Rye is full of gin with one of the biggest selection in the south east. Pick some sloes which you find in the hedgerows around Rye and make some sloe gin to enter in the Rye News Gin competition, which be at the end of February or beginning of March. This is a community fun event at the Waterworks pub.
Last year’s competition saw some amazing sloe gins that were delicious. Some were inspired, embellished with other fruit – there were damson and plum gin entered. This year’s competition will included spirit-based home brew fruit tipple which could include blackberry whiskey, elderberry liquor, raspberry gin, damson gin and elderflower gin.
There are many recipes and preparation methods you will often see – but you can safely ignore sterilising  your bottles. Nonsense! You’re filling with 40% gin, not baby milk. Brewers and wine makers must sterilise, but for us the best bottle is the one the original gin came in, or any other clean bottle.
Wash the sloes thoroughly. If you feel better for washing, then a light rinse is all that’s really necessary. Don’t pick bird-fouled fruit in the first place!
Use Kilner jars or other wide-necked containers. Most bottles are OK. The merits of plastic bottles are debatable.
Tightly seal your bottles. Any old stopper will do. There is no pressure build-up during the making of sloe gin. Unlike wine and beer making, there is no fermentation, so there is no pressure. But a good seal is still desirable so the bottle can be shaken or turn at least twice a week without spills.
The maximum alcohol strength of your sloe gin is entirely dependent on the strength of the gin you put in, and is probably slightly reduced by volume by the sugar and sloe juices. Many factors, however, can combine to give different flavour results – eg more or less sugar; more or less sloes; more or less time before decanting.
Do not be tempted to drink all your sloe gin at Christmas –Â leave some for the Rye News annual sloe gin competition for amateur homemade brew in the New Year.
Making sloe gin is slow but not laborious. There’s no cooking required, just patience as the sloes steep in the gin.
Ingredients:
450g/1lb sloes
225g/8oz caster sugar
1litre/1¾ pint gin
Preparation method:
1. Prick the tough skin of the sloes all over with a clean needle and put in a large sterilised jar.
2. Pour in the sugar and the gin, seal tightly and shake well.
3. Store in a cool, dark cupboard and shake every other day for a week. Then shake once a week for at least two months.
4. Strain the sloe gin through muslin into a sterilised bottle.
This is not really a recipe, more just a loose set of instructions, the nice thing about sloe gin is it lends itself to improvisation such as freezing the sloes then hitting them with a hammer instead of pricking them!
Image Credits: Chris Lawson .