StillSmart

i made 1 gallon of damson vodka in september, i bottled it today and tried a glass excellent well worth trying

1kg damsons well pricked,1/2kg sugar,60% spirt to make up to a gallon

Sounds nice Alan.
I didn\'t find any damsons, but I got plenty of sloes........ so I did sloe gin.
The original recipe said 1lb of sloes, 1 pint of gin and 1/2 lb of sugar. I did wonder if that was a bit too much sugar - on the basis that it\'s easy to add more, but a bugger to remove it if it was too much.
so I worked on the basis or 4lb of sloes, 2.25 litres of gin (1 of the \"classic\" still spirits range of dry gin made up as 3 bottles or 4 pints as near as dammit) and 1/4 lb of sugar per pint/2lb per batch. I didn\'t prick the sloes, just froze them and then just defrosted them enough so I could \"funnel\" them into the carboy/5 US gall DJ.
It seems to have done the trick i.e. sweet enough, with enough fruit to reduce the juniper of the gin to managable levels to drink it neat, but with a slightly acid/sherberty after taste. I haven\'t actually bottled it yet and it\'s still on the fruit, but I\'ve been getting it out with a turkey baster into a glass and supping it that way :-P
I\'m gonna try other fruit into straight spirit next year......