Plymouth Sloe Gin Traditional English Liqueur 1883 Recipe Hand Foraged Sloe Berries Blackfriars Distillery Plymouth England Gold Medal SFWSC 2011 Silver Gin Masters 26% ABV 52 Proof 750ml

Sloe gin is not really gin. It is, technically, a liqueur — sloe berries steeped in gin, sweetened with sugar, aged until the fruit has given everything it has to give, and bottled at a proof that reflects its liqueur status rather than the base spirit's strength. But sloe gin is also something more than a liqueur: it is one of the most quintessentially English drinks ever made, with a tradition as old as the English countryside itself, a flavor profile that is simultaneously sweet and bitter and fruity and complex in a way that no other category quite replicates, and a seasonal, homemade heritage that makes every commercial version a nod to what generations of English families made in autumn when the sloe berries ripened on the blackthorn bushes.

Plymouth Sloe Gin is made to a recipe the distillery first used in 1883 — more than 140 years of continuous production from the Blackfriars Distillery, the oldest operating gin distillery in England, in a 15th-century Dominican monastery building in Plymouth. Hand-foraged sloe berries are steeped in Plymouth Gin — itself one of the most historically distinguished and most specifically geographically designated gins in the world — with Dartmoor water and a deliberately restrained amount of sugar for approximately four months. The sugar is kept low by design: the Gin Guild's description of the production specifically notes that "the sugar levels are kept low to allow the full flavour of the berries to shine and allow the dry acidity of the fruit to be an important part of the taste." The result — Gold Medal at the 2011 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Silver at the Gin Masters — is a sloe gin of genuine balance: sweet and bitter in the most pleasurable possible equilibrium, with the mellow sloe berry character, sweet cherry, and a hint of almonds from the stone of the fruit delivering a smooth, full-bodied warmth that 88 Bamboo called "a really delicious and well-rounded sloe gin — deep wintery dessert flavours of plums, cinnamon and blackberries."

Origins & Craftsmanship

The Blackfriars Distillery is the oldest operating gin distillery in England — a 15th-century Dominican Order (Black Friars) monastery built in 1431 in Plymouth, Devon. The monastery's medieval Refectory Room, with its fine hull-shaped timber roof, remains one of the most architecturally intact gin production facilities in the world. Plymouth Gin has been distilled at this site since at least 1793 when Coates & Co. established the operation, making it one of the oldest continuous gin-producing sites in Britain. The Port of Plymouth's history as a maritime hub — a beacon for explorers, a provisioning point for the Royal Navy — gave Plymouth Gin its earliest and most enduring commercial identity: naval officers departing from Plymouth took the gin with them on voyages, establishing Plymouth's reputation across the known world.

Plymouth Gin carries one of the most specific geographic designations in spirits — its appellation formally protected within the EU until 2014, requiring that any gin labeled Plymouth Gin be distilled specifically in Plymouth, England. The Plymouth brand is the only producer meeting that geographic criterion. The sloe gin is produced to a recipe the distillery first developed in 1883 — a formulation that has remained fundamentally unchanged for over 140 years, a continuity of craft and flavor that is remarkable in any spirits category.

The production of Plymouth Sloe Gin is admirably traditional. Hand-foraged sloe berries — the small, intensely tart blue-black fruit of the blackthorn bush (Prunus spinosa), harvested after the first frost of autumn when the skins have softened and the natural sugars have concentrated — are slowly and gently steeped in Plymouth Gin, soft pure Dartmoor water, and a deliberately minimal quantity of sugar for approximately four months. The four-month maceration allows the sloe berries to surrender their full flavor complexity — the mellow fruit character, the sweet cherry notes, the almond quality from the fruit's stone, the dry acidity that the wild berry naturally carries — into the gin base without the fruit being overwhelmed by excessive sugar. No artificial flavors, no artificial colorings: the liqueur's rich ruby-red color is entirely the product of the sloe berry's natural pigments transferred to the liquid during maceration. The seven botanicals of Plymouth Gin — juniper, coriander, orange peel, lemon peel, angelica root, green cardamom, and orris root — remain detectable beneath the sloe berry's fruit character as a supporting botanical structure.

Critics Reviews

San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2011 — Gold Medal The highest recognition available at the world's most prestigious spirits competition — confirmed for Plymouth Sloe Gin in the 2011 competitive cycle.

Gin Masters — Silver Medal Recognition at one of the gin category's most respected competition platforms.

88 Bamboo: "A really delicious and well-rounded sloe gin! You get those deep wintery dessert flavours of plums, cinnamon, blackberries and some slight nuttiness, delivered with a smooth, medium-bodied texture and balanced with some dryness and acidity."

Tasting Profile

Nose Rich ruby-red in color — entirely natural, derived from four months of sloe berry maceration. The nose is clear and immediately inviting: mellow sloe berries leading with a fruity warmth that is neither aggressively tart nor cloyingly sweet but precisely between the two. Sweet cherry and plum follow alongside a delicate scent of almonds — the most distinctive aromatic characteristic of sloe gin, derived from the amygdalin compounds in the fruit's stone that leach gently into the liquid during the four-month maceration. A whisper of juniper and the fresh cardamom of the Plymouth Gin botanical recipe adds structure beneath the fruit character — reassuring evidence of the genuine gin base beneath the sloe's generosity. Orange and lemon peel add a subtle citrus dimension. The nose is warm, fruity, and entirely English autumn in a glass.

Palate Smooth, fruity, and full-bodied — the precise balance between sweetness and bitterness that the distillery's deliberately restrained sugar addition produces. The sloe berry's natural character is the dominant voice: plum, blackberry, and a deep, wintery fruit richness alongside sweet cherry and the almond note that persists from the nose into the palate's center. The acidity is the most important structural quality — present, natural, and deliberately preserved by the low sugar addition, cutting through the fruit sweetness and keeping every sip fresh and mouth-watering rather than cloying. Cinnamon, a slight nuttiness, and a hint of spice from the cardamom and coriander add depth. The mouthfeel is smooth and medium-bodied — the Plymouth Gin's inherent quality and the four-month maceration's patient extraction producing a texture of genuine liqueur richness without heaviness.

Finish Long, fresh, and fruity — the distillery's own description confirmed by every independent reviewer. The sloe berry character carries the close most persistently alongside a whisper of raspberry licorice candy and the angelica root's earthy, slightly herbal dryness. A final touch of cumin and the almonds' gentle warmth fade last. The finish is considerably longer than most commercial sloe gins — the four-month maceration's depth evident in a complexity that extends well past the swallow.

Quick Overview

Serving & Occasion

Plymouth recommends sloe gin neat over ice as a warming winter sipper — the most traditional English serve that honors the category's seasonal, homemade heritage. A measure over ice in a rocks glass is the most revealing and most satisfying neat format. Outstanding in cocktails where the sweet-bitter sloe character can be both the leading ingredient and a supporting element — see below. With Champagne or sparkling wine it makes one of the most elegant and most distinctively English aperitifs available anywhere. With Fever Tree lemon tonic it becomes a refreshing long drink of unusual character. The 26% ABV makes it broadly accessible and appropriate at any occasion where a fruit-forward, approachable spirit of genuine complexity is the right choice — aperitifs, digestifs, Christmas gatherings, gifting, and cocktail making at every level of ambition.

Cocktail Suggestions

Sloe Gin Fizz (the classic, most celebrated serve) 2 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin · 1 oz fresh lemon juice · ½ oz simple syrup · chilled soda water. Shaken over ice (without soda), strained into a tall glass over ice, topped with soda. The citric element brightens and balances the sloe berry's sweet-bitter fruit character in a combination that 88 Bamboo specifically calls out as the most rewarding format — "the citric element brightening and balancing the flavours and making this drink even more refreshing." The definitive sloe gin cocktail for a reason.

Sloe Royal (the Champagne serve) 1 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin · chilled Champagne or sparkling wine. Built in a Champagne flute. The most elegant and most naturally beautiful Plymouth Sloe Gin serve — the ruby-red sloe gin blooming through the Champagne as it fills the glass, and the sweet-bitter fruit character bridging the Champagne's autolytic complexity in one of the most distinctively English aperitif formats available.

Sloe Gin Negroni 1 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin · 1 oz Campari · 1 oz sweet vermouth · orange twist. Stirred over ice, served in a rocks glass. A riff on the classic Negroni where the Plymouth Sloe Gin replaces standard gin — the sloe berry's sweet-bitter character aligning naturally with Campari's bitterness and vermouth's botanical sweetness in a darker, more fruit-forward Negroni of considerable depth and autumn character.

Sloe G&T 1.5 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin · Fever Tree Lemon Tonic · lemon slice. Built over ice in a highball. Plymouth's own recommendation — the lemon tonic amplifying the lemon peel botanical from the gin base while the carbonation lifts the sloe berry's fruit character into a particularly vivid and refreshing long drink.

Sloe Bramble 1.5 oz Plymouth Gin (standard) · ½ oz Plymouth Sloe Gin (float) · ¾ oz fresh lemon juice · ½ oz simple syrup · crushed ice. Build the Plymouth Gin, lemon, and sugar over crushed ice in a rocks glass, then float the sloe gin on top — it sinks gradually through the drink, changing the flavor as it descends. The sloe gin float adds the blackberry and plum dimension that makes the classic Bramble its most fully realized.