Add an old English twist to your holiday cocktails with sloe gin. Here are 4 recipes
ABC News
It’s a festive old English drink that you can have fun experimenting with
LONDON -- Sloe gin is a festive old English drink that's especially well-suited to the winter holidays. You can drink it over ice, try it in a cocktail, or forage for sloe berries and make a home batch.
Family recipes have been passed down for generations, but for novices, it’s easy to experiment at home.
Sloe gin's origins go back to the hedgerows of blackthorn bushes that served as fences all across England when common farmland was divvied up in the 17th century. Their plum-like, inky blue-purple sloe berries became synonymous with the English countryside.
After realizing that the raw berries tasted tart and astringent, people tried to make wine from them. But the astringency remained, and then “someone had the bright idea of resting it on a spirit,” says Joe Horning, the liquid quality and innovations manager at the London-based Sipsmith Gin.
By steeping sloe berries in alcohol, the low-quality gin of the time was transformed into a more palatable tipple. As distilling methods improved, a more refined drink was created. And bartenders further elevated its profile with the invention of the famous Sloe Gin Fizz in the early 20th century and pre-Prohibition cocktails like the Charlie Chaplin.
