How to make sloe gin: a quick and easy recipe for this delicious homemade gin liqueur - Craft Gin Club | The UK's No.1 gin club (2024)

While there are some lovely sloe gins available, nothing could be more satisfying than making your own batch of this stunning, deep purple flavoured gin.

And with the blackthorn bushes around the country heaving with an abundance of sloe berries almost ready for you to pick, then now - September - is the perfect season to try your hand at this lovely recipe.

Not tried sloe gin before or new to the whole homemade gin thing? Let’s cover a few of the basics first!

What is sloe gin?

Sloe gin is not, in fact, gin! Technically, it’s a flavoured gin liqueur…

How to make sloe gin: a quick and easy recipe for this delicious homemade gin liqueur - Craft Gin Club | The UK's No.1 gin club (1)

Sloe gin is a ruby-red liqueur

Ok, so now you’re wondering, what does that mean - what’s the difference between gin and sloe gin? And what does sloe gin taste like?

Well, while ginis made from distilling a base spirit with juniper and additional herbs and spices to create a clear spirit that’s about 40% alcohol, sloe ginis made by combining an existing gin with lots of sugar andsloeberries. Over time, the flavour of the sloe berries steeps into the gin, and the mixture forms into a deep, fruity and sweet ruby-red liqueur. Due to this process, the alcohol level for sloe gin is also lower than ‘normal’ gin, at about 20%.

So in summary: sloe gin is red in colour, has a fruity berry flavour, a sweeter, more syrupy texture than gin, and is lower in alcohol.

How do I drink sloe gin?

Sloe gin is delicious in cocktails - try one of our easy recipes here! >>

As sloe gin is a liqueur, you might choose to drink it in a slightly different way from gin - it’s lovely neat or over ice, with no need for tonic or mixer, for example. It’s also absolutely delicious in cocktails! See more of our serving suggestions below.

How to make sloe gin

First, you need to decide if you want to make sloe gin from ripe, frozen or dried berries. We recommend picking your own berries for maximum flavour (and sense of achievement!).

Despite the rumour that you need to wait until after the first frost of the year (that’s just to soften the skin, which helps the juice to seep out) it’s really just down to looking at the fruits and giving them a squeeze to see if they are ripe and ready.

The berries should feel soft enough to have a bit of give, exactly like a ripe plum. If they’re still hard - give them a miss for a few weeks, then try again.

So when is the best time to pick sloes? Usually, sloes will start to be ripe enough to pick in early autumn; those that have ripened in the sunshine will be ready first, and will also likely be sweeter than those that have grown in the shade. (Oh, but please note - as tempting as they look, sloes do NOT taste good raw! Pop one in your mouth and you’ll end up pulling a face not even a mother could love…)

You can freeze your berries until you’re ready to make your sloe gin - in fact, the freezing sloes makes their skins burst, which can help speed up the maceration process when you do start to make your liquid.

If it’s not the season for sloes, you can still make sloe gin from dried berries, which are available in many shops or online all year round. Check out our blog here for a good recipe.

It will take all of two minutes - honest - to actually prepare your homemade sloe gin; then all you need to do is wait!

It will take at least four weeks for your gin to take on a really rich flavour and colour, and you can leave it for much longer if you wish - we’d recommend up to three months. Many people leave their sloe gin to steep for years!

So if you’re planning on making some sloe gin to bottle and wrap up as a Christmas gift for the gin lover in your life, try to get your batch underway by the start of November.

A couple of tips before you start:

  1. Pop your sloe berries into the freezer the night before you plan to make your gin. This is particularly useful if you have picked your sloes before the first frosts of the year (see above). Freezing sloe berries helps to break down the skin, ensuring that the flavourful juice can steep into your gin more easily.
  2. Use a good quality, neutral gin. The flavour of the sloes and sugar can’t mask a nasty gin!

Pop your sloe berries into the freezer the night before you plan to make your gin. This is particularly useful if you have picked your sloes before the first frosts of the year (see above). Freezing sloe berries helps to break down the skin, ensuring that the flavourful juice can steep into your gin more easily.

Use a good quality, neutral gin. The flavour of the sloes and sugar can’t mask a nasty gin!

How to make sloe gin: a quick and easy recipe for this delicious homemade gin liqueur - Craft Gin Club | The UK's No.1 gin club (4)

Homemade sloe gin

Sloe Gin Recipe

500g sloe berries
250g caster sugar (or to taste)
70cl (one bottle) gin

  • Pour all three ingredients in a sterilised glass jar, close and shake well.
  • Start with just enough sugar to cover the sloes. You can always taste the gin and add more sugar at a later date, if you prefer it a little sweeter.
  • Store the gin in a cool, dark place and make sure the lid is on tightly. Give the jar a good shake about twice a week to help the flavours infuse.
  • After four weeks, taste your gin and add more sugar if you like. If you want a gin with more depth of flavour, leave the sloes to steep for a few more weeks (or months - there are no hard and fast rules). Once the gin is to your liking, strain the liquid through a muslin cloth int and pour into a clean bottle.
  • Keep your sloe gin tightly sealed in a cool, dark place (this could be the fridge) and it will last for at least a month. Many people leave their sloe gin to mature for years before opening!
  • Top tip: If you wanted to experiment with your flavoured gin, why not try adding some other fruits, herbs or spices to your infusion? Damsons, vanilla, almonds and cinnamon all work well with sloe berries for a twist on the usual flavour!

Pour all three ingredients in a sterilised glass jar, close and shake well.

Start with just enough sugar to cover the sloes. You can always taste the gin and add more sugar at a later date, if you prefer it a little sweeter.

Store the gin in a cool, dark place and make sure the lid is on tightly. Give the jar a good shake about twice a week to help the flavours infuse.

After four weeks, taste your gin and add more sugar if you like. If you want a gin with more depth of flavour, leave the sloes to steep for a few more weeks (or months - there are no hard and fast rules). Once the gin is to your liking, strain the liquid through a muslin cloth int and pour into a clean bottle.

Keep your sloe gin tightly sealed in a cool, dark place (this could be the fridge) and it will last for at least a month. Many people leave their sloe gin to mature for years before opening!

Top tip: If you wanted to experiment with your flavoured gin, why not try adding some other fruits, herbs or spices to your infusion? Damsons, vanilla, almonds and cinnamon all work well with sloe berries for a twist on the usual flavour!

How do you drink or serve sloe gin?

  • Neat! Pour a little into a tumbler and sip as a beautiful digestif.
  • Chilled, over ice.
  • In a champagne flute, topped up with prosecco or champagne.
  • Mulled with spices for a warming festive treat.
  • In one of these delicious sloe gin cocktails.

Neat! Pour a little into a tumbler and sip as a beautiful digestif.

Chilled, over ice.

In a champagne flute, topped up with prosecco or champagne.

Mulled with spices for a warming festive treat.

In one of these delicious sloe gin cocktails.

How to make sloe gin: a quick and easy recipe for this delicious homemade gin liqueur - Craft Gin Club | The UK's No.1 gin club (5)

Sloe Gin Fizz

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How to make sloe gin: a quick and easy recipe for this delicious homemade gin liqueur - Craft Gin Club | The UK's No.1 gin club (2024)

FAQs

How to make sloe gin: a quick and easy recipe for this delicious homemade gin liqueur - Craft Gin Club | The UK's No.1 gin club? ›

Pop the sloes

sloes
Noun. endrina f (plural endrinas) blackthorn, sloe, Prunus spinosa.
https://en.wiktionary.org › wiki › endrina
and the rehydrating water into your bottle and pour in the caster sugar. Then add the gin and seal, shaking well. 5. Store your bottle in a cool, dark place, shaking every other day for the first week.

Is homemade sloe gin stronger than gin? ›

Sloe Gin tends to have a lower alcohol content than traditional gin of 15 and 30 percent by volume. The Settlers Sloe Gin is pleasantly tart with attractive juniper and herbal notes, but is a proper gin with an alcohol content of 43 ABV.

How alcoholic is home made sloe gin? ›

Over time, the flavour of the sloe berries steeps into the gin, and the mixture forms into a deep, fruity and sweet ruby-red liqueur. Due to this process, the alcohol level for sloe gin is also lower than 'normal' gin, at about 20%.

How to make gin at home from scratch? ›

Directions
  1. Combine vodka and juniper berries in a sealable glass jar and steep for 12 hours.
  2. Add coriander, chamomile, lavender, cardamom, bay leaf, allspice, and grapefruit peel. ...
  3. Strain out solids through a strainer lined with cheesecloth, then strain through cheesecloth again into desired bottle.

What gin is best for making sloe gin? ›

For earthy & classic sloe gin
  • Berkshire Botanical Gin - Buy: Amazon | Master of Malt - Best value!
  • Brecon Special Reserve Gin - Buy: Amazon | Master of Malt.
  • Hayman's London Dry Gin - Buy: Amazon | Master of Malt.
  • J.J. Whitley Gin - Buy: Amazon | Master of Malt.
Sep 9, 2023

What can go wrong with sloe gin? ›

They (the berries) need to be in the Gin for at least 2 months but too long and the berries disintegrate and the liquor can taste bitter. Wash them well and don't dry them. Put them in the freezer for at least 24hrs. This is to allow them to split to save you pricking them.

Is sloe gin a liquor or liqueur? ›

Let's be clear: while it may seem like gin by any other name, sloe gin is technically a liqueur. The berry-pink drink is born a regular gin, but the booze is then steeped with sugar and sloe (a rouge berry from the Blackthorn plant) to sweeten the spirit and lower the proof to as low as 15%.

What are the 3 key ingredients in gin? ›

The primary three ingredients used in the majority of gins are juniper, coriander and angelica. Even though these are the most popular, there are hundreds of flowers, roots, fruits, berries and nuts that are used to create a palate for each gin that makes it distinctive.

Is sloe gin more alcoholic than gin? ›

Unlike its clear counterpart, Sloe Gin is lower in alcohol content, typically around 20-30%, making it a perfect ingredient for a variety of cocktails or a delightful sipper on its own.

How long does homemade sloe gin last? ›

How long does sloe gin last? Provided your sloe gin is kept in an air-tight sealed bottle in a cool, dark spot then it should last approximately one year after opening.

How to make gin at home easy? ›

Method for how to make gin at home:
  1. Sterilise a clean mason jar or glass bottle with boiling water.
  2. Add your botanicals to the jar, minus any fresh peel.
  3. Top up with vodka.
  4. Leave to infuse in a cool dark place for 24 hours.
  5. Taste the infusion – it should have taken on some lovely juniper ginnyness already.

What is the cheapest way to make gin? ›

Cold Compound. Cold compound is by far the cheapest way to make gin (compound gin). For this, all sorts of artificial or natural flavors, or sometimes also berries and herbs, are simply mixed with alcohol, and that's it. The gin is often filtered after a certain amount of time to remove clouding or solids.

How is gin made from scratch? ›

Gin is made by distilling a neutral grain alcohol with juniper berries and other botanicals to make the fragrant spirit we all know and love. The botanicals are infused into the raw spirit to release their flavours. You can also vary the recipe by adding different spices, fruits and floral elements.

Can you leave sloes in gin too long? ›

After three months you need to remove all the sloes from the jar and then you can strain the gin into the saved gin bottle – now you know why you needed to keep it. If you leave the sloes in the gin any longer it will be too strong and undrinkable.

Can I use cheap gin for sloe gin? ›

Pour in the gin – try to use a good gin if you can, as cheap ones make cheap sloe gin and can ruin all your hard work. And, don't forget to save the empty gin bottle as you'll need this later.

Do you drink sloe gin straight? ›

There are many ways to drink Sloe Gin, starting with the classic and most traditional way. Sip it neat. While many will tell you this is not the most delicious way of drinking it, if you enjoy it, that's all that counts. While, as previously discussed, Sloe Gin is technically not a gin, it does go very well with tonic.

Does making sloe gin increase the alcohol content? ›

Stand in a warm place, keep a close eye on fermentation and add small amounts of sugar until fermentation ceases. Fermenting will of course raise the alcohol content but more importantly it extracts the full flavours of the sloes which other methods fail to do.

How strong is homemade gin? ›

Bottling it up, to make it the strength of a proper gin it should be about 40% or 42% if your are making a Bombay Sapphire East style. so you need to water it down, to do this you need to use clean water, not tap water, you can use bottled water or distil water using your still.

How strong is sloe gin? ›

As an alcoholic drink, sloe gin contains between 15 per cent and 30 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV); however, European Union regulations established 25 per cent ABV as the minimal alcoholic content for the blackthorn beverage to be a sloe gin.

What is the strongest type of gin? ›

Anno Extreme 95 Gin packs more punch and flavour, drop for drop, than any other spirit in the world. Being the world's strongest gin - just a 5ml measure gives you a full flavoured G&T with 75% less alcohol than a 50ml measure of 40% ABV gin.

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