Slow gin and Patxaran

[slaine_23]

It’s the time of year for collecting sloes for sloe gin. I’ll be trying the same similar with haws from white thorn, tied before, worked well (admittedly hard to go wrong).
There are other variations to use sloes, Patxaran is a Spanish or Basque variant but using anise flavoured spirits as the base rather than gin. It seems optimistic to use pastis as I’d have thought it would overwhelm the sloe flavour- had anyone tried this or have a recipe or advice they could share?

 

[Toddy]

Nope, but it sounds interesting Something a little different.
I'd love to hear how it goes.

M

 

[Keith_Beef]

We have a bottle of that in the bar, I'll take a look at the label a bit later.

Ok, so the label describes Patxaran as "wild sloe liqueur"...

The ingredients are listed as wild sloes, aniseed, sugar, water and alcohol. It's horribly sweet, 18% abv. The flavour of the aniseed is almost imperceptible.

SWMBO was given this as a present... I would not buy it, but that's my own personal dislike of such stuff: sweet, weak and flavourless. Perhaps other brands are better.

 

[slaine_23]

We have a bottle of that in the bar, I'll take a look at the label a bit later.

Ok, so the label describes Patxaran as "wild sloe liqueur"...

The ingredients are listed as wild sloes, aniseed, sugar, water and alcohol. It's horribly sweet, 18% abv. The flavour of the aniseed is almost imperceptible.

SWMBO was given this as a present... I would not buy it, but that's my own personal dislike of such stuff: sweet, weak and flavourless. Perhaps other brands are better.

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Thanks - I imagined it to be syrupy but still with a bit of a kick, like Irish Mist or Drambuie, which is mostly how my slow gin turns out.
A question if I may - does it go cloudy on adding water, similar to pastis?

 

[EdS]

I make patxaran - I use home made anise as the base

 

[Keith_Beef]

Thanks - I imagined it to be syrupy but still with a bit of a kick, like Irish Mist or Drambuie, which is mostly how my slow gin turns out.
A question if I may - does it go cloudy on adding water, similar to pastis?

I didn't try that...

 

[Longstrider]

A couple of sloe gin tricks for those just starting out ....

Sloes grow on Blackthorn. Blackthorns are vicious and the spike wounds will often go septic within the hour on those who react to them. Avoid getting spiked by cutting a hook-stick of decent length and take as big a brolly as you own with you (or an old tarp). Spread the tarp or open the brolly and put upside-down beneath the blackthorn. Hook an upper branch and shake the sloes off into your 'catcher'.
Seperate fruits from leaves and twigs by pouring into a big bucket of water. The rubbish floats and the fruits sink.

Freeze the sloes for 24 hrs before making up the gin mix. Traditionalists used to wait until the sloes had seen at least one good frost before picking them. Replicate that using modern techerminology The 'frost' helps to split the skins and allow more flavour out.

As a shooting man it's tradition that I give each of 'my' farmers a bottle of whisky at Xmas. Not one of them likes whisky, but they're always grateful for a helping of my sloe gin I do about 2 gallons a year !

 

[slaine_23]

That sounds like good advice, thanks Longstrider.

 

[Canoedog]

It’s the time of year for collecting sloes for sloe gin. I’ll be trying the same similar with haws from white thorn, tied before, worked well (admittedly hard to go wrong).
There are other variations to use sloes, Patxaran is a Spanish or Basque variant but using anise flavoured spirits as the base rather than gin. It seems optimistic to use pastis as I’d have thought it would overwhelm the sloe flavour- had anyone tried this or have a recipe or advice they could share?

I made some last year. I added 250gm of pricked sloes to 1ltr pasties, a couple of cinnamon sticks and 3 or 4 coffee beans. No additional sugar or water required. The longer you leave it the better the flavour.
A couple of my friends who drink it regularly in Spain said it tasted really good and not too sweet.

It’s the time of year for collecting sloes for sloe gin. I’ll be trying the same similar with haws from white thorn, tied before, worked well (admittedly hard to go wrong).
There are other variations to use sloes, Patxaran is a Spanish or Basque variant but using anise flavoured spirits as the base rather than gin. It seems optimistic to use pastis as I’d have thought it would overwhelm the sloe flavour- had anyone tried this or have a recipe or advice they could share?

 

[Longstrider]

I made some last year. I added 250gm of pricked sloes to 1ltr pasties, a couple of cinnamon sticks and 3 or 4 coffee beans. No additional sugar or water required. The longer you leave it the better the flavour.
A couple of my friends who drink it regularly in Spain said it tasted really good and not too sweet.

Wow, now that's what I call a palate ! Being able to taste all that coffee !