SLOE WHISKY’S A WINNER!
Malton, North Yorkshire, 20 July 2009: North Yorkshire’s Sloe Gin-producing company SLOEmotion has notched up another prestigious national award – this time for its Sloe Whisky.
The Great Taste Awards 2009, announced last week, awarded an impressive two Gold Stars to the Sloe Whisky, firmly establishing the liqueur as an alternative tipple to its better-known sister, Sloe Gin, which was awarded a Gold Star at last year’s Great Taste Awards.
Like all SLOEmotion’s liqueurs, the Sloe Whisky is made using hand-picked wild sloes and produced in the traditional way using high concentrations of fruit to ensure a fabulous flavour. The sloes are steeped in a three year-old blended Scotch whisky and sugar.
The resulting taste is predominantly aromatic cherry flavour, a touch of almond from the stone of the fruit, a pleasant hint of whisky and a smooth, rounded finish with a strong warming glow.
Jonathan Curtoys, Managing Director of SLOEmotion beams with pride. “I’m over the moon to be awarded the coveted black and gold logo – with two gold stars! Our Sloe Whisky is always extremely popular at tastings and has a fast-growing fan club - even people who claim they don’t like whisky are converted after just one sip! It means a great deal to be given the seal of approval by independent experts in the speciality food industry.”
The national Great Taste Awards - dubbed the 'epicurean equivalent of the Booker prize' and acknowledged as the benchmark for fine food and drink in the UK among the country’s retailers and consumers – are organised by The Guild of Fine Food and have been running since 1993. All entries undergo rigorous tests, including blind tastings, by a specially selected panel of experts, including leading chefs, buyers, food critics and deli owners.
Of the 4873 products entered in this year’s Awards, 639 achieved one gold star, 308 received two stars and 83 were awarded three stars.
The Great Taste Award 2009 joins an impressive mantelpiece of awards for SLOEmotion’s tasty offerings – their Sloe Gin Chocolate Truffles came top in the confectionery category of the Deliciouslyorkshire Awards 2008, fighting off fierce competition. As well as collecting a Gold Star at the Great Taste Awards 2008, SLOEmotion’s Sloe Gin won the Gold Medal in the drinks category of the Daily Telegraph’s Taste of Britain Awards 2007 and the Yorkshire Post Readers Award 2007, as voted for by the customers of Harvey Nichols Foodmarket.
All SLOEmotion’s liqueurs can be served neat – at room temperature or over ice – as an after-dinner digestif at any time of the year, as a warming shot on a cold wintry day, or as a refreshingly different cocktail base for the warmer summer months.
The award-winning Sloe Whisky tastes delicious as a Pink Whisker – in a chilled hi-ball glass add one third Sloe Whisky to two thirds traditional ginger beer and crushed ice. Add a generous squeeze of lime around the rim and place the spent lime in the glass.
SLOEmotion is a small family-run business based at Green Farm, Barton-le-Willows, near York. As well as its award-winning Sloe Gin and Sloe Whisky, SLOEmotion also produces Sloe Vodka and Sloe Brandy; mouth-watering Sloe Gin Chocolate Truffles, Sloe Whisky Chocolate Truffles and Sloe Brandy Chocolate Truffles; and a delicious spicy and plummy Sloe Chutney.
SLOEmotion products can be purchased from www.sloemotion.com or by calling 0844 800 1911. All our products can be purchased in single or combination smart black gift boxes, and delivered to the door, making them the ideal present for either sex, almost any age and any time of the year.
SLOELY BUT SURELY
Malton, 26 June 2009: While there is no doubt these are difficult times for some businesses, one North Yorkshire company has embarked on a makeover, added to its product range and increased its firepower - and is already reaping the rewards.
Malton’s SLOEgin-producing company SLOEmotion has undergone an innovative re-branding of its products and now has a fresh new look to its labels, which clearly depict sprigs of sloe berries on a white background, with colour-coded branding to denote the liqueur base.
Managing Director Jonathan Curtoys says “After extensive market research, we decided to introduce a brighter colour scheme to our labels and to colour code our product lines – the gin-based products have a purple label, the whisky-based products have gold labels and the vodka-based products have red labelling. We’ve put a greater emphasis on our brand name ‘SLOEmotion’ giving us easier shelf recognition and an increase in brand awareness.”
The new look, designed by Owen Turner of United By Design, a young York-based design agency, has seen a rise in purchasers’ confidence in the SLOEmotion brand and a demonstrable increase in sales – the 70cl SLOEgin has seen a 39% increase in sales from January to April versus the same period last year, and the bestseller is now being stocked in a supermarket – Booths – for the first time.
Says Owen Turner, “My main criteria is always design effectiveness – it’s not just about creating something that looks good, but by focusing on the needs and wants of the company, creating a branding that will deliver results.”
“As a North Yorkshire man myself, with an up-and-coming business, it was particularly exciting to have the opportunity to work on another growing local business which I believe has a great future ahead of it,” he added.
Curtoys is also very excited about SLOEmotion’s latest product innovation – SLOEbrandy. “We believe it’s the first commercially available SLOEbrandy in the world. As with our other liqueurs it has a delicious aromatic cherry flavour from the sloes, with a subtle hint of brandy without it being too dominant. It is also slightly less sweet than our other liqueurs. The SLOEbrandy has gone down extremely well at our tastings at shows around the country,” he enthuses, “and looks set to become a bestseller.”
All SLOEmotion’s liqueurs are made using hand-picked wild sloes and are produced in the traditional way using high concentrations of fruit to ensure a fabulous flavour.
Behind the scenes there have been significant changes at SLOEmotion too. As a vote of confidence in the potential of this growing small business, retailing supremo James Fenwick, who headed the highly successful Fenwick department store in York, has joined SLOEmotion as a consultant. Alongside him in a consulting role is entertainment guru James Cundall, who runs his own international business Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, also Malton-based.
And SLOEmotion continues to garner awards for its tasty offerings – their
SLOEgin Chocolate Truffles came top in the confectionery category of the Deliciouslyorkshire Awards 2008, fighting off fierce competition. The prestigious awards, which were established by the Regional Food Group for
Yorkshire and Humber three years ago to showcase outstanding produce and celebrate the achievements of producers and suppliers of the very best food and drink in the region, attracted a record number of entries last year across 18 categories.
Also last year SLOEmotion’s SLOEgin collected a Gold Star at the nationwide Great Taste Awards – dubbed the Oscars of the food world and an acknowledged benchmark for speciality food and drink. The tasty tipple already has under its belt the Gold Medal in the drinks category of the Daily Telegraph’s Taste of Britain Awards 2007 and the Yorkshire Post Readers Award 2007, as voted for by the customers of Harvey Nichols Foodmarket.
And in this age of recycling, these two award-winning products go hand in hand: the chocolates are made using the sloe fruit from the gin-making process.
So at Green Farm, Barton-le-Willows, SLOEmotion’s tanks are filled to capacity with glorious ruby-hued SLOEgin, SLOEwhisky, SLOEvodka and SLOEbrandy, the mouth-watering aroma of SLOEgin Chocolate Truffles fills the nostrils, the sloe gin pulp is being transformed into delicious spicy and plummy SLOEchutney, and there is an air of cautious optimism for what lies ahead.
SLOEmotion products can be purchased from www.sloemotion.com or by calling 0844 800 1911. Or come and visit us at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate, North Yorkshire from 14th to 16th July and the CLA Game Fair at Belvoir Castle, Lincolnshire from 24th to 26th July.
SLOELY DOES IT!
SLOE GIN WINS GOLD AWARD
YORK, (3 October 2007): The answer to every present shopper’s ‘what-to-buy’ nightmare, for either sex, almost any age and at any time of the year, can be found growing in the hedgerows of North Yorkshire.
The award-winning company SLOE Motion, based in the rural Howardian Hills outside York, has come up with a range of mouth-watering sloe based products - SLOE Gin, SLOE Whisky, SLOE Vodka, SLOE Chutney and SLOE Gin Belgian Chocolate Truffles.
Better still, they can be delivered to your door, singly or in any combination, and all beautifully packaged in smart black boxes. How’s that for an imaginative and unique gift, without the stress of shopping – all it takes is the click of a mouse or the dial of a phone number.
A slurp of sloe gin has long been known to lift the spirits and warm the heart, and the latest offering from SLOE Motion has just been awarded Gold in the “Taste of Britain Awards” Best Drink category.
Having swept aside strong competition from all over the country, SLOE Motion’s glorious ruby-rich coloured SLOE gin could make an almost-forgotten British drinking tradition popular once again.
Like many a burgeoning business these days, it is a truly home-grown enterprise. The sloe berries come from blackthorn bushes in the hedgerows around Malton, North Yorkshire, from other farms in the area and from other counties. The gin comes from a small traditional distillery in London, where it is made to recipes that have come down through generations.
The SLOE gin is made in the traditional way, with the fruit steeped in gin and sugar and left to mature. “I make it the same way as my father has done for years, just produced on a bigger scale,” says Jonathan Curtoys, owner of SLOE Motion. Like good home-made SLOE gin SLOE Motion’s is a pale, almost rosé colour because nothing else is added.
The high concentration of fruit to gin results in a sweet and fruity liqueur, with a dry finish from the gin, but its unique flavour is quite unlike the gin that is used to make it. “Drunk neat it certainly warms you on a winter’s day; you can feel it going down like liquid central heating,” says Curtoys. “But we also have a whole range of fantastic cocktail ideas for all weathers.”
This quintessential English countryman’s tipple is now bang up-to-date as one of the most popular cocktail mixers. Here’s a few ideas to try:
The Charlie Chaplin – one measure each of Apricot Brandy, SLOE Gin and lemon juice, over ice in a brandy glass.
The Futurity – one measure each of sweet Vermouth and SLOE Gin, shaken in a cocktail mixer half filled with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and serve, adding two dashes of Angostura bitters.
The Pink Ginger – the perfect summer refresher – in a chilled hi-ball glass add one third SLOE gin to two thirds traditional ginger beer and crushed ice. Add a generous squeeze of lime around the rim and place the spent lime in the glass.
The SLOE Royale – pour half a measure of SLOE gin into a champagne flute and top up with champagne or sparkling wine. Perfect for special occasions.
Though the sloe berry is best associated with gin, it is a wild relative of the plum and the damson and can be used in a number of culinary ways. “We have developed the SLOE Motion range to include a unique SLOE Whisky together with SLOE Vodka, chocolates and chutney,” says Curtoys. “And we have plenty more ideas!”
Whisky lovers should try the SLOE Whisky neat or for a delicious cocktail try The Pink Whisker – as above, in a chilled hi-ball glass add one third SLOE whisky to two thirds traditional ginger beer and crushed ice. Add a generous squeeze of lime around the rim and place the spent lime in the glass.
The possibilities with SLOE Vodka are numerous and present many opportunities for experimentation and fun…
The Taste of Britain Awards, run by The Daily Telegraph in association with Sainsbury’s, was established last year ‘to highlight and celebrate all things great and good from within the Great British Food Industry’. The voting panel is made up of food industry experts from DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), the Institute of Grocery Distributors and market development consultancy Food from Britain, as well as Sainsbury’s and The Daily Telegraph.
The entrants were judged not only on the flavour and quality of their product, but on their innovation, business acumen, environmental record and benefits to the local economy. Another important factor was the “Britishness” of their product and their ability to take on an ambassadorial role for their region or category.
SLOE Motion has already won the 2007 Yorkshire Post Readers Award for its SLOE gin, voted for by the customers of Harvey Nichols Foodmarket, and now it’s struck Gold in the “Taste of Britain Awards”. This is clearly one to watch, or taste maybe.
SLOE Motion products can be purchased from www.sloemotion.com or by calling 0844 800 1911.
GOING SLOELY GETS THE GOLD!
YORK, (26 Sept 2007): They say the best ideas are often found right under your nose. They also say money doesn’t grow on trees. But one Yorkshire entrepreneurial couple is hoping that money might grow on bushes, and those bushes are… you guessed it - right under their nose.
And their ‘idea’ has just been awarded Gold in the “Taste of Britain Awards” Best Drink category. This liquid gold is actually Sloe Gin, made by Sloe Motion. Having swept aside strong competition from all over the country, Sloe Motion’s glorious ruby-rich coloured Sloe Gin could make an almost-forgotten British drinking tradition popular once again.
Like many a burgeoning business these days, it is a truly home-grown enterprise. Thirty-nine year old Jonathan Curtoys and his wife Claire bought Sloe Motion last year, having established the business together with North Yorkshire farming neighbours back in 2002. While their neighbours wanted to pursue other farming ideas, the Curtoys decided to take on the nascent Sloe Motion business, along with friend Jessica Lapping, to produce gin, vodka, whisky, chocolates and chutney from the sloes that grow in their local hedgerows.
It’s the stuff of which many of us dream. They’ve already won the 2007 Yorkshire Post Readers Award for their Sloe Gin, voted for by the customers of Harvey Nichols Foodmarket, and now they’ve struck Gold with the “Taste of Britain Awards”. This is clearly one to watch, or taste maybe.
The “Taste of Britain Awards”, run by The Daily Telegraph in association with Sainsbury’s, was established last year ‘to highlight and celebrate all things great and good from within the Great British Food Industry’. The voting panel is made up of food industry experts from DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), the Institute of Grocery Distributors, market development consultancy Food from Britain, as well as The Daily Telegraph and Sainsbury’s.
The entrants were judged not only on the flavour and quality of their product, but on their innovation, business acumen, environmental record and benefits to the local economy. Another important factor was the “Britishness” of their product and their ability to take on an ambassadorial role for their region or category.
Judith Batchelar, Director of Sainsbury’s Brand, said “Demand for premium-quality produce is increasing and customer tastes are developing all the time, challenging producers to come up with ever more sophisticated and nutritious products. People are concerned about where their food comes from and how far it travels to reach them, but this does not mean they are prepared to sacrifice quality and taste.”
Sloe Motion has now become a full time business employing seven people, including Curtoys’ brother Julian, but it came about almost by accident. Manor Farm near the market town of Malton in North Yorkshire, where the Sloe Motion business has until recently been based, was proactive in returning tracts of agricultural land to wildlife conservation. This meant planting protective grass and wildflower borders along hedgerows, and ceasing the regular cutting of hedges to allow fruit to develop as an important food source for birds and small mammals.
Before long, large amounts of sloes began to fruit on the blackthorn bushes. Paradoxically, almost no wildlife will touch the sloe berry as the taste is so bitter. But to Curtoys and his neighbour, who had grown up drinking home-made sloe gin, an idea began to take shape and Sloe Motion was born.
Though the business has grown, Sloe Motion continues to source its sloes from the local hedgerows, from other farms in the area and from other counties. “I would far rather buy my sloes from English farmers than from further afield in Europe,” says Jonathan Curtoys.
“We’re making it worth the local farmer’s while to manage their hedges in a way that favours wildlife. It’s a win for all parties.” The gin comes from a small traditional distillery in London, where it is made to recipes that have come down through generations.
The sloe gin is made in the traditional way, with the fruit steeped in gin and sugar and left to mature. “I make it the same way as my father has done for years, just produced on a bigger scale,” says Curtoys. Like good home-made sloe gin Sloe Motion’s is a pale, almost rosé colour because nothing else is added.
The high concentration of fruit to gin results in a sweet and fruity liqueur, with a dry finish from the gin. “Though drunk neat it certainly warms you on a winter’s day, I love mixing it with ginger beer, crushed ice and a twist of lime for a fabulous ‘pink ginger’ during the summer months.” Curtoys has many more cocktail recipes up his sleeve.
Though the sloe berry is best associated with gin, it is a wild relative of the plum and the damson and can be used in a number of culinary ways. “We have developed the Sloe Motion range to include a unique Sloe Whisky together with Sloe Vodka, chocolates and chutney,” says Curtoys.
And Sloe Motion is surely the answer to every Christmas and birthday shopper’s ‘what-to-buy’ nightmare – Sloe Gin, Sloe Whisky, Sloe Vodka, Sloe Chutney and Sloe Gin Belgian Chocolate Truffles, can be delivered to your door, singly or in any combination, and all beautifully packaged in smart black boxes.
