THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE ― These Findon Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and are progressively growing to be the only record of life around Findon, West Sussex, England.  Everyday stories about real people..... in fact, a potted history of the village.  The topics today, are the history of tomorrow.

TAKE SOME SLOES AND A BOTTLE OF GIN — to make Findon Sloe Gin Liqueur

Copyright Valerie Martin 2002

I expect some of you will be wondering how I came into the gin distilling business.

Well it was completely by luck... it all started back in the year 2002 when I was asked by a neighbour where he could pick sloes..... David Snelson had recently moved to live in my road.   No one came forward with any suggestions for him.   Perhaps they did not want to share with him their secret location?

It just so happened that I had noticed an abundance of the fruit high on the Findon Downs near the site of Edwin Douglas' old house and it made me wonder if Edwin had made some gin (in between his painting).... or perhaps he was more of a Scotch Whisky man?

Some years are good for sloes and other seasons there are meagre lone berries on each of the stark stalks.      Sloes are the tiny globose fruit rather (like hard wild plums) of the blackthorn ....a prickly bush which is commonly found in the Findon hedgerows.  The fruits are a deep purplish-blue colour, with a cloudy boom on the surface.   The foul sharp sourness makes them definitely not suitable for eating but the bitterness is lost when making Findon Sloe Gin Liqueur.

If you are really serious about making sloe gin, you should keep your eyes peeled all through the summer months to spy where there is likely to be a good crop of the fruit growing.   The fumes from vehicles along the roadsides will contaminate any bushes, so it is best to walk along the local footpaths and note where the first green fruit appear that are not polluted.

Did you know that winemakers traditionally waited for the first frost (October/November) before actually plucking the sloes?  They would pierce each sloe berry with a thorn from the sloe bush (or use multiple needles embedded in an ordinary cork to speed up this process) but a shortcut is to stick the fruit in your freezer.   This not only mellows the bitter flavour (simulating the "pick after first frost" tradition) but causes the juice in the fruit cells to expand and burst the cell walls.

If the autumn has been mild it is always a race between pickers and the birds to get to the sloes.   From my recent experience on dog walks over the downland (with global warming) you will be lucky to find any left if you leave it too long.   The pigeons, and other pickers, will have been there and beaten you to the gathering.  So pick when you see them before anyone else does.   The all-important sharpness of the fruit which makes this drink special makes you think that the raw sloe wan not intended to be eaten by man — but do not worry, this is completely transformed in the sloe gin.

Sloe gin is traditionally made in Ireland and Britain and is a berry-flavoured liqueur, once the preserve of middle-class Victorian ladies.... so perhaps even Margot Douglas made some when she lived at Fox Down with her artist father.   Maybe these days it would come under the category of a trendy drink.   The delicious dark red liqueur has a flavour rather similar to plum liqueur.  .

All good recipe books give you the "Method"...... so here it is.    All you need for your project to get started on making some Findon Sloe Gin Liqueur are screw-top jars.

The sloes (I guess you should wash and dry them first) should be pricked .... each twelve or so times with a clean needle (years ago it was traditional with a thorn from the bush).

Then three-quarters fill the containers with the fruit.

Demerara sugar is then added.   The exact quantities do not seem to matter for this recipe.   It all depends on whether the brewer requires the traditional sharper spirit —or a more sweet brew (the latter for me).   The requirements are about .....

1 lb (450 g) ripe sloes to 9 oz (250 g) sugar

and 1 bottle (70 cl) of Tanqueray Export Strength London Dry Gin 47.3%.  

Do not be mean when buying the gin, from tasting experience, I think it is always worth buying the best of everything and to hell with the price.  

Sprinkle on the sugar.... and pour on the gin.  

Pop four blanched almonds in each jar.

Next stage.   Screw on the lid(s).   Give the substance a good agitate daily (some say) ...or if you are really keen twice a week for 4 -8 weeks.   Stand in a cool place.   Remember — patience is a virtue (something I sadly lack).

From then on..... up-end the jar from time to time to assist the sugar to dissolve.   You should now have a nice deep red liquid.

This is now the hard bit coming up.   Wait 3 months (or at least until Christmas) before the straining of the precious Findon Sloe Gin Liqueur.   Remove the sloes .... which will have hrunk to the size of raisins.... and decant the resulting nutty plumy gin.

To spur you on, remember all the time that a little nip of this Findon liqueur in a goblet will make your cheeks glow.

If you are very strong willed, leave longer than the season of festive cheer.... if you can!    Some say that the delicious substance should mellow for 6 months before used.  Others say leave it for a year before broaching!   Good luck!   You do not even have to drink the brew, just marvel at the rich deep magenta-coloured liqueur you have created!  Oh, and it is best served in small amounts as an after-dinner drink.   Cheers!

Pouring a good helping of sloe infusion onto a dish of your favourite vanilla ice cream ... or cantaloupe or mango will make a particularly luxurious boozy dessert too.

Since publishing this story on this page, I have received so much mail on the subject that it is too numerous to include.

So how about taking some sloes and a bottle of gin and make some Findon Sloe Gin Liqueur for yourselves.