Sloe Gin Recipe

Sloes are the fruit on a blackthorn tree.  They are ready for picking when they turn blue, usually in late August/September/October time. You can spot them growing wild in hedgerows on a walk in the countryside.  It’s great fun to go on a family walk and forage for sloes.  They look like large blueberries but are too bitter to eat. However they can be used to make sloe gin – a gin liqueur made from gin infused with sloes and sugar.  If you make sloe gin in September/October it will be ready in around 3 months time – perfect for the grown ups to sample on Christmas Day.  If you pour your sloe gin into a nice bottle and make a pretty label it makes a wonderful homemade Christmas present for grandparents.

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Here’s our recipe for how to make sloe gin:

Sloe Gin Ingredients:

  • Sloe berries
  • Brown sugar
  • Gin
  • Empty wine bottle with screw lid
  • Pretty bottle to package your finished sloe gin and a label. We like this one from DrinkStuff.

How to make Sloe Gin:

  • Fill the empty wine bottle with sloes up to where the sides of the bottle start to curve.
  • Add half a cup of brown sugar.
  • Fill the bottle with gin.
  • Screw the bottle cap on.
  • Shake the bottle gently to mix the sloes, gin and sugar.  Pop it in the cupboard and shake gently every few days to allow the sloes to infuse.
  • The sloe gin will be ready in 2-3 months time. Pour the sloe gin into a pretty presentation bottle.  It can be served neat as a gin liqueur.

 

 

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