YouTube cooking channel Sorted Food has partnered with Sloemotion Distillery to launch a gin liqueur made from surplus strawberries.
Billed as a “quintessentially British summer product”, which “smacks of sun-drenched garden parties”, Strawberry Gin Liqueur with Vanilla & Black Pepper (21% abv) contains surplus strawberries from last year’s crop, along with botanicals foraged from the hedgerows on Sloemotion Distillery’s farm.
The strawberries were diverted from the West Yorkshire farm of Annabel’s Deliciously British founder Annabel Makin-Jones last year, and frozen to make the liqueur.
“Just as sloes plucked from the bush for sloe gin are traditionally best after the first frost, so are frozen berries best for the maceration and steeping process in our gin”, said Sorted Food co-founder Ben Ebbrell.
They were combined with “novel botanicals” – including the likes of elderflower, wildflower hay, nettle leaf, crab apple and rosehip – which were foraged from hedgerows on Green Farm, where the distillery is based.
The drink uses Sloemotion Distillery’s Hedgerow Gin as a base, which was made in a “high-tech, temperature efficient and highly insulated still”, saving “up to 80% energy when compared to more traditional copper stills”, Sorted Food claimed.
A limited run of the liqueur has rolled out via Sloemotion Distillery’s website (rsp: £22.95/500ml).
All aspects had been “carefully planned” to ensure the drink was sustainably produced and locally sourced, said Sorted Food. The bottles, for instance, were made nearby in Leeds.
Ebbrell said he was “thrilled” to work with Sloemotion “to create the first drink that our community will be able to enjoy”.
“At Sorted Food, we’ve spent many years shining a light on how food and drink is produced, as well as helping our community to reduce their food waste.”
The launch comes as British Summer Fruits predicts a bumper strawberry crop this year due to dry and sunny weather conditions.
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