Anyone tried it? Gordon's have a sloe gin for sale in supermarkets here & I love the colour. I'd like to try it, but not sure what you'd have with it. Does it still taste good with tonic or has it got a totally different taste?
All opinions welcome
Anyone tried it? Gordon's have a sloe gin for sale in supermarkets here & I love the colour. I'd like to try it, but not sure what you'd have with it. Does it still taste good with tonic or has it got a totally different taste?
All opinions welcome
A dash of vermouth for a martini.
Just drink it straight. Doesn't need anything at all. Enjoy!
Depression, tears, piss stained jeans, puke stained shirt and the mother of all hangovers in the morning.Originally Posted by November Rain
Drink responsibly
It depends on how its been flavoured,if berries are used its nice, if flavouring has been used clean your drains out with it.Try a Gin Fizz or three if its the decent stuff.
Yes, it's still good with tonic and a slice of lemon or lime.Originally Posted by November Rain
You could try adding cucumber for a really refreshing drink...
Use that cough syrup as a loo bloo and buy PlymouthOriginally Posted by November Rain
Read the following with a toffee in your mouth
In the drink | Life and style | The GuardianIn the drink
The sloe lane
Victoria Moore
The Guardian, Saturday 30 October 2004
There are two things I never have enough space for in my flat: books and bottles. They tumble out of every cupboard you open and I have to purge them every few months, just to keep the situation from reaching crisis point.
But I've come to think of this as a good thing, because it means that I have become exceptionally critical about what might be worth keeping. With sloe gin, which I tried for the first time recently, I wasn't sure which way it would go. Everything about sloe gin sounds delicious. The gin, obviously, is a good thing. Then there are the sloes used to infuse it - the tiny, black, astringent fruits of the blackthorn bush which grows wild in hedgerows. And yet . . . might the reality have all the appeal of the dandelion wine my dad used to make in the 1970s? My fears were heightened by the fact that my parents have recently taken to making their own sloe gin, using Gordon's as a base.
The best way to drink sloe gin is neat (it is not as alcoholic as ordinary gin, with an ABV of 26%), in a small glass, so that's how we first tasted it. There were two samples. One was purply, intensely sugary and tasted confected and sickly, like a syrupy cough remedy - that was the Gordon's. It went straight down the drain. The other had more russety tones, like clotting blood. A waft of bitter almonds and damsons (the sloe is a member of the plum family) came off the glass. Enough sugar had been added to take the edge off the rampant astringency of the fruit, but not so much as to domesticate it. It was delicious - grown-up and very addictive. This one was made by Plymouth (£9.99, from Asda and Safeway).
Mum, whose excellent tastebuds I had borrowed, pronounced it even better than her homemade version (the Gordon's, apparently, was much worse). There's no question that this earns its house space - but when should you drink it? The best thing is to have a tiny glass with a crumbly English cheese at the end of a meal. It can be added to champagne to make an intriguingly flavoured cocktail. I also tried it with tonic - but not too much - which showed up the Gordon's even more than when it was neat. Plymouth, which gathers sloes from Dartmoor National Park, recommends mixing it with bitter lemon to make a Long Pedlar, a traditional West Country drink.
The flavours are particularly suited to English game (Mum uses the gin-steeped sloes to make stuffing for pheasants), so a spot in the pan when you're cooking - and a measure for the cook, of course - would not go amiss, either.
Last edited by Dillinger; 23-06-2013 at 11:48 PM.
Thanks all, esp the heads up from Dillinger about the Gordons. I shall look for the Plymouth
I thought I had mastered responsible drinking, until that is, I woke up in hospital 2 weeks after hosting my first (and last) Barrettine Methylated Spirit shots party. I don't know if it was the number of forfeits that broke me or if it was the sixteen pints of Barrettine shandy, but when I eventually collapsed face-first onto a tealight it took three buckets of sand and the garden hose to put me out. My firey breath actually melted my dentures. My mate Ronnie came off even worse and is still in Urology Intensive Care. It's one thing to light your farts after a couple of pints of Guinness, but those Barrettine Methylated Spirits bottles should really carry a warning about that sort of thing. Poor Ronnie, he was lit up like an oil rig gas flare and we still can't find his trousers. As nights go though, it was certainly a memorable one - so much so that the boys from Red Watch are planning on using the footage taken in the house in one of their fire safety training films. Accordingly, I'm giving it 5 stars, but only on the understanding that nobody should try this at home.
You, sir, are a God among men....
Short Men, who aren't terribly bright....
More like dwarves with learning disabilities....
You are a God among Dwarves With Learning Disabilities.
Sloe gin is lovely, right up there with Tanquary...
Yummy yummy yummy. Just add a bit of tonic or bitter lemon and dream of hot sultry summer nights. Put on a bit of sexy musac and away you go.... Barry White or that other one sexy, Simply red.
Could only find Gordon's. Hmmmph!
OK, while I search for Plymouth sloe gin, I got some nice Bombay Sapphire (normal)...
Best drunk straight up from the freezer!
Can you put gin in the freezer? Mr NR's Buffalo grass vodka whatever (I didn't have my glasses on) is in the freezer, but my Bombay Sapphire is just in the fridge
Go to the fridge, take it out, place it in the freezer.
Now.
Have you done it yet?
Wait an hour and then tell me if it isn't more fragrant, slightly smoother and fresher?
In a word, yes.
I'll tell you tomorrow. It's now after 11pm and I'm slightly pissed on red wine, so decent gin would be wasted. But I shall place it in freezer on your advice, Monkey Boy
That buffalo grass vodka is good too.
11pm, sounds like a perfect time to start necking some good gin! (Or do you turn into a pumpkin at midnight ? )
Yeah, pop a glass in the freezer too!Originally Posted by kingwilly
I suspect she just necks it without dirtying a glass...
I have tried Luk Wah Gin made the same way but with small plum sized berries, called obviously Luk Wah. In English maybe Jambolan. The gin is purple and very pleasant.
Originally Posted by November RainI had had red wine, so I wouldn't have tasted it properlyOriginally Posted by kingwilly
Cheeky! I only drink lager like that. Actually I got a very nice free glass with the bombay sapphire with a stem the colour of the ginOriginally Posted by kingwilly
I believe the rule is red wine with gin and white wine with whiskey. Something like that...Originally Posted by November Rain
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