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Post by lucyblack on Sept 28, 2014 17:56:21 GMT
I'm not quite sure what it says about me that my very first thread on this forum is about alcohol, specifically Sloe Gin and Damson Gin. I have no excuse. I love Sloe Gin!
The question is - does it really matter which gin I use to make it with? I've been told a few times when making foraged alcohols to use the second cheapest I can find. But my question is, posh gin is usually distilled what, five times? So doesn't that make it smoother and more refined? I know I can drink quite a few posh gins and not get a hangover, and I'm sure it's because it's high quality. But there's no point me spending a fortune on posh gin for all the tasty botanicals they use, when I'm just going to stick a bunch of sloes/damons and sugar in! But I don't want to use cheap rough stuff either.
I've read that London Gin isn't allowed to use flavourings, whereas stuff that's just labelled Gin or Distilled Gin can have artificial flavours in it eg juniper flavour.
Can anyone here add any knowledge to this?
Also - Damson Gin or Damson Vodka? I'm sure we made Damson vodka last year, but my other half swears it was gin. Are they both as nice as each other?
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Post by edenwildfood on Sept 28, 2014 20:42:23 GMT
I think gin matters more than vodka to an extent, but i never buy rubbish either, Gin is already flavoured with botanicals so dont want some nasty stuff. I wait til something reasonable is on offer at morrisons or asda etc, litre bottles, gordons etc. But you can get the aldi stuff etc and try and see if you can tell the difference, the predominant flavour will be sloes so may not notice much difference. Also save the sloes, and do this recipe, www.sloe.biz/pip/viewtopic.php?t=171 |
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Post by lucyblack on Sept 28, 2014 20:47:45 GMT
I've just spent about an hour looking through that forum, as I'd seen you'd posted that recipe on another thread. That is SOME forum! Entirely about sloes! I'm loving it, but it's distracting me from my elderberry syrup which I'm making a big batch of tonight :-) I'm happy though as we found a big patch of sloes today and now I have lots of things to do with them.
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Post by edenwildfood on Sept 28, 2014 21:30:57 GMT
Yeah theres some good recipes on there, i wasted a lot of time on there a couple of years back lol. General rule with sloe gin is very little sugar. Can always back sweeten, but cant take away, some recipes are disgusting, comes out like cough syrup, far too much sugar.
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Post by lucyblack on Sept 28, 2014 22:23:04 GMT
Yeah I made that mistake with the bramble vodka. It's too sweet, I can't drink it. I wonder if I should just dilute it with more vodka to try to recover it?
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Post by edenwildfood on Sept 29, 2014 6:02:34 GMT
Possibly. Although you may lose some flavour. Make more bramble vodka with no sugar and mix some?
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cab
Junior Member
Posts: 80 
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Post by cab on Sept 29, 2014 10:22:13 GMT
I've changed my procedure for making liqueurs to soaking the fruit in alcohol without any sugar, and after that I make up a strong sugar syrup and give the fruit a second seeping in that. Shake that gently once every few days to mix, and you end up extracting both more flavour and much of the alcohol back out of the fruit. Add this syrup back to the alcohol mix after a week or two - and taste as you mix the two together so you can get it as sweet as you want it. I'm getting a much fruitier flavour this way, and I've got better control of the sweetness. And spare alcoholic syrup won't come in wrong will it?  As for which gin - whichever, really. For sloe gin I like a strongly flavoured gin, otherwise whichever gin you find that isn't too strongly flavoured but is cheap. Supermarket own brands will do usually. |
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Post by lucyblack on Sept 29, 2014 18:39:59 GMT
Cool, thank you both. Good ideas there.
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Post by Brewforagegrow on Sept 29, 2014 19:52:32 GMT
I wouldn't worry about your first post being about alcohol. Maybe about the fact every topic I've read your posts in being alcohol related though ☺
There is no judgement, my solution to just about everything is ferment it.
I'm a second cheapest kind of fella myself, though I hadn't really realised it until just a second ago.
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Post by lucyblack on Sept 29, 2014 22:42:33 GMT
Haha! I'm not even a big drinker! I just like to make nice things to savour over the cold winter months - honest! Nothing nicer than coming home out the cold and snuggling up with a wee glass of something warming.
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Post by Brewforagegrow on Sept 30, 2014 9:57:26 GMT
Snap. A fair percentage of my alcoholic drinks end up as Christmas presents or thank you gifts
I realised I have 12 demijohns of various wine bubbling away, which translates to 72 bottles of wine. Does shout of having a problem!
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cab
Junior Member
Posts: 80
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Post by cab on Sept 30, 2014 14:01:02 GMT
I try to make all of our Christmas presents, which basically means bigger batches of wine, more liqueurs, extra soap, etc. And of course we make chocolates every Christmas. Much of this is in part made from foraged stuff - jam, chutney, wine, liqueurs, even some of the soap ingredients sometimes. It beats shopping at Christmas.
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Post by Brewforagegrow on Sept 30, 2014 15:00:00 GMT
I'm exactly the same. Well, the wife likes us to buy presents for children, but all adults get something made out of foraged or homegrown ingredients.
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