Sloe Gin World Championships

The George pub in Frant, East Sussex near Tunbridge Wells is to host the Sloe Gin World Championships on Wednesday 11th December from 1.00pm.

Artisan sloe gin makers from across the world will gather at the popular Sussex village pub, to vie for the covet Sloe Ginster World Champion title for 2013.

Dating back to around 1750, the traditional country pub, with two bars and restaurant, traditional English food with continental influences, hand drawn beers, oak beams, a large enclosed garden and dogs lying by log fires in winter – The George make an ideal setting to judge the most traditional of Christmas liqueurs.

Sloe gin is a red liqueur flavoured with sloe (blackthorn) drupes, a smaller relative of the plum, normally made with an alcohol content between 15 and 30 percent by volume.

It is traditionally made by infusing gin with the bitter-tasting drupes using sugar is to extract the sloe juices are extracted from the fruit.

“Hand crafted sloe gins are generally superior to commercially produced branded sloe gin liqueurs are made by flavouring cheaper neutral grain spirits, producing an inferior flavour akin to a fruit cordial taste,” said pub landlord Greg Elliot.

Sloe gin is made from ripe sloes, which by tradition are picked after the first frost of winter. Each drupe should be hand pricked with a thorn taken from the blackthorn bush on which it grew. Connoisseurs says that the drupes may only be pricked with a metal fork or pin if is made of silver.

Some modern protagonists pick the sloes earlier and freeze them, claiming that this not only splits the drupes and replace the pricking stage, but by analogy to ice wine, the freezing changes the flavour of the drupes.

All proceeds of the event are donated to the MS Society which supports people with Multiple Sclerosis www.mssociety.org.uk.

Sloe Gin Recipe:

Fill a wide-necked jar half way with pricked drupes and 4 ounces (110 g) of sugar is added for each 1 imperial pint (570 ml) of sloes. The jar is then filled with gin, sealed, turned several times to mix and stored in a cool, dark place. Turn every day for the first two weeks, then each week, for at least three months. The gin develops a deep ruby colour. The liqueur is poured off and the drupes removed. Some sloe ginsters reuse the by infused in white wine or cider, made into jam, used as a basis for a chutney, or a filling for liqueur pudding or chocolates. The liqueur is then filtered into clean bottle or and left to stand for another week. The sweetness can be adjusted to taste at the end of the process by addition of more sugar. Allowing the drupes sufficient time to ensure full extraction, the gin develops an almond-like essence and aromatic flavour from the sloes' stones. In some recipes, the process is accelerated with the inclusion a few drops of almond essence, cloves and a cinnamon stick of cinnamon.

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