StillSmart

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-31T00:19:18+00:00

Sounds like sloe gin but made with brandy. 17% ABV isn\'t very much -- my usual sloe gin must be double that. It\'s not as though it costs a lot more to make it stronger :-)

Yes it is. If you see commercially made Sloe gin (spotted some "Gordons" last year) it was only 18% ABV, so I\'m presuming that as it\'s a liqueur, it drops it into a different excise category - probably the "up to 22%" bracket.......
Though without a copy of the full reg\'s, that\'s a guesstimate......

Statistics: Posted by Phantom — Sun Oct 31, 2010 12:19 am

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-30T11:38:27+00:00

Whiskers,
So what you\'re asking for is maceration - soaking fruit in spirit. I didn\'t have a still until just last month, but enjoyed making my own liquors every year. Have a couple of favorites. Both will require a neutral base.
Raspberry liquor - 1 kilo raspberrys (freeze and thaw first to break down berry), 750 ml neutral spirit 50-60% ABV, the zest from one orange (remove with a zester or grater, but do not include white pith. Let stand in cool dark place for two weeks. Strain through a mesh, then again through a coffee filter. Sweeten to taste, and dilute down to 40% ABV or as approprite. Makes a nice cordial. I have a few drops left from last winter, and got so excited, I\'m having one now... : )
Citrus liquor - Take the zest from one lemon, one lime and one orange. Do not include the white part. Soak in 750 ml 40% ABV for two weeks, strain, filter, chil, enjoy... If you feel like being fancy, seperate the zest from the pith into long strips with a knife. This takes some advanced blade work with a razor sharp knife as the zest is not much thicker than paper but it\'s very pretty. Leave the zest in the bottle when you serve. Great for display bottles, and fancy citrus drinks like lemondrops and such.

Statistics: Posted by John — Sat Oct 30, 2010 11:38 am

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-29T16:49:03+00:00

ok-thanks Alan

Statistics: Posted by Whiskers — Fri Oct 29, 2010 4:49 pm

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-29T14:32:33+00:00

Whiskers i add the syrup to mine, i defrost the black currant and chop the cherrys in half then place in a demi jon and top up with spirt to 4.5lrts

Statistics: Posted by alan — Fri Oct 29, 2010 2:32 pm

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-29T13:00:21+00:00

Alan-re: Cherry liqueur recipe on page 1: 2 jars + frozen fruit-how much spirit would that flavour?

Also -do you add the syrup that comes with the jarred cherries?

Statistics: Posted by Whiskers — Fri Oct 29, 2010 1:00 pm

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-12T02:03:21+00:00

Thanks.
Sounds like sloe gin but made with brandy. 17% ABV isn\'t very much -- my usual sloe gin must be double that. It\'s not as though it costs a lot more to make it stronger :-)
Time for an experiment, I think.

Statistics: Posted by phlogiston — Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:03 am

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-11T23:44:45+00:00

http://www.sloemotion.com/sloe-brandy/s ... -70cl.html

Statistics: Posted by Jimmy — Mon Oct 11, 2010 11:44 pm

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-11T13:40:24+00:00

BTW Jimmy -- the sloe brandy -- is it like sloe gin, a sweet liqueur type drink, or more of an unsweetened spirit? I\'ve got a bottle of something vaguely resembling brandy that I could use.

Statistics: Posted by phlogiston — Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:40 pm

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-11T01:27:00+00:00

It\'s a very good year for sloes this year (at least in my neck of the woods). Over the last 10 days I\'ve collected about 16kg for an attempt at \"Sloevovitz\".

Statistics: Posted by phlogiston — Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:27 am

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-10T17:48:50+00:00

I can\'t remember if I mentioned this before, but a company called Sloe Motion was doing a promotion in our local farm shop a few months ago and I tried a few of theirs - the best was surprisingly not the Sloe Gin but the Sloe Brandy so if I can ever manage to locate some sloes I intend to have a crack at that!

Statistics: Posted by Jimmy — Sun Oct 10, 2010 5:48 pm

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-07T15:00:14+00:00

Hi whiskers yes i use the jars of morello cheeries i get them from lidl about a Â£1 a jar, i use 2 jars and 1lb bag of frozen black currants

alan

Statistics: Posted by alan — Thu Oct 07, 2010 3:00 pm

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-07T13:58:03+00:00

Last year I made some crab apple gin that was very good. You need to choose the crab apple variety so that it has a fair amount of sugar but is also a bit tart. Made a reddish-orange liqueur that because of the acid was more refreshing than sloe gin. Recommended.

Statistics: Posted by phlogiston — Thu Oct 07, 2010 1:58 pm

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-07T00:04:40+00:00

Thanks to you all for your replies-I\'m learning so much from this forum.

Alan-with the Morello cherries do you use the ones that come in jars?

Also I have heard whisperings that you can use jams to flavour spirit-has anyone tried it?

Statistics: Posted by Whiskers — Thu Oct 07, 2010 12:04 am

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-06T20:06:47+00:00

Hi whiskers, welcome from up here in sunny lancashire,Iv got a few gallons down now ready for christmas,

1,gal absinthe

2,gal sarsaparilla vodka

2,gal whisky

3,gal damson vodka(should have been more but one of my demijohns broke,gutted)
black currants and morello cherries mixed and soaked for a couple of months make a nice change from sloe or damson vodka

alan

Statistics: Posted by alan — Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:06 pm

Home made fllavourings ie sloes, blackberries or other things?

2010-10-06T20:03:46+00:00

As it is the sloe season we decided to make some sloe gin.

Following a trip to the Plymouth gin factory we have modified our approach. In the past we have put sloes (studiously pricked) and sugar in bought gin. Left till Christmas and then drank it as a thick sweet, fairly alcoholic \"liqueur\".

At Plymouth they don\'t add sugar BUT they do use 60% gin!

So, no sugar, loads of sloes, 70% spirit with prestige dry gin essence.

The Plymouth mob water it down when its ready to about 30% but I think the plan is to start at 70% and see what tastes best.

Oh and the price of the home made stuff? Â£1.23 per litre

Statistics: Posted by lyonacre — Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:03 pm