Sloe Gin - A recipe after Sipsmiths.
- Pick your sloes in Late Sept-October, once they start to feel soft.
- Clean, and freeze for 2 days.
- Prick each one with a pin (optional)
- Add one 70cl bottle of good mid-priced Gin. eg Tanquaray or Beefeater to 700g of Sloes in a 1.5L mason jar.
- Give it a shake/turn once a day for a week. Then once a week.
- One week before Xmas. Filter through Muslin or coffee filters if you're patient. You'll end up with 65cl or so of liquid.
- Make up 2:1 Double Syrup with white caster sugar and warm water.
- Experiment with some 50ml batches to get the sugar right. We ended up with 6:1 liquid to syrup. So that's 600ml sloe gin to 100ml double syrup
- Bottle or fill a decanter.
- Drink!

The secrets here are
- Add sugar last when you can adjust it, not at the beginning.
- Don't wait for a frost, just wait till they're ripe. And then freeze the sloes to break the cell walls so they release their flavours and sugars.
- Use good gin!

If you're organised, you can leave a jar for a full year to steep. But a couple of months is fine.

https://sipsmith.com/how-to-make-the-perfect-sloe-gin/