Sloe Groni – Scheibel Schlehe

It is no big secret that my favourite spirit category is eau de vies. Therefore, I am always happy when I am asked to come up with some eau de vie cocktails. In this case, the renowned Scheibel distillery send me some of their classic fruit spirits for mixing. So, let us start with the sloe eau de vie and a Negroni variation.

The Scheibel Premium Schlehe uses wild sloe berries from the Carpathian Mountains. The berries are macerated in neutral alcohol. Afterwards, Scheibel distill the macerate on their “Neue Zeit” stills over 22k gold plates. In the end, the eau de vie has an ABV of 41 %.

Marzipan and wild cherry notes

Scheibel Schlehe is its distinct stone note. You get some marzipan and bitter almond flavour. On top of that, the fruity notes of the sloe are also noticeable. Besides that, I also discovered a wild cherry note in the taste. In the end, some tannins, menthol notes and a hint of grass also show. All in all, the eau de vie seems perfect for mixing and standing up against powerful flavours like in a Negroni.

Negroni without gin

Besides replacing the gin in a regular Negroni , I also wanted to reintroduce some juniper flavour. After all, juniper and sloes just go so well together. Therefore, I used the Eversbusch Doppelwachholder juniper spirit together with the sloe eau de vie. Apart from that, I kept everything simple with a Italian red bitter and a spicy Spanish sweet vermouth.

Even when containing no gin at all, the Sloe Groni starts with similar notes to a regular Negroni. However, after a split-second the sloe eau de vie takes over and reminds you that there is something different here. Obviously, you could use regular Campari here, but the more subtle Del Professore Bitter really works well in this. There is a subtle fruitiness lingering on in the back of the sip, too.

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The eau de vie was provided by Scheibel.