Little Goat Diner was one of our favorite brunch spots when we lived in Chicago (see more Chicago favorites), and our favorite of their “Hair of the Goat” brunch cocktails was their Sloe Gin Punch. Clayton’s Aunt, who is from Scotland, was very amused to hear that “sloe gin fizzies” had made their way onto the cocktail list at a trendy Chicago restaurant.
What is sloe gin? It’s made by soaking sloe berries (related to plums) in gin and adding sugar. We reverse engineered the cocktail with some great local ingredients and came up with this refined sloe gin punch. We found this great local Sloe Gin from Spirit Works Distillery in Sebastopol and used St. George Spirits All-Purpose Vodka.
Since different brands of sloe gin vary in sweetness, we recommend tasting the sloe gin before adding any extra sweetener. We dialed in the sweetener in the recipe below specifically for the Spirit Works brand sloe gin, so you may need to adjust.
We served ours in these French highball glasses. Ours have fleur de lis, but we also love these with honeybees, or these and these for a more modern look.
Our friends are planning a brunch party at their gorgeous new house in Pacific Heights. This might be our contribution!
- 1 ½ oz St. George Spirits All-Purpose Vodka
- ¾ oz Spirit Works Sloe Gin
- ¾ oz lime juice
- ½ oz simple syrup (see how to make it)
- club soda
- lime slice
- Combine vodka, sloe gin, lime juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker and shake until well combined.
- Pour into an ice-filled glass and top with club soda.
- Garnish with a lime slice.