Sloe Gin

Sloe gin is a sweet, deep ruby-red English liqueur made by steeping sloes — the small, intensely tart wild fruit of the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) — in gin with sugar until the spirit draws out the berries' colour, tannin and sharp plum flavour. Traditionally a country and hedgerow drink of the British Isles, it was made each autumn after the first frosts had softened the sloes, and it is now produced commercially by long-established gin houses such as Plymouth, Gordon's and Sipsmith. It tastes of tart, almost bittersweet dark plum and cherry with a distinctive bitter-almond kernel note and a drying tannic edge, backed by juniper from the gin base. Bottled at a modest strength — usually about 15 to 30 percent alcohol by volume — it is sipped neat or on ice as a warming winter tipple, and is the classic base of the Sloe Gin Fizz.