We're still preserving our way through a lot of damsons, most have had their stones removed and have been frozen for later use, some have been made into chutney. A quick (apart from the maturing) and easy way of creating a warming winter drink is to use some for damson gin.

The method is very similar to sloe gin, and the result has the same deep purple colour. One benefit of using damsons is you can use the fruit afterward for a boozy fruit crumble.

I've been looking around for some inspiration for sloe gin labels, as some of ours will probably be and parceled up for Christmas presents. This example from the 1920's is a beauty, the original can be found at the International Poster Gallery.
I rather like the idea of putting superior quality on my own sloe gin labels.

I have discovered sloes in our garden hedge, which I am very excited about as I had forgotten I'd planted blackthorn as part of the native hedge mix put in 5 years ago. I shall have to make some sloe gin.

Until a few weeks ago the stretch of hedge was inaccessible, but as part of landscaping the garden to create a lawn I reached it and gave it a well needed trim. Amongst the hawthorn and hazel I found six bushes of the small purple berries, which were confirmed as sloes by a experienced gin maker who happened to be visiting at the time.