I just finished making a variation of "Sloe Gin" (actually Sloe Cherry Brandy). I'll definitely be making this stuff on a yearly basis from now on.
My process:
-Picked 3kg of super fat, ripe sloes on October 15th. The weather was still quite hot but the sloes were ripe and starting to either fall off the tree, or shrivel into raisins (slaisins?). The common practice here is to wait until they're bitten by the first frost and then pick them, but by then they're hard and shriveled away to almost nothing (especially this year where we're having record high temperatures in November). I decided to pick them when ripe, wash them thoroughly and freeze them in two large ziplock bags for 48 hours to simulate frost so they release their sweetness. This also separated some of their water content in the form of ice crystals I separated out.
-Dropped them into a large 6 liter glass jar and topped it off with 58% ABV cherry brandy. I didn't pit them, didn't even pick off all of the little stems. Left it to sit in a cool, dark pantry for 6 weeks, opening it about twice a week to air it out and rotating the jar upside down a few times to mix it up. I intend to leave it for another two weeks and then blend it into it's final form with a dash of cinnamon-infused brandy, honey and caramelized sugar. I'll leave some just straight since it tastes amazing just the way it is. It should be ready just in time for Christmas.
But already it has the most unique taste of anything I've ever made and a gorgeous dark burgundy color. I highly recommend everyone try infusing just sloes and a neutral: typically a strong gin overpowers a lot of the flavor but this way you get the straight tangy flavor and aroma of the sloes. I may have overconcentrated it, the way the taste and the color is coming through I could probably have made two 6 liter jars of the stuff with the 3kg of sloes
My question is:
What on earth am I going to do with the alcohol-infused sloes when I'm done? I figure I'll squeeze some of the liquid out over a strainer/funnel, but there's still going to be at least a couple kilos of cherry-brandy soaked sloes.
Is there any sense trying to use them to re-infuse another batch, is there enough flavor left in them or would I just be wasting my time?
I'm doing a run of experimental gin in a few weeks, what about if I just dump these into the boiler along with my tails?