Tonight we are shaking a truly smashing cocktail from Oskar Kinberg’s “Cocktail Cookbook “. The Sloe & Steady is a drink made with several brightly colored spirits, hence the finished cocktail gets a very spectacular look. Oskar describes the cocktail as perfumed and we are bound to agree. Especially the violet liqueur adds a very aromatic touch. Do be careful with the violet, but don’t skip out on it, it’s kind of the defining spirit in this drink.

Video tutorial:

What’s in it

2 oz sloe gin

1/3 oz aperol

1 bar spoon violet liqueur

2/3 oz fresh lemon juice

3/4 oz simple syrup

1 small egg white

Combine everything in a shaker and dry shake without ice, before shaking again with plenty of fresh ice. Pour and strain into coupe glasses.

Sloe gin is not as common as regular gin, but there is still plenty to choose from. We wanted to go premium tonight, so we used Monkey 47’s version. As seen in the picture below this spirit has a dark red color, almost getting brown/golden when poured out of the bottle.

Violet liqueur can also be a bit tricky to find. Luckily Bitter Truth are now making a high quality version, with the most intense blue/purple color imaginable. As soon as you open the bottle you understand how potent it’s fragrance is. It is a really nice ingredient in selected cocktails, but be careful not to over pour, measuring is essential!

We prefer shaking with a two part metal shaker. It allows accurate cooling of the cocktail, and this combination of a shaker opens more easily compared to a glass/metal shaker. You know the cocktail is cooled enough when you basically can’t hold the ice cold shaker with your bare hands anymore.

When poured the cocktail will look a bit “milky” due to the egg white. However, give the drink two minutes to rest before serving…

…and things start to clear up. A nice egg white foam is now resting beautifully on the colorful cocktail.

The foam from above:

A sophisticated drink, even when the lights are out:

The Sloe & Steady is a cocktail bursting with flavors. It’s sweet, but not too sweet as there is the slightly bitter aperol playing in the background. The violet liqueur is of course very noticeable, but not in an overwhelming way.