View Full Version : Sloe Whisky. has anyone tried it.?
scrogger
04-10-2009, 18:00
Been to our local food festival today loads a good stuff at all the stalls.
Slow Whisky caught me eye, I havent heard of this one but wondered if anyone on here had. Before the purists start saying its an abomination lol it wasnt made with a good malt so I was told but rather a blend form a scottish micro disillery.
Anyway having made Sloe vodka and gin last year. and Plum vodka and Gin this year I thought I might have a crack at this. Does anyone have any tried and tested recipes for it,
the reason I liked it was you could still get the warmth and the undertones of the whisky but could get the fruit hit too.
cheers
Andy
Eds brought some up to Loch Tay a couple of winters ago, and it was lovely :approve: So I made some last year and it was really, really good. So much so that I've got sloe whisky getting made already and I haven't started the sloes in the gin yet :D
cheers,
Toddy
no sloe fopr me this year - no time. I have to some sloe whisky left. Make it the same way as sloe gin but with a little less sugar and add a couple of clove and a small piece of cinnamon bark.
Another one that worked really well is to use even less sugar but a the juice form 2 fresh oranges per bottle. Very good if you have a cold. Like what I've got now - except I'm on call out for work, so no drinks for me today.
scrogger
04-10-2009, 18:43
The cloves or cinnamon sounds nice. What recipe do you use Toddy?
My Gin and Vodka ones are simple eg:-
empty half the alcohol out fill up with sloes to just below the neck and then top up with sugar until the fluid is near the top simple would this work with whisky?
VirusKiller
04-10-2009, 18:50
What's the best whisky to use for sloe whisky? Unlike gin, the differences between whiskies are not at all subtle.
That's pretty much what I do too, except I use soft brown sugar and I add a couple of tablespoonsful of the syrup that comes in the jar with the stem ginger.
It's one of life's occasional pleasurable sipping drinks :approve:
I fancy Eds orangey one though :cool: Might have a try at that one.
cheers,
M
oops; cross post............ I just used Grouse. It seemed to go down fine.
cheers,
M
scrogger
04-10-2009, 19:00
lol Virus many would be offended if you used a malt!!
I have some antiquary that was bought for me as a gift so I may use that.
I will let you know if I find any other recipes.
Andy
windward
04-10-2009, 20:27
I remember Toddys Sloe Whiskey from New Year....it was really really, really really good!!!! Well what I remember of that night...or was it the night before we all had a weeee bit tooooooooo much...lol...can't remember...was a great few days!
Toddy....you still got something up your sleeve for this New year?
Vince
VirusKiller
05-10-2009, 08:53
I just used Grouse. It seemed to go down fine. That makes sense; Grouse is a pretty "inoffensive" blend and I tend to use it myself when adding mixers (rather than, ahem, Bells which I find a bit "aggressive").
I won't be adding sloes to my favourite Cardhu though (yeah, I'm not into smokey whiskies).
Hmm...
...we've got a rather large bottle of Bells given to us as a thankyou for helping someone out of a jam (don't think they knew much about whiskey... well, that or we offended them somehow).
Would it be better to leave it right where it is (unopened) and get some Grouse or similar instead? I'd hate to waste good sloes on some nasty whiskey if something different would make for a much nicer drink.
Bell's isn't nasty, it's just a definite *taste*.
Grouse, and I'm kind of reliably informed, the cheap supermarket blends, are kind of not throat grippingly *Whisky! :eek: *........well the Lidl's one my friendly neighbourhood poacher used anyway :)
Did Eds say which one he used ? His was the first I'd tasted and it was lovely :approve:
cheers,
M
scrogger
05-10-2009, 11:43
Ive got a bottle of netto firewater kicking around somewhere. Bought for a friend who thinks he knows all about malt and then when he gets successive glasses of the same whisky he can tell all the diffrent tastes and subtle differences between them.
Its only done in fun but its so funny to watch as we quaff our nice tasty malts.
So might use the netto one!!
Cruel! Haha!
Could it be that Netto Firewater is actually a really complex malt that genuinely does taste different in each glass as your pallete becomes used to some of the flavours and notices new ones?
;)
Toddy. I sense another test coming on if I can get enough sloes together... I'm going to be bankrupting myself with Le Parfait jars at this rate though!
Why are you using jars ? :confused:
I just use bottles :dunno:
Just make sure the sloes will go in and out of the neck easily and it should be fine.
Easier to give the bottles a good shake fairly regularly too :cool:
cheers,
M
No reason other than the recipe called for it.
I figured it'd be easier to load it up with sugar and sloes that way so didn't check it. I can't see how jars would be difficult to shake though... but then, I've never shook one.
vogelport
15-09-2011, 21:44
Just made my very first batch of sloe vodka and I cannot wait to try it.
I had a little look in the booze cupboard and i still have a half bottle of glenfiddich 12 yr old malt.... Now i know the mere thought is probably punishable by death but i think i am going to make a sloe whiskey from it. I can only justify that by saying i drank the other half of the bottle during my 'whisky' phase last year and i haven't touched it since, and probably wont.
Just made my very first batch of sloe vodka and I cannot wait to try it.
Have you picked sloes this year already or last years frozen ones?? Were they full soft and juicy?
If so I must go and visit my bushes and check on them before they all go!!!
HWMBLT picked the ones for this year's sloe gin and whisky two days ago :) Perfect condition :cool:
cheers,
Toddy
tenderfoot
16-09-2011, 09:00
lidls cheapo whisky is it "queen margot?" aint a bad blend would probably be a good basis for a sloe build. tescos own value is nicer than the one they do a grade above it but the grade above is blander so might be the biz for this application.occasionally aldi/ lidl do offers on unknown to me brands of irish whiskey ? maybe rye based?
they may be contenders for this application too as they are often quite "light"
VirusKiller
16-09-2011, 09:03
HWMBLT picked the ones for this year's sloe gin and whisky two days ago :) Perfect condition :cool: Yes, everything seems to be early this year. Going for mine tomorrow!
tenderfoot
16-09-2011, 09:05
And another thought... tesco value gin as a basis for sloe gin:- done right its better than gordons sloe gin, and a few ive sampled at fairs ,shows etc
if its the season already ill have to go collecting off the local blackthorns
amended sig., " theres no bore like a whisky bore"
Sideburnt
16-09-2011, 11:13
Probably the best infusion I have ever made was with sipping whisky and blueberries. It beat the Sloe Gin and Elederberry Rum by a clear mile.
Make it, its ambrosia.
I've been picking my sloes for three weeks, the last lot were just shy of rotting on the branch. last year I hadn't even started and they were all rock hard. All my Local wild fruit is early for some reason this year.
Thats another job for the weekend then, usually wait until at least late Sept-early Oct before even thinking about them a little before the traditional "first frost" people talk of.
Even last year many were still too hard for me to want to take.
Mmmmmm thats another job for the weekend I think. Good thread
vogelport
17-09-2011, 15:01
YES!
Just been to harvest a sloe bush I noticed yesterday and found a huge bush of Damsons right next to it! so the whiskey is now a Damson whiskey. Will save it for Bonfire night. :)
VirusKiller
17-09-2011, 15:28
YES!
Just been to harvest a sloe bush I noticed yesterday and found a huge bush of Damsons right next to it! so the whiskey is now a Damson whiskey. Will save it for Bonfire night. Result!
I picked my sloes this morning. Another week or two probably wouldn't have harmed them, but I think they were ready; and the tree was OVERLOADED with them!
vogelport
17-09-2011, 16:18
Its definately early this year, some of the damsons had gone over a little, though most were fine. I've notcied blackberries are hopeless this year and elderberries are not so good either.
Result!
I picked my sloes this morning. Another week or two probably wouldn't have harmed them, but I think they were ready; and the tree was OVERLOADED with them!
tommy the cat
20-09-2011, 10:02
Think I'll try the whiskey... Got a hot Toddy (Oh er Mary) kit here from a deli might work in the bottle?!
D
Sorry if I'm slightly off topic;being a newby, it's my first posting...
I have my sloes, picked from a well-laden bush -- I agree with a few previous comments, they do seem ealier than usual this year but all the other bushes I have seen in the Wenallt area are equally loaded.
The main reason for my visit to this forum was to enquire if "Sloe Whisky" is a goer. From the postins I've read it seem the answer is YES. (The reason for my enquiry is that I have more [decent] whisky than very decent 47.3% gin.
Can I assume that many other things -- "rubbish in = rubbish out" ?
Thank you for any answers that are forthcoming.
Hello :) Welcome to BcUK :D
Ehmm, well, not really it seems.
I know folks who used the cheapest discount store gin or whisky they could find and it worked well.
Tbh, and I admit I'm biased, I think the alcohol potency matters, that the sugar you use (and the quantity) can totally mellow the taste, and any spices you add make it individually 'your' recipe :)
I don't think I've tasted a bad batch yet; but that said, one friend makes it so full of sugar that it sticks lips to the glass, waaaay too sweet for me, but I find the Gordon's or (cannae mind the make right now) far too dry and ginny, or shiveringly 'whisky'.
Each to their own :) best advice is probably just to give it a try. You can always make small portions of assorted recipes and try them out for yourself.
cheers,
Toddy
Looks like Morrisons are doing a litre of Grouse for £15 at the moment if anyone is gonna try this.
Well, thanks to reading this thread (and a few others...), I am now skint but have in the kitchen...
A large bottle of Sloe Whisky
Several bottles of Sloe Gin
A bottle of Hawthorn Vodka
and (as of last night) a bottle of Rosehip Vodka
SWMBO has purchased a quantity of swing lid bottles and jam jars and spent yesterday evening and this morning making apple, haw, sloe and rosehip jelly.
At least that's most of our Christmas pressies out of the way, with a few bottles and jars for a fruity festive time. Hic!