FIVE TOP TIPS

Expert advice on making your own tipple from Foxdenton owner Nick Radclyffe

THERE’S NO NEED TO USE EXPENSIVE GIN OR VODKA – the aim of compounding (the technical name for making sloe gin, and so on) is to extract the fruit flavours and for the finished drink to taste of the fruit as well as being alcoholic. An expensive gin with botanicals will be wasted in a compounded gin. Use a supermarket own-brand.

SUGAR – be careful about following old recipes. Many you find on the internet revolve around a version that is measured in simple thirds: one pint of gin; one pound of sugar; one pound of fruit (sloes or damsons, and so on). This will result in an overly sweet and treacly sloe gin. When we make our large batches of fruit gins we add sugar only after the fruit has sat in the gin for several months and once we have racked the liquid off the fruit. The easy way to do this at home is pour some of the liquid into a pan and add ¼ of the sugar you think you will need. Then gently warm the pan on a low heat on the stove. Sugar does not naturally dissolve in alcohol but will do so when heated. Stir gently until fully dissolved then add back to the liquid and shake until fully mixed. Now you can test the finished mix. If it is not sweet enough continue to add sugar until you reach the sweetness you want. This way you will be able to develop your own unique recipe. Remember that sugar is to fruit as salt is to umami flavours – it helps expand and open out the flavours so some sugar is always needed.

FRUIT – be brave. So much fruit goes to waste in gardens throughout the countryside that we should use as much as we can. It isn’t just soft fruits that work well in a hip flask. We have made fruit gins using plums, apricots, rhubarb, blackcurrants, cherries and even apples. One of our favourite customers always comes to show us his annual production of Noyaux, made from freshly picked beech leaves, which tastes fabulous. Just occasionally failure does occur – we have not repeated our experiment with pineapple in gin.

FILTRATION – there’s no need to buy special filter machines. We might use multi-plate filter machines now but when we started it was all done using fabric. Use a pillow case as if it’s a jellybag. Pour all the contents of your demijohns or bottles, including the fruit, into the pillowcase and leave to drip overnight into a bucket just like a jelly bag. This will get rid of the vast majority of the debris. Only then is it worth thinking of using coffee filters as a final filtration.

MIX – a top tip is to try your favourite tipple mixed as a long drink. I am sure I am not the only one out there who has started to taste their sloe gin and has woken up the next morning to find that the bottle is suspiciously empty and that there appears to be a valley full of Welsh miners beating their way out of one’s skull. Contrary to some thoughts we hear, the sugar you add does not turn into more alcohol and though the alcohol level will have reduced considerably from the original 40% it will still be similar to port or sherry and most of us would not usually think of drinking a bottle of that at a sitting. Experiment with mixers and suddenly your winter tipple can become a summer favourite. Sloe gin, when made with reduced sugar, is great mixed with lemonade and rhubarb gin goes well with ginger ale.

I hope these brief thoughts help as you look ahead to autumn and the glut of fruit that is coming.