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...
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