It’s illegal to make your own spirits in this country. Even the bottle shop where we source our supplies for beer and elderflower wine sells the required stills on the understanding that they only be used ‘where legal’. If you want to do anything with spirits, then, your best shot is to start with an existing spirit as a base and re-mix it with fruit and sugars to your own requirements.

Last year we made sloe gin, a sickly-sweet scarlet tipple we’re still drinking, eight months after popping the cork. This year, we’re turning our attention to damson brandy.

We’re using a recipe from a friend of a friend of the family, Des, who has been making it for years, using just three simple ingredients.

Ingredients
Half a kilo (1lb) of caster sugar
Half a kilo (1lb) of damsons
Half a litre (1 pint) of brandy

Method
Wash and prick the damsons and put all of the ingredients into a wide-necked glass container. Seal the container and keep it in a dark cupboard for eight to 10 weeks, shaking it every day to agitate the ingredients.

Damsons are usually sweeter than sloes, so you may want to add a little less sugar than we have specified here. You can taste it after four weeks and, if not sweet enough, add more sugar if necessary.

If the damsons are fairly ripe, the waiting time could be shorter than 10 weeks, and the results may be drinkable within six to eight weeks.

See also: Elderflower champagne.

Related posts:

1. How to make blackcurrant liqueur
2. Drinking the Apple Scnhapps
3. Toffee recipe