From Sloe Gin to our Davidson Plum Gin

To understand how we crafted our Davidson Plum Gin, it is interesting to learn a little more about Sloe Gin. You will learn about the liqueur's origin and how it is made. Then we will tell you everything about our delicious Davidson Plum Gin, Wolf Lane's take on the Sloe Gin.

The origin of Sloe Gin

Let’s start with a little bit of History!

Sloe Gin is known as a berry flavoured Gin Liqueur originating from 18th century England. Sloe berries grow in Europe and have been used by the British to create what was called ‘’shooting gin’’. This name was borned in the British countryside where aristocracy loved sipping it from hip flasks while shooting birds and playing games. Its production was among the easiest as the sloes grew on the blackthorn hedgerows, which were everywhere used to divide the land in England at the time.

In the beginning of the 18th century, gin’s quality was at its lowest and sloe gin did not have a great reputation, considered the ‘’the poor man’s Port’’. Back then, the spirit was distilled with turpentine and berries were used to mask the flavour.

Fortunately, Gin producers have worked to improve the distilling process and the spirit’s popularity has never stopped growing ever since. Sloe Gin has become the delicious sweet and delicate Gin you share with your friends and family.

How Sloe Gin is made

How Sloe Gin is made and what are the differences with the traditional Gin?

Gin is made from traditional distillation processes while Sloe gin is made by steeping a mix of sugar and sloe berries into the Gin. Sloe berries are wild small plums, also known as blackthorn berry (Prunus Spinosa). They grow in Europe, northwest Africa and Western Asia and are fully ripe in the last part of Summer.

Sloe Gin vs Gin? The most obvious difference between Gin and Sloe Gin is that Gin has a clear colour while Sloe Gin takes on the dark berry colour. Technically, Sloe Gin is a gin-based liqueur made by infusing the Gin with the berries. Combined with added sugar and marinated for a few weeks or months, the process eventually results in a sweet, deep red-dark purple coloured Liqueur. Sloe gin is classified as a liqueur and gin is a spirit. Gin’s main ingredient is juniper while Sloe berries are the Sloe Gin’s stars. The difference also takes place in the alcohol content, generally lower in Sloe gin (ranging from 15% to 35%), which is also sweeter than Gin.

To Davidson Plum Gin

How we create our Davidson Plum Gin

The Davidson Plum Craft Gin is Wolf Lane Distillery's tropical take on the traditional sloe gin, although we wanted it to be a Gin rather than a Liqueur. That is why the alcohol content is 37.5%.

We swapped the sloe berries for the locally grown Davidson Plums. We pride ourselves to favour native botanicals and fruits in our gins and liqueurs. For this creation, we use North Queensland organic Ooray plums, oranges and sugar. In this labour of love, we steep the plums for up to three months in our gin, before bottling it at full strength to deliver a truly unique, fruit-forward flavour. We use the entirety of our Davidson Plums in order to harness their intense colour and taste their distinctive flavour. This earthy aroma, reminiscent of plum jam and stewed rhubarb with orange notes, complements the juniper in this very special creation.

Davidson plum fruit

Davidson plum tree

Delicious and sustainable

In our endeavour to achieve sustainability in our production, we choose local over imported ingredients and we use the fruits to create another delight. After the three months maceration process (plums) and a few hours of distillation (oranges), we get the steeped and distilled fruits to be used in marmalade and jam. We return them to the local farmers who grew them so they can craft our delicious Orange & Wattle Seed Marmalade and Davidson Plum Jam. In this way, we support the local farming community even more and avoid wasting these high-quality fruits.

How to drink Davidson Plum Gin

Flavour and tasting notes

You will find notes of cranberry on the nose while the palate brings ripe cherry sweetness, fresh acidity, and sourness, with the plums giving that unique tartness and warmth.

We crafted this gin recipe with half the amount of sugar found in traditional sloe gins, to offer a full strength flavourful gin.