SLOE motion

Those of you who were coming to see us at the CLA Game Fair this year might remember that one of our sponsors was Yorkshire-based sloe gin company, SLOE motion.  Since we were in the area, we thought that it would be nice to pop in and say hello to Jonathon Curtoys, the owner, and have a quick look round.

This close to Silly Season, they are obviously extremely busy (75-80% of their sales are done in the run-up to Christmas) so we could have timed our visit a little better, but they were all very friendly anyway!  Actually, they’ve had a busy year: they’ve moved offices, everyone is talking about them and they have just been awarded the Gold in the “Taste of Britain Awards” Best Drink category.

With a degree in agriculture and a background in farm business advice and environmental campaigning, Jonathan saw the possibility of creating an ethical but profitable business by harvesting a crop that is essentially free.  He had grown up drinking his Dad’s homemade sloe gin and decided to team up with a friend near Malton and start making the tipple just like his Dad’s but on a much larger scale.

They started off by using all their own sloes, but have grown so much that they now have to buy a lot in.  However, nearly 80% are from North Yorkshire and since the Blackthorn bushes must be left to grow in order to harvest the sloes, as Jonathan points out, he is effectively paying farmers to manage their hedgerows in a way that is good for wildlife.

The harvested sloes are frozen to split the skins; traditionally each sloe had to be pricked twelve times with a thorn from the bush, but this new method is a little more practical for large quantities!  They are defrosted as and when they are needed and put into large metal tanks.

The gin that is added is sourced from London’s last traditional distiller and is added to the tank (two parts sloes to three parts gin) with some sugar.  The mixture is then left in the tanks for six to eight weeks (any longer and it gets too sweet and you begin to lose the alcohol) and stirred occasionally with paddles.  Jonathan said that it’s quite a happy time when they’re filling the tanks as it is very easy to get tipsy off the fumes!

Jonathan checking one of the tanks

The liquid is then filtered three times through a piece of muslin (if you do it any more, it starts to lose its taste) before being gravity fed into the bottling area, where it is bottled by hand.  The labels are produced by a local printer, but the labelling and packaging process is done by hand on site.

Bottling up

All hands on deck to get the Christmas packaging done

The gin-infused sloes that are left in the tanks are then put through a machine that brushes the flesh from the stones.  Said flesh is then used as the centre for their SLOE motion truffles, or cooked up with onions, apples, raisins and tomatoes to make a delicious chutney.  As well as the truffles and chutney, they also make sloe whisky and vodka.

They make around 20,000 litres of sloe gin a year, 5,000 litres of sloe whisky, 3,000 litres of sloe vodka and about 6,000 jars of chutney (we forgot to ask about the chocolates!) and sell their products at shows, online and through a network of around 200 retailers.  On average, half their sales are made at shows, a quarter on the internet and a quarter through retailers.  The company seems to be going from strength to strength and, having recently bought out his partner, Jonathan has loads of ideas about how to take the business forward.

Even if you make your own sloe gin and baulk at the idea of paying someone else for it, the truffles are absolutely delicious and well worth a try.

If you fancy trying one of Jonathan’s sloe gin cocktails – a ‘Sloegasm’ – come and visit the Muddy Matches stand at next year’s CLA Game Fair!

Sloe Motion, Green Farm, Barton-le-Willows, York YO60 7PD
0844 800 1911
info@sloemotion.com
www.sloemotion.com