80 replies to this topic

[slkinsey]

Mirto is the Italian word for "myrtle." It is also the name of two drinks made from the myrtle plant, famously in Sardinia. Mirto rosso is made with the berries, and mirto bianco is made with the leaves. Zedda Piras makes both a red and white mirto di Sardegna.

[eje]

Mirto is the Italian word for "myrtle."  It is also the name of two drinks made from the myrtle plant, famously in Sardinia.  Mirto rosso is made with the berries, and mirto bianco is made with the leaves.  Zedda Piras makes both a red and white mirto di Sardegna.

Interesting. The Myrtle (Myrtaceae) Family of Plants also contains: Guava, Feijoa, Allspice, Bay Rum, and Eucalyptus, among others.

I can see why it would have a piney/camphor type flavor, given it's heredity.

Myrtaceae (wikipedia link)

[thirtyoneknots]

Is there any reliable information about when Plymouth Sloe Gin will be available here, including where it might be found for sale?

I'm told this first release is very limited and will mostly be sold through distributors to bars.

A few retailers in New York and California will have it available, I believe starting some time next week.

Oh great, that means Christmas 2009 til it gets to Texas. If it ever does (still waiting on Lemon Hart 151 and Carpano Antica).

[Oolong]

My search for sloe berries and sloe gin initially turned out to be fruitless, pun intended. Even the USDA website says they exist in the Northeast but many hikes in the woods and walks through neigborhoods with streets by the name of Blackthorn lane or road, turned out empty. Blackthorn bushes are very invasive and cut back or down altogether if there is any type of residential development. In England, they are found done many country lanes and picked for gin and jams. The fact that it grows wild only (I did find a farm in Bulgaria but they would only ship a boxcar load) and that fresh fruit from Europe is restricted in the US, made the task all the more difficult. An email to Plymouth revealed no source either.

Thank god for the internet and ebay. For a mere $4 a pound, I found a sloe berry picker on Great Britain ebay and convinced her to send me 4 pounds through the mail. The trip caused a few rotted berries but I eneded up with well over 3 pounds of sloes that I infused with Seagram's Distiller's reserve and some cane sugar. I bottled after 3 months (practical wisdom says 3 months minimum up to a year but no longer than 2 years as the pits could leach a toxin) and measured the volume increase.

The increase of juice lowered the proof from 102 to 81, still fairly potent for the traditonal liqueur. I wanted as much extraction as possible, hence the higher proof gin (and a good price too). Very rich flavor with almonds, vanilla, cherry and a hint of that medicinal quality but delicious. I have yet to make cocktails with it and so far prefer it as a neat after dinner drink.

I forgot to mention that during my online research, I came across the ultimate sloe berry sight, www.sloe.biz Everything you'd ever want to know about sloe and damson gin making! Also, for distillate proof conversions, without an alcometer, I found homedistiller.org very helpful

Edited by Oolong, 29 April 2008 - 01:58 PM.

[gethin]

Our friend who scored the Plymouth Sloe Gin talked a bit about Sloes.

She said, according to the folks from Plymouth, they are inedibly sour and bitter raw.

They are almost entirely pit and very bitter and tart skin with a tiny layer of mealy flesh.

Apparently, they had some preserved Sloes at the event and they were actually pretty vile.

She remarked, someone must have been pretty desperate to even think of trying to make food out of them.

I'd compare it to an almost an agrodolce kind of thing.  I'm sure they must have to have enough sugar to qualify as a liqueur, just to make it drinkable, even though it ends up having a sweet-tart taste.

Edit - jackal10 uses 1/2 pound of sugar for 750ml of gin infused with a pound of damson plums in his recipe.

Sloes are completely inedible -its not just the acidity, they are extremely high in tannins . Sucking in a raw sloe causes all the flesh in your mouth to dry out and shrivel up in a most unpleasant manner. You can , in the unlikely event of your wanting to do so, produce the same effect by chewing on a mouthfull of dry (black) tea leaves.

In Welsh, we call sloes "erin bach tagu", which translates as "little choking plums". Thats about right.

Traditionally they would not be picked until they had been exposed to a frost . Other than sloe gin and sloe jelly , to go with cold meats, they are not much use for anything.

I personally far prefer damson gin to sloe gin, the taste is usually more complex. I find sloe gin rather one dimesional. For practically no extra work , you can make a home made patxaran , usually rather more exiting than any sloe gin. (replace the gin and the sugar with anisette and add a few coffee beans and half a vanilla pod to the maceration).


gethin

[Dan Ryan]

Even red mirto has more of a herbal / resin character than sloe gin. Both delicious when done well, but the sloe gin relies on the balance of sugar, acidity and tannin for a deep fruit flavour, while the mirto is more of a top note. Perhaps port would be a better sub for sloe gin...

Do blackthorns not grow in the States?

[bostonapothecary]

i just picked up a bottle of plymouth sloe gin ($40) at charles street liquors on beacon hill... its pretty cool. the nose has a charming cough syrup kind of character. its is elegantly sweet but finishes almost dry like there is much more acidity than a liqueur like cointreau. the botanicals seem to add only subtle nuance and there is no piny juniper leaping out at you...

all in all the product makes a sloe gin fizz among others seem really appealing....

[bradleybolt]

sam's wines and spirits in chicago finally has the plymouth sloe gin. i picked up a bottle last week and man is it good.

[TMFIII]

Ace Beverage in DC has had it for about a week. Ummm boy is it tasty!

Cheers!
Marshall

[slkinsey]

Anyone seen it at retail around NYC?

[johnder]

Supposed to be delivered to the NYC area this Wednesday or Thursday hopefully.

[Alchemist]

We will have A sloe gin sour (with egg white) on the summer menu at The Violet Hour. I found that I had to balance it out with regular gin so it looks something like this

1.0 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
1.0 oz Plymouth Gin
.75 oz Fresh Lemon
.75 oz Simple
Egg white

Slash of Angostura, swirled

[campus five]

that sounds really good. can't wait until it arrives in Los Angeles.

[eje]

We will have A sloe gin sour (with egg white) on the summer menu at The Violet Hour.  I found that I had to balance it out with regular gin so it looks something like this

1.0 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
1.0 oz Plymouth Gin
.75 oz Fresh Lemon
.75 oz Simple
Egg white

Slash of Angostura, swirled

They make a similar Sloe Gin Fizz to this at Flora in Oakland, except they gild the lily and top it up with a splash of sparkling wine. Yummers.

[Snowy is dead]

It just showed up in Massachusetts this week. I was told by the distributor that it's a trial batch. I'm not sure if Plymouth only made a little or my distributor only bought a little, but they have what they have and won't get any more and will obtain more next year only if it sells, and none if it doesn't. Hopefully they'll be realistic about how much sloe gin they'll sell and won't expect grey goose sales numbers.

Sean

[Snowy is dead]

This month's Massachusetts beverage journal has an article about gin. Plymouth sloe gin is mentioned. Plymouth has no intention of mass marketing the product, and it will remain a regionally targeted item with a limited yearly production, released twice a year only.

[thirtyoneknots]

This month's Massachusetts beverage journal has an article about gin.  Plymouth sloe gin is mentioned.  Plymouth has no intention of mass marketing the product, and it will remain a regionally targeted item with a limited yearly production, released twice a year only.

Bah, of course that means we won't be seeing it in Texas.

[lemon_twist]

Bah, of course that means we won't be seeing it in Texas.

Actually, Spec's printed a little article about it in their store magazine. I haven't looked for it in Austin, but presumably the Houston stores will def. have it.

[Mike S.]

For those in the SF Bay Area, Blackwell's in SF and Beltramo's in Menlo Park both have Plymouth Sloe Gin on the shelves (at least as of today ). I just picked up two bottles at Beltramo's and can't wait to give a try in something.

[Nathan]

Anyone seen it at retail around NYC?

Warehouse Liquors has it.

about $48. kind of steep but I'm sure I'll talk myself into it.

[Nathan]

I like it. nice amount of complexity.

be careful with balance though...it's plenty sweet.

had the crazy idea that maybe a take on the Aviation would work...it kind of does if you pump the lemon juice way up (at least an ounce and a half)

[slkinsey]

Made a good one last night, the Savoy Tango Cocktail. Half bonded applejack, half Plymouth sloe gin. Stir. Strain. Up.

[Nathan]

my current favorite sloe cocktail is here:

http://forums.egulle...howtopic=117347


just really really balances out the assertiveness of the sloe gin and has a great finish.

[weinoo]

Finally got a bottle ($47, for comparison's sake) and have seen 3 recipes in this topic:
Millionaire #1, Toby's Sloe Gin Sour and the Savoy Tango. The Savoy Cocktail Book has a couple of others, including the Sloeberry Cocktail (dash angostura, dash orange bitters, 1 "glass" sloe) and the Sloe Gin Cocktail (equal parts dry and sweet vermouth and sloe).

Any other favorites out there?

[bostonapothecary]

Finally got a bottle ($47, for comparison's sake) and have seen 3 recipes in this topic:
Millionaire #1, Toby's Sloe Gin Sour and the Savoy Tango.  The Savoy Cocktail Book has a couple of others, including the Sloeberry Cocktail (dash angostura, dash orange bitters, 1 "glass" sloe) and the Sloe Gin Cocktail (equal parts dry and sweet vermouth and sloe). 

Any other favorites out there?

right now i'm drinking...

1 oz. macallan cask strength
1 oz. plymouth sloe gin
1 oz. euro formula noilly prat dry vermouth
1 dash raegan's bitters
stirred...

i wish i had a citrus peel but the drink is delicious. i'm starting to regard plymouth's sloe gin as one of the most important liqueurs out there... its has learning curves like st. germain does because of its high acidity and low sugar content relative to things like cointreau. its flavor contrast with a potent brown spirit is beautiful.

lately i really need the decadence of cask strength spirits... i wonder how the same drink would be with the mocha like character of old potrero's 18th century rye?

[slkinsey]

I really feel that Plymouth's price point for their sloe gin at retail is ridiculously high. It's a great product, but for something that calls for more than the half ounces in which one uses things such as Cointreau, it's quite expensive. It's going to be hard to do much mixing with something that costs significantly more than Courvoisier VSOP. This stuff is priced at around double the price of regular Plymouth. In the UK, from what I have been able to tell, Plymouth Sloe is priced just a touch higher than their regular gin. That price has got to come way down in the US if it's ever going to catch on. Eventually, the cocktail geeks will have acquired all they want, and they'll be using it up in miserly increments because of the absurdly high price, and that will be that. It will never increase in popularity. Even some cocktailians balk at the cost of using Cointreau, and Cointreau is significantly less expensive than Plymouth Sloe.


Related to that: Does anyone know how to procure sloe berries in the US?

Edited by slkinsey, 25 July 2008 - 12:07 PM.

[db_campbell]

I really feel that Plymouth's price point for their sloe gin at retail is ridiculously high.  It's a great product, but for something that calls for more than the half ounces in which one uses things such as Cointreau, it's quite expensive.  It's going to be hard to do much mixing with something that costs significantly more than Courvoisier VSOP.  This stuff is priced at around double the price of regular Plymouth.  In the UK, from what I have been able to tell, Plymouth Sloe is priced just a touch higher than their regular gin.  That price has got to come way down in the US if it's ever going to catch on ... ...

I must concur with all the points elucidated above. That said, I acquired my bottle of Plymouth Sloe Gin for $37.5 in Washington, D.C. Considering the norm in other areas of the country seems to be approx. $47, something is obviously at play in the pricing of this product external to Plymouth ..

EDIT: adjusted for accurate pricing conveyance

Edited by db_campbell, 25 July 2008 - 05:16 PM.

[eje]

I really feel that Plymouth's price point for their sloe gin at retail is ridiculously high.
[...]

Hmm? In the San Francisco area Plymouth Sloe gin is retailing for around $35 per 750ml. About the same as Cointreau.

And this is at pretty upscale stores.

$25-ish for 750ml of Plymouth Gin, even at warehouse liquor stores.

[slkinsey]

Well, $47 seems to be the going price in NYC. In consideration of the fact that $25 is the going rate for a fifth (even in the fanciest NYC liquor stores), and that $30 seems to be the breaking point for most people at which they will start thinking about seeking out a less expensive alternative, something in the range between $25 and $30 would seem like the reasonable price point for a product that the makers hope will be used in relatively large amounts as a primary spirit and not doled out in half-ounces here and there as a precious modifier. In the UK example I provided above, a fifth of Plymouth Sloe was selling at around 6% more than a fifth of Plymouth Gin. I've seen UK prices for Plymouth Sloe that are as much as 24% higher than Plymouth Gin. Similar pricing structures would put US Plymouth Sloe at somewhere between $26.50 and $31.00 -- either one of which would be acceptable and a vast improvement over $35.00 to $47.00.

Clearly, however, something fishy is going on with the pricing in the NYC market, which appears to be substantially higher than anywhere else.

[bostonapothecary]

Well, $47 seems to be the going price in NYC.  In consideration of the fact that $25 is the going rate for a fifth (even in the fanciest NYC liquor stores), and that $30 seems to be the breaking point for most people at which they will start thinking about seeking out a less expensive alternative, something in the range between $25 and $30 would seem like the reasonable price point for a product that the makers hope will be used in relatively large amounts as a primary spirit and not doled out in half-ounces here and there as a precious modifier.  In the UK example I provided above, a fifth of Plymouth Sloe was selling at around 6% more than a fifth of Plymouth Gin.  I've seen UK prices for Plymouth Sloe that are as much as 24% higher than Plymouth Gin.  Similar pricing structures would put US Plymouth Sloe at somewhere between $26.50 and $31.00 -- either one of which would be acceptable and a vast improvement over $35.00 to $47.00.

Clearly, however, something fishy is going on with the pricing in the NYC market, which appears to be substantially higher than anywhere else.

boston prices were about the same as new york... is the price due to a trial importation or something like that which will come down?

i can't stand the prices of liqueurs these days. i don't like having to pay for full page magazine ads. i think we need to learn more about sourcing ingredients and making liqueurs are home. the only things i feel are worth the big money these days are chartreuse and benedictine... i don't like mono infused liqueur makers getting rich off me.