Sloemotion was founded by a group of North Yorkshire farming neighbours in 2002 at Green Farm, in the village of Barton-le-Willows located in North Yorkshire. Part of the initial group who started the brand, Jonathan ‘Joff’ Curtoys (a trained conservationist) and his wife Claire took over Sloemotion themselves in 2006 and began to run it as a small family business.
Part of the Sloemotion ethos was a proactive effort to return tracts of the farm to wildlife habitats. This entailed planting protective grass and wildflower borders along hedgerows and ceasing the regular cutting of hedges to allow fruit to develop for birds and small mammals. It wasn’t long before a large number of sloes began to fruit. It’s rare that any wildlife will consume sloes as they’re so bitter. However, as Joff had grown up drinking home-made sloe gin it was decided that these berries should be put to good use.
With some essential investor backing and the addition of Joff’s brother Julian Curtoys in September 2007, Sloemotion has ironically grown quite quickly. The brand now boasts a range that includes up to nine hedgerow fruit liqueurs, the Yorkshire Fruit Cup No 7, the popular Sloe Whisky Liqueur and the original Sloe Gin. In true conservationist style, all the fruit left over from the liqueur making process is used to make products like chocolate truffles, chutneys and jellies.