Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red-cedar)

[Bigbob]

I'll have to try it again, I've just never liked the smell. I did have some gin fizzes that where good.

[raketemensch]

I probably spent 3 weekends ripping out all the juniper bushes that were here when we bought the house. They're tough buggers, even with the Jeep and heavy chains it took forever.

Now, of course, I wish I'd re-planted a few of them somewhere out of the way. But at the time they had angered me, and deserved to die.

[kiwi Bruce]

I remember reading an article about American Juniper in Colonial times, when we home schooled the kids. There was an enterprising New Yorker who found that the local Juniper was of a higher quality than was being imported from Holland at that time. He used local Indians to collect the berries for him and soon had a corner on the market until his customers discovered that they were local berries and they could collect them themselves. He then started an export business selling his Juniper to Great Britain. The American juniper was a far better quality than the European.
You can Google an old Herb Book that has a good reference to Juniperus virginiana It's called "A Reference Guide to Medicinal Plants"

[Odin]

I'll have to try it again, I've just never liked the smell. I did have some gin fizzes that where good.

Once I am up and running again, Big Bob, producing gin, I will ship you a bottle. I am pretty sure you will like it.

Regards, Odin.

[S-Cackalacky]

Just ran my "Odin's Easy Gin" this morning. I used about twice the amount of the Red Cedar berries per previous discussions. Seems to have turned out pretty nice. It had a nice flavor coming off the still. I'll post up again after a 5 to 6 week rest. The maceration was 60 oz of URRV with juniper berries, coriander, clementine peel, lemon and lime zest, and a pinch of lavender. The amounts were pretty much the same as the recipe with the exception of doubling the amount of juniper berries.

[frdlturner]

I gonna try this I have 30 to 50 red ceder on my place and my neighbor has over 600 acres with 100s of ceders so I can collect lots of berries also she thinks there's white oak still on the property and if I want I can look and get some theres lots of red oak but I understand its not to good for aging

[honeybeerbadger]

does it matter what kind of cedar tree it is? so it sounds like one should wait for the berries to be blue or near the end and after a frost. rinse them carefully and dry them just enough and then into a jar with a lid or vacuum pack freezer bags. crush them a little bit, add other ingredients and put into N.Spirits for a day or 14. separate solids, put spirit into boiler with enough water to cover element or make it non flammable and carefully get rid of the very first shots that might be brutally bitter or horrible and then let it distill as fast as you like, does that sound right?

[Tummydoc]

It does matter on the juniper species. The ones on my property are poisonous. Odin describes the acceptable species in his thread on easy gin. But your description of maceration and distillation are correct. Odins thread describes the fractions with the most favorable taste profile.