They were sampled and scored on colour, clarity, taste and quality by more than 50 judges. There were 30 Sloe Gins entered in the 2015 competition. UK competitions Ī sloe gin competition is held each January in The Pandy Inn, Dorstone, Herefordshire, with the winner crowned the "Grand Master of the Sloes". In North Yorkshire, Masons Gin distills the sloe berries in the gin as opposed to the traditional infusing the berries in the gin after distillation. Another common variation is the addition of a few cloves and a small stick of cinnamon. However, some recipes use a shorter steeping time and include a small amount of almond essence. When made sufficiently slowly, the alcohol extracts an almond-like essence from the sloes' stones, giving sloe gin a particular aromatic flavour. The sweetness can be adjusted to taste at the end of the process, although sufficient sugar is required while the fruit is steeped to ensure full extraction of flavour. Recipes for sloe gin vary depending on the maker's taste. Careful decanting can eliminate almost all sediment, leaving a red liqueur that is not cloudy. The liqueur can be filtered or decanted back into clean containers and left to stand for another week. The liqueur is poured off and the sloes discarded, or infused in white wine or cider, made into jam, or used as a basis for a chutney or a filling for liqueur chocolates. The gin will now have a deep ruby red colour. It is turned every day for the first two weeks, then each week, until at least three months have passed. The jar is then filled with gin, sealed, turned several times to mix and stored in a cool, dark place. A modern variation is to pick the sloes earlier and freeze them overnight, to mimic the effects of frost.Ī wide-necked jar is filled half way with pricked sloes and 4 ounces (110 g) of sugar is added for each 1 imperial pint (570 ml) of sloes. An alternative folktale says that one should not prick the sloes with a metal fork unless it is made of silver. Each sloe is pricked, traditionally with a thorn taken from the blackthorn bush on which they grow. Sloe gin is made from ripe sloes, which are traditionally picked after the first frost of winter (late October to early November in the northern hemisphere). US distilleries often use close relatives of the sloe, such as the beach plum, or more distant ones such as the Aronia berry, to produce a domestic version of sloe gin. Many commercial sloe gins today are made by flavouring less expensive neutral grain spirits, although some manufacturers still use the traditional method. The addition of sugar is actually likely to inhibit the passage of flavour compounds from the fruit into the spirit, due to a reduction in osmotic pressure a common criticism of sloe gin is that it is much too sweet. The drink develops sweetness when the fruit is left in the alcohol and is allowed to mature. Most recipes call for the addition of sugar, but this is not required. The traditional way of making sloe gin is to soak the sloes in gin. Sloe gin is technically a gin-based liqueur, but due to historical prevalence at the time of writing the EU spirit drink regulations, the colloquial name 'sloe gin' was included in the legal definitions and as such is the only gin-based liqueur that can legally be called gin without the liqueur suffix. However, the European Union has established a minimum of 25% ABV for sloe gin to be named as such. Sloe gin has an alcohol content between 15 and 30 percent by volume. Sloes are the fruit ( drupe) of Prunus spinosa, the blackthorn plant, a relative of the plum. Sloe gin is a British red liqueur made with gin and sloes.
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