This article is a departure for this generally a whisky-themed website, but the the project fascinated me.
Les has appeared in this site before, as the co-founder of “How to remove unwanted bits of cork from wanted whisky”.
From that, you would have gathered that Les is a resourceful character. With a well-defined sense of inquisitiveness and experimentation.
Les had planted a damson plum tree. He’d turned the output into damson plum jam, damson plum (and rhubarb) tart,. Damson plum this, that and the other thing. The uses for damson plums quickly became exhausted.
Then damson plum gin hove into view.
Damson Plum Gin
For those of you who have never heard of damson gin, the full recipe that Les used is to be found at the end of this article.
In the abbreviated version, the construction is quite simple.
It is gin. To which have been added some damson plums.
Or, more accurately, damson plums to which has been added a lot of gin.
And sugar. End of ingredient list.
The Brewing
The parts are amalgamated in large jars, the whole then left pretty much unmolested for nine months or so. The only attention in that period involves turning the jars over (like whisky barrels, but lighter) to help dissolve the sugar and encourage maturation.
The recipe requires just under a kilogram of plums and 1.5 litres of gin. Les went for two gins – Seagars and half a bottle of Greenalls London Dry. According to rumour these selections were made on a price basis, to keep costs down should the experiment fail. The two brews were kept separate, on the basis that if one failed the other would remain to hopefully take the pain away.
As my grandmother used to say, “Belt, braces, a safety pin and a piece of string.” Although I think that quote related more to trousers than gin.
The Reveal
Les asked if we wanted to be observers at the ceremonial decanting of the finished liquid on a sunny afternoon. You can’t turn down an invitation like that, especially when you have already experienced Les and his wife’s hospitality.
When we arrived, the large jars were arranged on the kitchen counter. The source gin bottles, along with a large plastic funnel and a piece of clean muslin cloth, stood ready.
Gin is usually a clear liquid. Like oily tap water, with Attitude.
Les’ damson plum gin was a lovely ruby colour. Not an opaque dark ruby like a pinot noir, but light and translucent like the ruby red glass in a stained glass window.
There followed a bit of nosing, tasting and some note taking. This was just to make sure that the project was worth continuing with, you understand. The consensus was that it was.
Considerably.
Looking at the two original donor gin bottles, the thought was also raised that the addition of plum juice and sugar had likely increased the volume of liquid available. And it might be practical to have another receptacle or two on standby, just in case.
So the decanting began. The Seagars-based product was returned to its bottle via the muslin and the funnel, with the predicted surplus put into a passing wine bottle.
The Greenalls version was decanted into a rapidly pressed-into-service crystal decanter – which the lovely ruby damson gin which really suited. Especially with the light from the kitchen window coming through behind it!
The left-overs
With the decanting completed and the liquid removed, there remained the residue.
In the bottom of each jar was a collection of dark brown orbs. Not smooth and round like plums, but wrinkly like fingers too long in hot water.
Discussion ensued around how the orbs might taste and what use they could possibly be put to. The first question was easily resolved by the Taste Test. Unsurprisingly they tasted just like damson plums that had been steeped in gin – a lot of gin, some which had been reminded after the decanting process.
What to with them was a bigger issue.
Various options were mooted. The contenders included:
– Keeping them for handing out to unsuspecting visitors;
– Taking them to nest month’s Wine Club meeting for evaluation; or
– Retaining them for after-dinner treats.
Les works at a local French café chain. There is an in-house chef of undoubted skill – the winning suggestion was to pass the remaining gin-soaked plums to him to see what inventive ideas he might find for them. It is encouraging to report that some have since appeared as a component of a rather nice dessert.
To the bottlings
Seagars (NZ) Gin, 37.2% abv
Nose: Almonds, Christmas cake
Palette: Plum (slightly sour from the Damsons) like plum jam on toast, liquerish, with a sweetness.
Finish: tannic drying, stays sweet but the plum taste remains.
Score: 8.7
Greenalls London Dry Gin, 37.5% abv
Nose: the plum flavour is stronger, with only a slight aroma
Palette: sweeter, with less sourness
Finish: the plum taste remains
Score: 8.5
The Recipe
Overall: I’m not a gin drinker. I know little about the product. But Les’ Damson Gin is one nice drop.