I used to sit and ***** over every sloe before I popped it into the bottle, these days I just run a handful at a time over the prickly side of a grater.
I loosely fill the bottle half full, then pour in sugar until it *just* covers the fruit, not shaken down hard or the like. Then fill the bottle to just below the bottom of the neck with gin, whisky, vodka, bung firmly and shake vigorously. I generally leave it sitting beside the sink, that way it gets shoogled everytime I'm there. When I get fed up looking at it, the bottle goes into the back of the pantry until I remember it's there (generally just before Christmas when I'm trying to find room to stash stuff
) and I pull it out and strain into a clean bottle and label and date.
Not terribly scientific, but I don't think I've had a bad batch yet
If done in late August, early September, the stuff is ready to drink by the New Year....just. It's better left longer, about February is good and from then on it just seems to get more mellow.
I found a bag of frozen sloes at the bottom of the freezer early one summer, I tried the sloe gin with them and though it worked it was a bit swersh so I spiced it and left it until the Winter and it was surprisingly good
Everybody's sloe gin tastes different; no bad thing, and a pleasant way to spend an hour or two testing them. It's a sipping drink, terribly civilised
atb,
Toddy