PrintComing on Sloe
In Sunday’s New York Times Style Magazine, Toby Cecchini tackles a spirit that’s seen better days: sloe gin.
Chances are if you’ve had sloe gin in the United States, you’ve either been somewhat disappointed in the product, or young and exuberant enough that you didn’t really care. Traditionally made from gin that has been flavored with an infusion of sloe berries—the fruit of the blackthorn tree, which grows wild in the U.K. and Ireland but is mostly if not entirely absent from these shores—and then sweetened, sloe gin has now slunk to the bottom rack of the liquor store, its bright, fruity flavor abandoned in favor of cheaper, artificially colored and flavored alternatives.
If your sole exposure to sloe gin is from drinks with gaudy flavors and tawdry names—such as the Alabama Slammer or the Sloe Comfortable Screw—a sublime drinking experience may not have been what you were looking for at the time; but for classic and delectable drinks such as the Sloe Gin Fizz or the Blackthorn Sour, a cheap sloe gin can ruin the entire experience.
As Cecchini points out, help is on the way—a dribble of it, anyway. While quality sloe gin is as scarce as blackthorn trees around here, for the past few years the Black Friars Distillery in England—maker of the wonderful Plymouth gin—has been producing a traditional sloe gin using natural ingredients for the European market. Starting next year, Plymouth will make that sloe gin available in the U.S.—but only a miserly 1,000 half cases of it.
If you’re lucky enough to come across a store carrying the Plymouth Sloe Gin, I’d suggest you make your purchase and step aside quickly before you’re trampled by eager bartenders and cocktail geeks. Or, if you miss out (or just want to try your hand at something homemade), you can instead mix a close relative of sloe gin by soaking a pound of damson plums in a liter of gin for a month or so (prick the plums first to help the process along), then straining and adding some sugar (a cup will do, or less, to taste). It’s not the same as sloe gin, but it’s close, and much better than the bottom-shelf stuff you find in the typical liquor store. Considering that damson season wrapped up, oh, about a month ago (here in the Pacific Northwest, anyway), you may be in for a wait.
Anyone have experiences with sloe gin, good or bad? Let’s hear ‘em.
About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
7 Comments:
My parents lived in Northern Ireland in the mid 80s and one of their neighbors made their own sloe gin, the drinking of which I remember as being a wonderful and unique experience. Years later, with remembrance still in my head, I ordered a Sloe Gin Fizz in a bar in Boston and was very disappointed with the taste. I figured I had just remembered it being better than it was or that the home-made brew was different than true sloe gin. I'm pleased to see that there may be a more commercial reason for the difference and will keep an eager eye out for the Plymouth brand in the future.
stepol at 3:52PM on 11/07/07
Boy, does this take me back to my high school days. The very first drink I ordered in a nightclub was a sloe gin fizz. I can't remember how it tasted, it was soooo long ago. And were were 16 years old. Nobody asked for IDs then.
SavtaShayna at 3:59PM on 11/07/07
This is what all the girls back in our high school days would bring to parties to drink.
During the winter a day after the party you could see where all the girls had gotten sick the night before as there were always these large red stains in the snow on the front lawn.
Stiv61 at 5:49AM on 11/08/07
When I was 8 years old, I would shamelessly sneak sips out of the liquor cabinet of my Nan's Sloe Gin Fizz here in New York. It was so delicious and unforgettable.
Fifteen years later, I actually helped pick the Sloe berries from the side of her house in Alton, UK so that we could make our own.
Have you ever eaten a sloe berry though? I cannot think of a more sour thing to put in your mouth.
MicahSacco at 7:54AM on 11/08/07
I remember having a Sloe Gin Fizz and thinking it tasted like carbonated kool aid... dangerous...LOL.
chiff0nade at 8:56AM on 11/08/07
I bought a bottle of Dekuypers to make a Fizz for my girlfriend and it was disgusting . . . very moldy and musty flavor and aroma. I told a bartender of this and she let me sample some Bols Sloe Gin. Its flavor was more fruity, robust and light. Yet several comments I've seen all over the net keep mentioning Plymouth and that it's supposed to be in the US soon. I wonder if it'll make it middle Tennessee!!
rcm999 at 7:40PM on 02/17/08
Sloe Gin Fizz 1958 NYC : )
NanaJoie at 3:42PM on 05/28/08