Tasted our First Frost Sloe Gin

Last year we picked some sloes after the first frosts for the first time I think I've covered the theory behind this before, but I'll precis it for newer readers anyway.

Popular wisdom says that frost make the sloes sweeter or it breaks down their skin a little, allowing the juices to flow out more easily, either way, the upshot is supposed to be sloe gin with a rather more mellow and complex flavour.

When we first started making sloe gin I had trouble picking post frost sloes as, by the time the frosts came, the sloes had withered on the vine (so to speak) I put this down to global warming and the frosts getting later. But, as we all know, the last couple of winters have seen an altered gulf stream and a preponderance of ice and snow. As a result, 2010 presented us with our first opportunity to grab some frosted sloes before they shrivelled.

It's spent 3 months macerating in the demi-jon and a further 4 months maturing in the bottle so it was with a flourish that we finally opened it.

I don't know what other sloe gin aficionados find, but I think the taste of sloe gin can vary batch to batch anyway, the amount of ginny tang and tannins can change considerably and there are so many variables (how long the gin is left to macerate/mature, how the sloes were pricked, differences between locations of the trees they grew on, whether bullaces have crept in etc etc) it hard to pinpoint which one is responsible.

However, this batch is definitely one of the best we've produced, noticeably thicker and mellower than the non frost batch. Whether that's down to the frosting alone is impossible to tell but I think we'll carry on making it when we get the opportunity, just to be sure!

Talking of bullace - has anyone heard of Essex Bullace? A friend of Adam's reckons he's picked some but when we Googled it we only found references to them on American sites along with Royal Bullace and White Bullace, none of which I've ever heard of, can anyone shed any light?

Sloe, sloe, quick, quick, sloe

"Bite the bullace" was the alternative title for this post as Willow insists on calling bullace 'bullets'.

Adam and I sat down and made sloe gin last night, though I actually think it's bullace gin. This is largely because when Adam picked them he said there weren't any thorns on the tree, plus they're ripe rather early in the season (they were falling off the tree and some were beginning to shrivel) and they show signs of being eaten by insects. I've updated this earlier post with slightly more detail on distinguishing bullace and sloes (if it matters!).

I'm sure that any fule no how to make sloe gin, especially a fule who has encountered the sloe.biz site so I won't try and add to that particular pool of expertise except to offer a tip for pricking sloes. Take 3 or 4 at a time in the palm of your hand and roll and pointy side of a box cheese grater over them, much quicker than doing them individually with a pin (or thorn from a blackthorn tree as is traditional).

I've also slightly re-calculated the original sloe.biz gin recipe as I find it easier to think in terms of multiples of 70cl bottles of gin rather than the half litres given in the original. So per bottle of gin add 600g sloes and 210g sugar. Same proportion of ingredients, just expressed slightly differently.

Have fun!