Making Nonesuch Sloe Gin Ready For Bottling

Sloe Gin is a product that we firmly believe needs patience and time if an exemplary expression of the style is to be achieved. 

Originally, in England and Ireland, Sloe Gin was made for family consumption in very small batches.  Let’s face it; no hardworking country family in those days would have had the access to, or the money for, the amount of Gin needed to make more than a few litres.

There was real pride in turning out the best Sloe Gin in the county and we are imbued with that same country character and hence our Sloe Gin is only made in small quantities using methods that would be readily recognisable by those families of a couple of centuries ago.

One of those processes is to make sure all the pulp from the fruit skins that separates during maceration is completely removed.  Harsh filtering will strip colour and flavour so we gravity feed the amazing ruby red spirit from the maceration tank into a settling vat and give it time for any particulate matter to settle.  Woe betide anyone who bumps or moves that vat because that means the settling process must start all over again.  We then syphon the spirit from the original settling tank into a second vat leaving behind the settled pulp (and sadly some spirit).  This process is repeated until we have a clean spirit for bottling.

The world has changed from quality to quantity.  We haven’t.