Sloe night in?
Warming winter cocktails with Bombay Sapphire

By Rebecca Sharp

When the magic of Christmas is past, there are still months of cold evenings ahead. Thanks to some warming new recipes based on Bombay Sapphire sloe gin, winter cocktails can spice up the night.

Sam Carter, Bombay Sapphire brand ambassador and mixologist, is bursting with enthusiasm as he details the ingredients that go into the company’s traditional gin in the Blue Room at Vinopolis in London’s Borough Market. Almost as bursting as the spices packed into the gin to give it its distinctive flavour. Ten ‘botanicals’ are infused into raw alcohol: juniper berries are a given, but have you heard of grains of paradise from Ghana or cubeb berries from Java?

Before rustling up some winter cocktails, Sam explains how to make Bombay Sapphire sloe gin. Sloes are purplish berries with bitter, dry green flesh – no good to eat, but a great compliment to the bitterness of gin. The traditional method is to put 450g of pricked sloe berries into a sealable jar, add 200g of caster sugar and a 700ml bottle of gin and leave for about three months. Sam’s quick method involves vacuum-packing the sugar and berries and putting them through several dishwasher cycles, or cooking them in a water bath for about 3 hours, before adding to the gin.
The result is a richly-coloured syrupy tot with a warm kick, best enjoyed slugged from a hip flask on a cold day. But using it as a cocktail base makes it accessible for those of us who are not part of the shooting and fishing set.

Sam’s first recipe is the Sloeberry Fizz – 50ml of sloe gin, 25ml of lemon juice, a dash of runny honey, topped up with soda in a highball glass and garnished with an orange wedge – deliciously fresh and zesty.

The Sloe Cobbler – mixing sloe gin with Amontillado sherry, cherry liqueur and lemon juice – has a dry but very seasonal taste, conjouring up Christmas morning sherry tipples. The nutty warmth burns long in the throat.

If a raw egg doesn't put you off, the Sloeberry Flip is very comforting – it blends sloe gin, Bacardi rum, a dash of sugar (or even better, molasses) and a raw egg. The result is a Baileys-like creamy brown colour with a smooth, peppery taste.

My favourite was the Sloe Gin Rocks, simply sloe gin served on ice with orange zest studded with cloves and a cinnamon stick. Served in a glass with a large bowl, its warmth and spiciness would look and taste fabulous in front of a roaring fire.

For more information and cocktail recipes, see:
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