It seems that everywhere you look right now, artisan gins are on the menu. It’s little wonder, given their gastronomic taste of herbs and spices, and the high-quality mixers that have hit the market in the past few years.

But what we’re really excited about right now is sloe gin.

Sloe and steady

Made by steeping and macerating the berries of the blackthorn bush in the spirit, sloe gin has a tartness like blackcurrants but with a blackberry richness and warming herbal aftertaste.

Tasting Tips

This tipple has been popular across Europe for centuries, where it’s taken neat as a much-loved winter warmer, and mixed with tonic or soda, or used in cocktails for summer refreshment. Our current fave is to substitute for normal gin to create a Sloe Gin Negroni (pictured below).

What we’re sipping

Right now we’re obsessed with Elephant Sloe Gin. A truly unique offering, Elephant Gin is created in Germany where it’s handcrafted and housed in hand-made bottles and labels, but the gin was inspired by travels to Africa, where its distinctive African native botanical ingredients are sourced from.

In addition to the usual juniper and orange peel, these small-batch gins have added the African superfruit baobab, the herb lion’s tail, blackcurrant-like buchu, and bitter floral African wormwood. Elephant’s Sloe Gin takes this base and adds fresh sloe berries for a slightly sweet and fruity taste, and enticingly dark red colour.

Even better

As if we weren’t in love with this gin enough, Elephant Gin donates 15% of bottle proceeds to initiatives that protect elephants from poaching across Kenya, Tansania and South Africa.