Superb sloe vodka recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Liqueurs | 129 comments
Sloe vodka on day one
We have found that most fruit recipes work equally well with gin or vodka. With a few exceptions. Raspberry gin is sublime and dessert gooseberry vodka is to kill for. Their cousins, Raspberry vodka and dessert gooseberry gin are companiable and gluggable but not the super stars of the cocktail cabinet.
We traditionally always make sloe gin. Lots of it. This year I has so many sloes that I decided to give sloe vodka a whirl. A litre of vodka made two 750ml bottles of grog. One for the cellar and one for testing and tasting.
I need to clear a space on the shelves in the barn to put our sloe gin and vodka out of reach. When I do this, it matures quietly, without being disturbed. I haven’t had time to do his so our kitchen side looks like a sloe liqueur drinker’s paradise. It has also had an impact on using the toaster which sits behind the bottles and jars. A careful, crane like movement is needed to operate the toaster.
Late one night, I spotted the sloe vodka on the kitchen side and thought that I’d have a teeny taste. It was wonderful. Clean, crisp, punchy and absolutely delicious. It was barely three weeks old. Made with the sloes that I picked from John’s garden on October 27th.
I had another toot the next night and then waved the bottle in front of Danny’s nose. Then other visitors were introduced to this ambrosia. Reviews were good and glasses refilled.
I am ashamed to announce that our tasting bottle is almost finished but delighted that I tried sloe vodka this year. I hate to admit it but I think that sloe vodka is better than sloe gin.
I had a 800g of sloes in the freezer so Jalopy and I rumbled over to Tesco on Saturday and bought an extra large bottle of medium priced vodka. Made 2 x 75ml bottles as per the above recipe and was left with 570ml of vodka. I added the remaining sloes (336g) and topped up with just over a kilo of sugar. This will produce the really ‘thick’ sloe liqueur that loads of our friends adore. This is the bottle in the photo with the white label. The label is actually the sugar -scary stuff! If we have a super party and a tasting, the sugar lovers will not be left out for years, as they have been in the past. We like the sharp taste of our grog. This bottle will be for sweet toothed visitors only.
If you still have access to sloes try our recipe. You won’t regret it.
I will report back on how the thick sugar solution sloe vodka develops in a few months time!
| Superb sloe vodka recipe |
- 1poud / 500gm of washed sloes
- 4 ounces / 112gm of white granulated sugar
- 2 empty 75cl vodka bottles
- 1 litre of medium quality vodka such as supermarket own brands
- Wash sloes well and discard any bruised or rotten fruit. Prick fruit several times with a fork and place sloes half the sloes in each bottle. I put several sloes in my palm to prick them rather than picking them up one by one.
- Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with gin to the rim. Always open sugar bags over the sink as sugar tends to get caught in the folds at the top of the bag.
- Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (try to leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for a year. As you can see from above it was overwhelmingly moreish at three weeks).
- Some people strain the grog (through muslin/jelly bag) after 3 months and bottle it, leaving it mature for six months. We will strain and bottle any that’s left after six moths as I want to try making sloe sherry and slider (farmhouse cider and gin/vodka soaked sloes as recommended into the comments section of our sloe gin posts). Don’t leave the straining process longer than a year; leaving the fruit in too long can spoil the liqueur.
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hi all!! i have just moved to a new area outof london… we have wonderful place’s to visit where i have moved to – one being walking distance
i noticed someone picking blackberries the other day. and had to investigate! i haven’t done this since i was a child. i found damsons!! had to look them up as i had never seen them, and what looks like a sloe berry, although i didnt notice any thorns!! i will look again. i did cut it open and it looks like a tiny plum, with a tiny stone inside?
any way they seem to be ready now, coming away nice and easy slightly soft to, but i have been reading on here that you should wait until after the first frost’s – i am new to all this and need some pointers…..
so any help and advise would be great.
xx
hi Alyss
What a wonderful suggestion re the Ginger Bourbon – I’ll be trying that! To find a blackthorn initially you look for the copious white blossom in early spring, notably in hedgerows, and mind-mark it for later. Finding the blackthorn shrub with fruit you’ll have to wait until September at the earliest – small leaves and, as the name suggests,very long, sharp, hard black thorns – be prepared to suffer for your picking efforts! Just bottled some wild plum jam – great recipe from this site and delicious! Elderberries/blackberries next for the bottle/jar!
Oddly, I didn’t know that sloe vodka was named after a fruit. I guess that’s what you get for growing up on the West Coast of the US, where blackthorn/sloe trees are not common (or found at all – I’m on a search now!).
That being said, I have made plenty of infused liquors over the years. My favorites are blackberry or elderberry vodka (you can even pretend the elderberry one is just medicine 🙂 and ginger bourbon. Mmm… ginger bourbon! Just throw a couple slices of ginger in a bottle of bourbon and be a happy, happy camper all winter.
This spring/summer I have been branching out. I made a vin de noix with black walnuts and spices infused in white wine and vodka. I also did a peach/blueberry/melissa (lemon balm) wine with lots of sugar, and plums in a mix of white wine and vodka. No sugar in that one, yet, but I need to strain it soon to get the pits out. Oh – and the hot chili pepper/black peppercorn vodka, and the mint vodka!
I think the sky is the limit with infused liquors. What do you have avaliable? Throw it in some liquor and see how it turns out 🙂 Now I have to find me a blackthorn tree….
Hi Sloe Vodka Buddies
Still got a demi-jon left from last year as we made quite a lot (4 LITRES!)! After decanting the sloe vodka from the demi-jon we added a small bottle of cheap whisky to the residue sloes some more sugar, just to try it out – EXCITING! Pour sloe vodka over ice-cream – YUMMY! Try finding those small chocolate shot cups and add sloe vodka – AMAZING! Great tip re pricking sloes, Graeme in January
Hi Edward
Thanks for sharing your method. Sloe schnapps sounds great too.
Hi Claire
Your sloe vodka should be good for Christmas. I’ve discovered that the vodka seems to mature more quickly than the gin.
Have just finished my first bottle of Sloe Vodka bought at a rural Christmas market last year. If I pick some Sloe’s this season will the resulting Sloe Vodka be good to go this Christmas or do I need to resort to ‘shop’ bought for one more year? Also when is the best time to pick in the North?
i live in bromley kent and have been making sloe gin sloe vodka for years i put the sugar in with vodka / gin disolve then add the sloes works just as well shake every day last year made sloe schnapps excellent also pick sloes from our garden august very good you get a good crop every 2 years very good this year all the best
DONT WASH the sloes!!! The powdery bloom Granny said is the secret to a good sloe gin or vodka.
Hi Clare
Thanks for the tip. I didn’t know that.
Hi, Just stubbled on this website after googling sloes. Had some from asda at xmas and loved it have had a couple of bottles since. I am a childminder and have three children of my own so need a nice relaxing drink at night. Sloe gin and ice it sublime. Reading all your comments and seeing that lots of you mention different fruit, so I would like to know can you use any berried fruit to make these drinks.
Many thanks.
Hi Denise
Yes you can use lots of different fruit : damsons, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, red/white/black currants, blueberries etc.
Hi All, best way around the chore of pricking sloes is to lay them out on a cloth on a hard flat surface and with a flat coarse grater (you know the one you use for grating lemon peel) roll them around, dont press too hard so that the fruit squash. This pierces the skins just enough and you can do probably enough for a bottle on one tea towel in a few minutes.
Best wishes on your ‘makings’. Just off for another nip, hic’