Sloe Spirits
December 18, 2023
The association of sloes and spirits is heavily tilted towards those demijohns of cheap gin, sugar, and piles of sloes which go under the label 'sloe gin'. But here and there people will also distil with these fruits, in an effort to turn their nasty nature into something nice. Hell, it seems that fermenting them is not out of the question, despite their inscrutable lack of sweetness. Let's see some of the results, semiblind.
Nusbaumer (Alsace, France) – Prunelle des Buissons (Sloe plum), c. 2022, 45%
Continuing our way through Nusbaumer's tasting sets. No indication that this involves a maceration.
Nose Almonds, a little marzipan even, tart plums, and plum tart. Fairly simple but nice enough. Were the stones left in here?
Palate Solidly plummy arrival, mildly sweet with some nice bite on the midpalate and back-end, a little black pepper, and eventually those almonds. Goes on medium long, without much development.
Comments Really nothing to complain about here, typically solid if unspectacular Nusbaumer. I prefer it without water.
Price around €49 per 70cl.
Score?5/10
Metté (Alsace, France) – Prunelle Sauvage (Sloe plum), c. 2020, 45%
Here the sloes are macerated in eau de vie de vin, which is then redistilled.
Nose The lightest nose here but still something to offer. Some grape kool aid, white wine vinegar, greengages and one rubber band. A little dusting of ground almonds.
Palate More ethereal than [the Nusbaumer]. Dark cocoa, mild pluminess, a decent amount of spice (pepper and a little clove) and finally some tannic skins. I like it more here than on the nose, it's less plummy than [the Nusbaumer] closer to the slightly rebarbative nature of eating a sloe. Takes a drop of water.
Comments Disappointing nose, but alright on the palate.
Price around €53 per 70cl.
Score?4/10
Rochelt (Tyrol, Austria) – Schlehe (Sloe plum), L. 214/21, 50%
This should be the 2010 harvest, aged in glass for 11 years. Rochelt claim up to 100kg of sloes are needed per litre of spirit, due to their low sugar content.
Nose Very rich and fruity. Actually this smells a lot like berries, mostly raspberry and blackberry, even summer pudding. A hint of rubber or tar? This is really nice. Finding some liquorice now, violets, forest fruit yoghurt, berry blossoms, and rust.
Palate Rather concentrated at strength and showing more industrial notes alongside the fruit and flowers. Hot metal, machine oils, boiling compote, rubber, violets. Some fruity 100% cacao chocolate. This needs some water. With water, gets quite some mist. It remains quite industrial, but also creamy, fruity and floral – mostly on berries and their blossoms. Some tannin on the back end, going on quite long with the summer pudding finally reasserting itself.
Comments Not my favourite Rochelt, but very good and pretty interesting (where did those berries come from?) I found it more fruity than floral, compared to Different Spirits, but the florality is there. In any case, I've had much soapier Rochelts (Quince and Gravenstein come to mind).
Price around €270 per 70cl.
Score?7/10