Do we have any Sloe Gin fans here?

hyperfish

This reminds me of our holiday in the US this year. The pitchers of beer were leaving the bar with black blobs floating and sinking in them. I had to ask the barman, they were blueberries. Never seen or heard of this before.

IronGiant

I think that's just marketing speak ie "our un-bleached paper will make your coffee taste better."  In other words it doesn't contain any flavour.

hyperfish

So this year.

I didn't pick any sloes as I still have a kilo or so in the freezer. But I have managed to save a litre that I started steeping a year a go.

Kept in the corner of the spare bedroom under a black towel. I even forgot to agitate if after a few weeks had passed.

This is how it came out.
                                                                               

Ran it though a sieve to separate the berries.
                                                                               

A bit murky but not too bad.
                                                                               

Passing it though muslin cloth 4 times, and then another 2 through cotton cloth removed this.
                                                                               

The difference is more apparent than the pics suggest.
                                                                               

Need my wife to come home to find my funnel before bottling.

Tempest

My Sloe Whisky is STILL in the bottles with the berries from the beginning of LAST November.

I've had myself and given away about 1 bottles, worth, but still 4  bottles left.
Does not seem to have done it any harm being there over a year

hyperfish

I have a bit in a bottle from last year. It was only on the berries 2 month before bottling.

Tonight I'll compare the two and see if the wait is justified.

hyperfish

Just had a taster, very good.

For the comparison, bottled today is on the left.
                                                                                 
As can be seen, the left one is less deep in colour and less opaque.
                                                                                 

Flavour wise, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart in a blind tasting.
That part surprised me.

sniffer66

Well, I've just passed my 3 batches for this year through a muslin and its back in the Kilners.

Really pleased with the colour of the sloe gin this year. I left the berries in the freezer for a few weeks then hit them, still frozen, in a plastic bag with a rolling pin to make sure I really had the skins broken. Will leave for another week, do a taste test and see if a little more sugar is needed. Its so much richer looking in colour than last years, which didnt get the bash with the rolling pin

The pink liquid in the other Kilner is Champagne rhubarb vodka. My mum and dad had a glut in their allotment so gave me a load, which I froze. I found a recipe online and it has sugar, a cinnamon stick and a few slices of lemon peel in it. Can't wait to try that one

                                                                       

hyperfish

I was thinking that it's about time to get the Sloe started, then I remembered I still have some in the freezer. So here it is, 1 litre of Gordons (On offer at £16 at Asda), 750g of Sloes and 3 table spoons of sugar.

                                                                       

its_all_Greek

Made my first ever as couple of weeks ago, Happened to be working on a site with a load of Blackthorn bushes so decided to give it a go.

hyperfish

6 days later after inverting the jar each day,  it's ready to put in the spare bedroom with a towel over and leave it