West Beers : Every Thursday @ The Lamb Brewery, W4 4PH

@jdmitch
Sloe gin.
Empty gin from bottle. Pour in 8oz sloes* (checked for twigs/leaves, obvious signs of mank), 8oz sugar, (some demerara adds colour). Top up with gin leaving some headspace. Invert bottle 8 times a day to ensure the sugar dissolves and the sloe-y essence dissolves into the gin and the colour is leached out of the sloe skins. Store each day out of daylight, sa exposure to UV will lessen the abstracted colour.
Enjoy as a warming alcoholic linctus after meals.
When approaching empty, invoke brewers/distillers' rights and have the sloe sludge served under a mound of proper custard. Do not expect to get much of anything done that afternoon.

• Sloes were traditionally picked after the 1st frost. As we are not all indentured day labourers we can mimic the 1st frost by freezing the sloes. The expansion of water upon freezing bursts cell walls allowing the sloe essence to be dissolved/solubilised into the gin.