First Dabble into Sloe Gin - Part 2

As you probably read a couple of months ago, after many years of toying with the idea I decided to have a little 'dabble' into Sloe Gin making.

It was great fun making the gin, I ended up with a classic Sloe Gin, an Xmas Sloe Gin and finally (with the leftover sloes) I made a bottle of Sloe Vodka. The recipes can be found here.

Every couple of days I have been shaking the bottles, holding in my anticipation to finally sample these delights...well that time has come.

After leaving the tipples for at least two months all you need to do is bottle up. For this I sterilised the intended bottles and made a make-shift filter. I took a measuring jug, a blue kitchen cloth (unused) and one of Liz's bobbles. Once the filter was 'assembled' all you have to do is slowly pour the contents of your jars into the jug, depending on the amount made it may fill up several times. Once the filter has done it's job all you have to do is pour your tipples into their bottles, then when you fancy a festive treat pour some into a shot glass and enjoy.

Once I had sampled all of my Sloe Tipples I had made some notes for next year. The classic Sloe Gin had the intended flavour, where as the Xmas blend had a bit too much of a hit of aniseed - it really overpowered the cinnamon flavour that I was after. The main note I made was that even though the taste and colour were all to plan, it was a bit too thin. The other day I tried a family members blackberry vodka which had the texture that I wanted, sad to say mine did not match up. So if you are in the Guiseley/Otley area please let me know where I can find fresh sloe's ready for next year, as I do think that this will be my last attempt using dehydrated sloes. Just as an added note, after wittering on about Sloe Gin for months I have to admit, the tipple with the strongest and fruitiest flavour was actually the Vodka!

At the weekend we had a couple of friends round for a little get-together and naturally I wanted to showcase the tipples...so find below the 'reviews' of the 2015 vintage.

"Not harsh, quite tasty" - @andybrindley
"Mmmmmm, really nice considering I dont usually drink Vodka" - @elizabethrdawson
"I liked the cinnamon taste as it hit the back of my throat, it warmed me up and tasted just like how Christmas would taste" - @chloeconnett
"Sweet but not too sweet, it has the right balance of spices and alcohol" - @ameliavictoriax

As I type this I am ready to pour myself another glass, knowing that by the new year it will all be gone.

Have you made any this year? If so tweet my a picture so we can compare.

- Sam