Sloe Gin

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large sterilised glass jar or two (1.5 litres total capacity)
• •Sharp needle or small paring knife for pricking
• •Muslin cloth and sieve for straining
• •Clean bottles for decanting

Instructions

1. 1

   Pick the sloes

   Wait for the first frost. This isn't superstition, it's patience. The cold softens the skins and breaks down some of the astringency, and the berries give up their flavour more willingly. Walk the hedgerows on a clear November morning with a basket or a bag, and look for the dusty blue-black fruit of the blackthorn. They grow in prickly clusters. Mind the thorns. Pick only the ripe ones, the ones that give slightly under a thumb.

   If the frost is late or the birds have beaten you to it, pick the sloes when they're ripe and pop them in the freezer overnight. It does the same job. The purists will tell you otherwise. The purists can wait until December.
2. 2

   Prepare the berries

   Rinse the sloes in cold water and pick out any leaves, stalks, or sorry-looking ones. Pat them dry. Now comes the meditative bit: prick each berry two or three times with a sharp needle or the tip of a small knife. This lets the gin draw the colour and flavour out. It takes a while. Put the radio on, pour yourself something, and work through them slowly. There are few better ways to spend half an hour on a dark afternoon.

   If you froze your sloes, the ice crystals have already done the pricking for you. Tip them straight from the freezer into the jar and skip ahead.
3. 3

   Layer in the jar

   Find a large, clean jar or two, something with a good tight seal, around 1.5 litres total capacity. Sterilise them by washing in hot soapy water and drying in a low oven. Tip the sloes in, then the sugar. Add the lemon peel or vanilla if you're using them. Pour the gin over the top until the berries are completely submerged. Leave a little room at the top for shaking.

4. 4

   Seal and shake

   Screw the lid on tight and give the jar a good shake to start the sugar dissolving. The gin will already be taking on colour within an hour, apale rose that deepens as the day goes on. Write the date on a bit of masking tape and stick it to the jar. You'll want to know when it's ready.

5. 5

   Steep and wait

   Put the jar somewhere cool and dark. A cupboard, a shelf in the pantry, under the stairs. For the first two weeks, give it a shake every day or two. After that, shake it whenever you remember, which is to say not very often. The gin will turn from pale pink to crimson to a deep, brooding ruby over the coming weeks. Trust the colour. It knows what it's doing.

6. 6

   Strain and bottle

   After three months, the sloe gin is ready. Taste a spoonful. It should be rich, almondy, slightly bitter at the edges, with a kind of dark fruit depth that feels like Christmas in a glass. Strain it through a muslin cloth set over a sieve into a clean jug. Don't squeeze the berries, let it drip at its own pace, or you'll end up with a cloudy bottle. Pour into clean, sterilised bottles and seal.

   Don't throw the soaked sloes away. Stone them and fold them through melted dark chocolate, or tip them into a jar with a bottle of cheap brandy and start all over again. Nothing is wasted.
7. 7

   Pour at Christmas

   Serve small and cold, in little glasses, after a long meal when people have loosened their shoulders and started telling the old stories. It doesn't need anything else. Not ice, not tonic, not a garnish. Just a cold glass and the quiet satisfaction of something you made in November finding its moment in December.

Chef Tips

• •Don't waste good gin on this, but don't use cheap rubbish either. A middling supermarket gin, around 37.5% to 40% ABV, is exactly right. The sloes and sugar will do most of the character work, but the gin has to be drinkable on its own or the finished bottle will taste harsh.
• •The sugar is a matter of taste. I use 250g for 500g of sloes, which gives a liqueur that's rich but not cloying. If you like it sweeter, push it to 300g. If you want something drier and more spirit-forward, drop it to 200g. Taste it at the three-month mark and add more sugar then if you need to, it'll dissolve in a day or two.
• •A few people swear by adding a handful of bitter almonds or a few drops of almond essence for that marzipan note that pairs so well with stone fruit. I sometimes do, sometimes don't. The sloes themselves carry a hint of almond already, so it's a gilding thing, not a necessity.
• •Start it by the end of November if you want it ready for Christmas. Late starters can still make a batch at the turn of the year and have something splendid by Easter. The calendar is flexible. The waiting is not.

Advance Preparation

• •Sloe gin needs a minimum of three months steeping, though it improves considerably with six, and reaches its full, mellow depth after a year. Make it in November for Christmas, or in December for the following autumn.
• •Once bottled, it keeps indefinitely in a cool, dark place. An opened bottle will hold its character for a year or more, though in practice it never lasts that long.
• •The strained sloes can be stoned and folded through melted dark chocolate to make boozy truffles, or topped up with brandy and sugar for a second, lighter infusion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 55g)