weekend to be opened with my grandparents - who are a pair of lushes - so we will all be pickled by Saturday night - hoorah!

WoW! Sloe gin,my fav!
I've been making this for many a year.We even planted a hedge of blackthorn so I have my own fruit to pick.The seedlings grow like wildfire and spread like mad.

I used to prick the sloes till I read that freezing them for a short time does the business of breaking the skin and letting out the juices.Much easier.Also means I can pick when convenient and make gin at a later date.

This stuff is soooo good that when one of my sons and his mates stopped by to first foot us at New Year,I opened the bottle and suffice it to say they did not go on to the planned celebrations but finished all me Sloe gin and a great and hilarious time was had by all despite the age gap!

There was also single malt on offer but,only taken up when the SG done!

;D ;)Toots

Sugar? So I put sloes in bottle(1L whiskey bottle) add about 2 inches sugar then add gin to cover?
picked some this morning. Becky`s last words as I left the car were, see you later pikey!

Doris - don't I know it - & the children too!!
I think I mentioned that I let my damsons rot, so it's Victoria plum gin this time.

Emma - the stuff's supposed to MATURE for 3 months!! = Tim

Last autumns gin did mature for 3 months.  It was bottles on New Years Day and guzzled mid April.  This time I don't think it will have a chance!  Bottling will begin Christmas Eve as I want to give my grandparents a bottle Christmas Day, and mum some, and the inlaws a drop, and maybe my sister will like a tipple.....hell!  I had better go picking again, I fear there won't be any left for Ava and me!!!  :o

MMMmmmmmmm! ;D
Maturing nicely,can`t wait, never tried it before!

DON'T make the mistake that I did.

No sloes, damsons went off, so - plum gin?

But ripe plums do not need the same sugar as sloes - do they!!! = Tim

I don't add my sugar until the end Tim, when everything has been marinading (?) for ages!  in the form of sugar syrup! Taste, add more syrup, taste again, hic, add more syrup, and again, hic hic, syrup, who needs the stuff! ;D

SO sensible, DP.

But I'm SO ashamed of myself. No sloes?? Well, get out & get some! But my knees etc are not that good with syles & the like. And I would have to walk miles to find the things?

Well, not really. Friend said look in X's field at the bottom of the hill. So, early this am, with some difficulty, managed a very tall style & ...... that's what I call sloes!! Tim

WOW!!!   Salivating at the thought of the end result! ;D

I thought the suger, in part, to draw the juice out of the sloes -as well as adding sweetnes? I.e. sloes in suger first and then booze? Still it obviously works for you Doris.

We've sloes at the back of our hedge I think, but it's a ten minute walk to get there as we've no back gate. Really must get mine going soon, maybe I'll make some for this year and some for next as there's damsons in the freezer.

Jeremy

It's a bit late now, but next year try blackberry vodka, just bung them in the bottle with 2" of sugar and wait until xmas, cherrys, strawberrys, raspberrys etc they all work as well.

We have made Sloe Gin for the first time this year and it is fantastic !!

Has anyone got ideas for what to do with the Sloes after steeping in the Gin ??

Thanks in Advance.
Slick

:P :P :P :P :P :P :P

Am I a bit old fashioned - or are people a bit over-eager these days? I was always taught three months?

Or do your sloes ripen before ours?= Tim

I was taught 3 months too Tim!

Yup, 3 months means I will be bottling mine Christmas Eve ready to give as gifts Christmas day.  How on earth am I going to stop grandad drinking the lot that day is beyond me!