Sloe Gin

Sloe spirit with tart wild fruit and almond notes

The sloe spirit from the Ehringhausen distillery is made from wild-harvested sloes, macerated in the distillery's own organic grain spirit and then distilled. Tart and fruity with a fine almond note, 40% vol. Awarded three times, most recently with gold.

Sloe spirit (Schlehengeist) is a distillate made from the fruit of the blackthorn, that small, dark-blue wild fruit considered the ancestor of the damson plum. In Werne, it is macerated in mild grain spirit made from local cereals and then distilled. The result is a spirit that remains tart where others turn sweet.

Fruity, tart, and almondy

On the nose, there is dark stone fruit, followed by a fine almond note and a hint of hedgerows after the rain.

On the palate, it is clear and tart, with the slightly astringent quality that characterizes the sloe even as a raw fruit. This exact edge is what makes it interesting, as it prevents the fruit from becoming cloying. The finish is long and dry, with the almond lingering until the very end.

The sloe itself is stony, angular, and stubborn. Eaten raw off the bush, it puckers your mouth, and traditionally one waits for the first frost before harvesting. What becomes of it in the glass shares nothing with this brittleness other than its character.

Why the sloe becomes a spirit (Geist) and not a brandy (Brand)

A spirit (Geist) is made differently than a brandy (Brand), and the difference lies in the sugar.

Fruits with high natural sugar content, such as plums or cherries, can be fermented and then distilled. This results in a brandy. The sloe does not have enough sugar for this; it would produce a thin, acidic must. Therefore, the fruits are macerated in finished alcohol, allowed to release their aromas, and then the mixture is distilled. This process creates a spirit.

The choice of maceration alcohol is therefore crucial, as this alcohol remains in every drop in the glass. Ehringhausen uses its own mild grain spirit made from local cereals instead of buying neutral alcohol. Time, patience, and manual labor—that’s what Theres and Georg say about their spirits, and it is most evident during the maceration process.

The fruits are hand-picked, and the distillery is willing to travel great distances for good produce. For a wild fruit that no one grows in rows and that is only viable for a few weeks a year, this is not a side detail, but half the work.

The fruit that reveals the distiller

About twenty years ago, an Italian distiller confided in me that he always tastes the sloe of his competitors, because the distiller shows what they are capable of with it.

And it was exactly this skill that Georg won me over with. His sloe has an aromatic quality that I have rarely encountered, and this fine, small wild fruit, similar to the damson, truly deserves a comeback. You shouldn't miss this spirit.

The juries seem to agree. It won silver in 2017, gold in 2020, and gold again in 2022. It is distilled in Werne, where the family has been working since 1962 and where Theres and Georg have been running the business in the third generation since 2012.

At 16 to 20 degrees, not ice cold

Serve it at 16 to 20 degrees in a slim grappa glass, as an aperitif or after a meal.

Ice cold, it loses its almond note, which is why it doesn't belong in the freezer. It tastes especially good after a hearty meal, and it pairs well with chocolate desserts, plum cake, and aged cheese. Other distillates of this kind can be found in our fruit brandy selection; for something lighter and more citrusy, try the lemon spirit. You can find the entire range in the Ehringhausen distillery collection.

Organic inspection body DE-ÖKO-005 – EU agriculture