Slider - Cider liqueur with Gin-soaked Sloes
You may have heard of Sloe Port, which is a drink made by infusing gin-soaked sloes in red wine and then adding brandy, and you'll find a recipe for Sloe Port using leftover sloes here. But have you heard of Slider, also known as Sloe Cider? This is a Cider liqueur with gin-soaked sloes, and is an equally lovely thing to make.
Leftover Sloes
If you haven't made Sloe Gin, you may not yet be familiar with the concept of left-over gin-soaked sloes. The process for making sloe gin is very simple, you macerate sloe berries in a mixture of gin and sugar for a period of time, and then you strain it. You go on to bottle and enjoy the Sloe Gin. But what to do with the berries?
The internet is awash with ideas with what you could do with them rather than simply throwing them away. From de-stoning them and adding them to your trifle to making a boozy apple and sloe crumble, the possibilities are endless.
But today we are talking about adding them to cider to make Sloe Cider, or Slider. Once you've used them for this they may have broken up considerably and not be good for much more than the bin, though you could try still adding them to a crumble or trifle... they may not look much like berries at this stage but they'll still add an amazing flavour.
Slider Recipe - Cider liqueur with Gin-soaked Sloes
Makes approximately 2 litres.
Ingredients
approximately 2 litres of still cider (ideally homemade cider!)
the gin-soaked sloes left over from making sloe gin
You will also need
Cleaner/steriliser such as VWP
a vessel into which an airlock can be fitted, such as a pet demijohn with bored cap, a glass demijohn with a bored bung (as in the image below) or fermenting bucket with bored lid. It ideally with have a 4.5-5 litre capacity for the volume in this recipe. That makes it big enough for the gin-soaked sloe berries to half fill it, plus it can be topped up with still cider without leaving too big a gap above the surface of the cider, to avoid the cider oxidising.
This is a 4.5 litre glass demijohn, and the black circles you can see are the sloes. It was a bit of a struggle to get them out through the neck at the end but not that big a deal, it can definitely be done. an airlock. Whilst your cider will already have fermented out when it was made, when you add the gin and sugar soaked sloes there is a very good chance that the cider will start fermenting again. Fitting an airlock ensures that any air produced through additional fermentation is released out of the vessel without letting air or fruit flies in. More about how to use an airlock here.
Method
Sterilise your chosen vessel.
Approximately half fill it with the gin-soaked sloes left over from making sloe gin.
Pour the still cider over the top of the sloes to reach the shoulders of the demijohn or near the top of the bucket.
Fit the airlock and leave for about a month until any signs of fermentation are finished. The gin will have been extracted from the sloes and your cider will be pink and gorgeous.
Bottle in sterilised bottles and label. Flip top bottles work well for this provided you are certain that any fermentation (assuming there was any when the mixture was in the demijohn) has finished. If you're uncertain you can use recycled beer bottles and seal with caps using a capper.
You'll notice that there is no sugar added to this recipe. That is because the sloes already contain sugar from the gin-making proceess. If you'd prefer your Slider a bit sweeter you could add sugar syrup, and/or a little Sloe Gin if you'd like it to have extra kick.
Want to learn more about Cidermaking?
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