Blackthorn Gin

A modern Australian sloe gin.

Sloe gin is a traditional flavoured gin that dates back to the 17th century in England. It’s been made the same way for hundreds of years…that is, with a load of sugar to offset the bitterness and tartness from the berries. Well, that’s at least until we got our hands on Australia’s (and we reckon the world’s) best sloe berries.

Up until that point sloe gin was sickly sweet and thick. As we heard from many a bartender on the subject….once there’s sugar in it, you can’t take it. It was more of a liqueur, not so much a gin and because of that, they are usually quite low proof (Around 25% ABV), but again, that wasn’t our style. So, we turned that on its head to create a new world, modern Australian take on it. Our aim was to create the world’s best flavoured gin, starting with fresh, plump sloe berries that grow in in Northern Tasmania is a head start to say the least. The fresh sloe berries are handpicked and sent across Bass Straight to our distillery. The berries are lightly pressed to split the skins, before being steeped Melbourne Dry Gin for up to four months, before lightly sweetening – we add 1g sugar per 100mL of gin, that’s about 10% off the sugar that traditional sloe gins use, and releasing at 35% ABV. With an impressive trophy cabinet, we created the best flavoured gin you’re likely to find.

Low sugar, big flavour. This is how sloe gin should taste.