September is a month of plenty. It’s one reason why it hosts Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight, expanded this year for the whole month. It’s the time of year when nature gives us one last chance to prepare for those long winter months. It is the time to gather all sorts of tasty wild food, much like a squirrel burying nuts in the garden ready for the coming season. Nathan likes to do much the same, so in this article he is sharing his method for making sloe gin:

When it comes to making sloe gin, I’m very much in the bung it all together and don’t measure anything camp. If that freaks you out a bit then you can look up these recipes online and get some more detailed/professional information, but I doubt it will actually make much difference to the final product. My advice would be: don’t stress about all the measurements and technical details and just have some fun. Pour yourself a glass of wine, put some tunes and pyjamas on, and make the whole thing enjoyable. There’s very little that can go wrong…

The first step to making sloe gin is to go and look at how much money you have in the bank. It is easy to say, “right I’m making six bottles of sloe gin this year”, but then have something of a shock when it comes to paying for the stuff. Once the amount of gin you are going to buy is settled, pick the appropriate amount of sloes for the gin. I aim for about half the volume of the bottle, but that isn’t an unbreakable law. You can use more, or less, depending on how many sloes you have growing near you and how easily you get bored when picking them. If you’re a bit short on sloes, or want to bring your own twist, try adding in a few blackberries as well.

The next step is to get your empty gin bottle and prick or stab each sloe and pop it in the bottle—this takes a while, but does give the gin more flavour if you take the time. (This is the step where the glass of wine and the tunes make things a little more fun.) Next, pour some sugar in the bottle. How much really depends on how sweet you like your sloe gin. I don’t like it that sweet, so only put around 80-100 grams in. A funnel will make this a breeze. If you don’t have one, then you may have to pour it in the bottle with a teaspoon. This is likely to become tedious. Once that’s done, pour in your gin until your bottle is full and put the lid on. All that’s left to do is put it away in the pantry and give it a shake every now and again.

Ideally, your gin should mature for at least a year, but we all know that it will never last that long before we start drinking it. I usually plan to open mine at the end of December. Once the bottle is empty, don’t forget to make some jam with the leftover gin-soaked sloes—this will make for a lovely bit of indulgence for breakfast. It can perk up even the most dull of winter mornings. Again, you can make the most of nature’s bounty here by also including a few blackberries.

Please drink responsibly.