The message
from "David \(in Normandy\)"
contains these words:

Thank you all for the replies. Looks like I'll be doing a bit of
homebrewing
again in the near future :-)
Time to dig out my old copy of CJJ Berry winemaking, it's been a few years.

In don't think you actually have to "brew" sloe gin, you top up
a 2/3 full bottle of gin with 'pricked' sloes, and take it from there.

At least that was how I understood the process....

--
AnneJ