Sloe and Flavored Gin

Where it started

Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn, a thorny shrub native to Europe and Western Asia and one of the most abundant hedging plants in the British countryside.⁴ Sloes are thought to be the wild ancestors of domesticated plums and damsons.⁴ Blackthorn was widely planted as stock-proof hedging during the Enclosures of the 18th and 19th centuries, around the time sloes started to be steeped in gin.⁴ Forager John Wright notes a 1717 poem describing home-made sloe gin as "sugar, sloes and grocer's trash."⁴

Where and how it's made

In the EU, sloe gin is defined as a liqueur made by macerating sloes in gin, with the possible addition of sloe juice, at a minimum of 25 percent alcohol.¹ Only natural flavorings may be used, and the name may add the word "liqueur."¹ Spain's pacharán is a separate category: a sloe-aromatized spirit with anise, at least 125 grams of sloes per liter and 80 to 250 grams of sugar per liter.¹

In the U.S., sloe gin is a type of cordial or liqueur "with the main characteristic flavor derived from sloe berries."² Like every cordial, it needs at least 2.5 percent sugar by weight.² U.S. law sets no minimum strength for sloe gin specifically, while a "gin liqueur" must be made entirely from gin and bottled at not less than 30 percent.²

At home, Difford's recommends freezing sloes rather than waiting for the first frost or pricking each one, steeping at least three months and up to six, and sweetening to taste after infusing rather than at the start.⁴ Sloes are in hedgerows from September to November.⁴

Flavored gin is a different class in the U.S. "Flavored spirits" are a base spirit plus natural flavors, wine or sugar, bottled at not less than 30 percent, and named by the base spirit plus the predominant flavor, such as "Pineapple Flavored Tequila."³ The base spirit must meet its own standard before flavoring.³ In the EU, a gin with more than 0.1 grams of added sweetening per liter cannot be called "dry."¹

How to taste it

Serve sloe gin at room temperature in a small glass, or long with tonic or sparkling wine. Look for plum, almond from the stones, and a tannic grip.⁴ Flavored gins work best long, with tonic or soda. Pairings: game pâté, blue cheese, a plum or apple crumble.

Styles and what the label means

• Sloe gin — sloes macerated in gin; a liqueur at 25 percent or more in the EU.¹
• Damson gin — damsons and bullace can stand in for sloes in drinks.⁴
• Flavored gin — base gin plus flavor; in the U.S. named "[flavor] Flavored Gin."³
• Gin liqueur — at least 30 percent, made entirely from gin.²
• Fruit genever — listed in the EU's eAmbrosia GI register as Genièvre aux fruits / Vruchtenjenever.⁵ genever →
• Dry gin — no sweetening beyond a trace. london-dry →