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Well last night a friend and I finished my bottle of sloe gin. As I was cleaning the bottle I noticed the label said 'Sloe Gin 1995 pricked'. It must have been a bottle that was part of an experiment as to whether it makes a difference if you prick the sloes or not (it doesn't).

It still tasted wonderful and it's a jolly good job I've got a new batch on the go. Should be ready for Christmas.

Zoe

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM

I still have the remnants of a 10 year old bottle that got "lost" in the back of the larder.
It tastes only reminiscent of sloes, but it's very smooth and distinctly caramelly with a refreshing slightly tart after taste.
Unfortunately my next bottle is only 5 years old.

I had a brew meet last night and we had a beer that was 15 years out of date. It was just about drinkable but was more like a beer flavoured sherry! We did have loads of other drinks too.

Andy Hamilton wrote:We did have loads of other drinks too.

Ah really? Who'd have thought...

A friend of mine used to make all sorts of home made stuff, but doesn't actually drink it herself (neither do her two men). So let's hope I'll be invited for Christmas again! I think I remember some ancient sloe gin, too... (She puts a drop in the trifle every year, that's all it is used for!)

I've never tasted even one year old sloe gin

Mike

SusieGee wrote:You're not a big drinker then

What Zoe didn't say was that this was bottle number 1001.

I've just checked out the corner of the kitchen that passes for a cellar in this house. I've a couple of small bottles of beer that don't have best before dates. They do have the dates of release from the brewery though, 1st Dec, one 2007 the other 2002. At 11.5% the beer is designed to age and very nice I expect them to be very nice. :-)
After those the 1yr old beer from a different Manchester brewery will seem quite tame, best start with that one...

Now that you mention it, I have a couple of bottles of Fremlins Silver Jubilee Ale somewhere in the back off my larder .... that was for the Queen's silver jubilee, whenever that was
I dimly remember it.

I only vaguely remember it too! As I recall the street party was particularly fine and I got completely sh1tfaced

I have a photo of me in a dress and long wig ... still with a full beard.
It amuses the grandchildren no end.

I was a tad over imbibed as well Maggie.

Green Aura wrote: I got completely sh1tfaced

Apparently that came us as a word on Countdown recently!
Andy - you did give our fruit gins and vodkas a fair appraisal

1977? That must have been just before I arrived in Britain for the first time... Otherwise I'm sure I would remember! I remember the eerie emptiness of the country on the day of the royal wedding....

Anyway - how come you all have ancient alcohol in your houses? It never seems to keep that well in mine! ;)

ina wrote:I remember the eerie emptiness of the country on the day of the royal wedding....

I remember an eerie emptiness on the day of the coronation
But I didn't drink any alcohol at all THAT day !
It was very memorable for the fact that I watched it on TV (and then had to wait another 8 years before I saw my next TV program)

Over Christmas and New Year I have been drinking sloe vodka that I started at the end of last September; it was pure nectar. It is great on a really cold frosty night; a real winter warmer. I only used vodka because I could get it cheaper than gin; the taste is much the same though. For this type of drink I don't believe that it improves much at all with long term keeping. As the berries were of terrific quality last season I am using the same ones again to make a second batch.

A friend told me that she sometimes uses the soaked berries to make sloe muffins. It sounds good, but I think to remove all the stones must be laborious.

Roger Ramjet