The Food I Eat

The very word ‘sloe’ is pretty much synonymous with ‘sloe gin’ or ‘sloe vodka’. Not so much ‘sloe whisky’ though…which is a real pity.

As much as I love gin, it has got a dry, sharp taste which works really well with the acidity of lemon or lime…but in my humble opinion sloes work best with warmer, richer whisky.

They’re a jammy, damson-like, fruit – and as a compliment to venison or hare it’s a good excuse to put it with a Scottish spirit.

Now’s a great time to make sloe whisky. Sloes are at their prime after the first frost – and if you get this underway soonish, then it’ll be ready in time to decant and bottle as Christmas presents.

Ingredients
1 litre of whisky
450g sloes
125g sugar

After washing the sloes, cookbooks will advise you to stab them all over with a fork. This is quite time consuming though, so I squashed them between my thumb and first finger – just enough to make sure that all the juices are released.

Put the sloes in a container. Pour whisky over them, and then add the sugar. Give it a good stir, and then leave it in a cool, dry place. When you walk by the sloe whisky, give it a stir from time to time.

After a couple of months, strain the whisky through a sieve, and decant the liquid into smaller bottles for presents. The leftover fruit can be added to melted chocolate or made into a naughty, boozy jam!