I should see what can be done with juniper. I have lots of invasive juniper shrubs and trees. Gave a friend a few pounds of berries once so he could try making gin.
It smelled amazing, but tasted like ass, unfortunately.
It smelled amazing, but tasted like ass, unfortunately.
That being said, it’s toxic in larger amounts [1], so I wouldn’t use it raw; for spirits, I’d infuse and then distill.
There is also Juniperus sabina, which is very common as well (at least in the UK) and smells great, but it's outright poisonous [2].
--- [1]: https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-724/juniper [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniperus_sabina#cite_ref-pfaf...
Sounds like a successful gin recipe to me.