Rhubarb Gin

If you're a follower of this blog you'll know that last year I made Sloe Gin using sloes I picked on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales.  I'd never made sloe gin before and was VERY please with the results.

If you're not a follower of this blog. Why the hell not?

Anyway, as my sloe gin worked out a treat (and I mean, a real treat), I thought why not try the same recipe but substituting sloes for other fruits, particularly those that need a good amount of sugar to wake them up a bit.

This led me to my trusty allotment and my rhubarb, of which I've got quite a lot of 'inherited' varieties and a limited amount of freezer space...And I got thinking...sloe gin....rhubarb gin? Thus, rhubarb gin was born.

The experiment began 10wks ago based on a Nigel Slater recipe (see the original sloe gin recipe from the blog) or just read the recipe below...

Just Picked	Just Bottled (day1)	Just Sampled (wk10)

Ingredients (makes 1x ltr bottle)

• x1 1 litre bottle
• 500ml of gin (non-expensive), I used Gordon's (he was okay when I asked him)
• 270g caster sugar
• 300g rhubarb stalks, washed & cut into fingers (make sure they fit through the bottle)

Method:

• Put into the bottle, gin, sugar (you might put the lid on here and shake it a bit), and then the rhubarb, and put the lid on again.
• Shake the bottle until the sugar dissolves.
• Store the bottle somewhere cool and dark.
• Each week shake the bottle to mix everything up.
• Continue your weekly shake for 10weeks, the longer you leave it the better it gets.

At 10weeks, Monday  13th August, I gave it a taste, taken in a small glass (no mixer, no ice).  I wanted to get a feel for the taste.

The smell is quite something, sweet rhubarb, which suprised me - as I didn't cook the rhubarb at all.  But it smelt like freshly cooked rhubarb crumble type rhubarb smell.  Rhubarb picked from the allotment doesen't really have a smell IMHO.

It has a faint pinky colour to it - again this was a suprise because the rhubarb stalks I used weren't particularly pink either.

And the taste...it's good. Oh, it's very good.  I could easily drink too much of it without realising.

First you get the fresh sweetness of sweetened rhubarb stalks, not overpowering at all which is followed by a smooth mellow warmth all down your throat (that's the alcohol).

Mr Lisa was very pleased too, he said "That's magic that is"

As with Sloe Gin, the longer you leave it the more it improves.
I don't think this bottle will last long, but I'll be making more.

That's Christmas presents sorted then!

I also plan to experiment with Elderberry Gin...same recipe, substituting sloes/rhubarb for Elderberries.  Full report (as usual) to follow.

Why not vodka? I stopped drinking vodka about 2yrs ago due to an unfortunate incident which involved, vodka, a taxi ride to the airport and a flight to Paris for my birthday.