Hayman's Sloe Gin

This is my first time trying Sloe Gin. Nose is plums, raspberries, and cherries. Not artificial or cough syrupy at all. The juniper jumps on the palate but quickly fades to being all of those orchard fruit flavours back to the forefront. The finish is surprisingly long and is a dance of fruit and botanicals. This stuff is pretty incredible. Neat you really get the juniper, on ice it's a fruit buffet. Add a bit of soda and it tastes like a cocktail with 10 ingredients.

This very low ABV sloe gin is very freshly red-fruity and berry-like neat with the slightest red wine impression in the nose, neat flavors are also a muddled nondescript berry and red fruit basket. Indian tonic lends a little depth to the profile and seems to bring out a little bit of plum/prune and baking spices, berry tonic returns it to its original muddled berry profile, only sweeter.

Nose: Cranberries, strawberries, citrus and a little bright spice. Palate: Sweet and tart sloe berry, stewed rhubarb, and a touch of orange marmalade in the arrival, with sweeter fruit syrup notes following and juniper and orris root developing towards the finish. Finish: Medium. Tart and sweet with lingering berry flavours. Tasted at a pop-up stall at our local liquor store last Saturday, which was World Gin Day. I’ve had several sloe (and other berry-flavoured) gins previously but had not tried this one before. Mrs Cascode particularly liked it, and we bought a bottle. There are two directions you can go with sloe gin – you can make it intense and syrupy so it is like a berry liqueur, in which case the gin foundation spirit character is usually well covered and it may as well be vodka, or you can keep it balanced and light so the gin still shows through. The second approach is the one Hayman uses for this product. This style makes for a refreshing light drink when used as a mixing ingredient, and the note of bright rhubarb or citrus I get from it contributes to this as well. It works surprisingly well in a gin & tonic, creating a drink that is like a g&t with a spike of fruit syrup, which is … well … pretty much what it is. It is also an obvious contender for making a sloe gin fizz or a sloe gin shrub, as others have pointed out. Very pleasant, and there is a sense of balance to it. It's sweet and berry-driven to just the right degree and this is one of the better sloe gins available. We'll probably replace the bottle when this one is finished, but we will also explore flavoured gin as a category. “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)

Clean, crisp, and full of berry flavour (think plum, blueberry, and Saskatoon berry). Would be fantastic in a Gin and Tonic on a hot summer day! The Gin base is there, and reveals itself in the finish... But it's not over-powering and certainly plays second-fiddle to the robust berry flavour. No alcohol burn is present, which is to be expected, given the low ABV. Although I'm not a cocktail connoisseur, I can certainly see the potential this bottle would offer. Would likely purchase again, based on first impression - will be interesting to revisit to see if thoughts & tastes change.

Tasty, sweet, and fruity; not too boozy and well balanced notes of plum, fig, and mulberry.