THE JUNIPER HUNTERS

A small number of British distillers are choosing native juniper rather than popular imported European options to make their gins

- PETER RANSCOMBE

While it may trace its roots back to Belgium and the Netherlands’ genever, gin has become the most quintessential of British drinks, whether it’s being served in London’s taverns or on colonial verandas. Yet the key ingredient in ‘British’ gin now seldom comes from Britain.

Juniper’s seed cones give gin its distinctive pine aroma and resinous flavour. This pioneering shrub was one of the first species to recolonise the British Isles following the last ice age, with its habitat stretching from pine woods and moors to clifftops and heath.

Overgrazing in some areas and a lack of grazing in others reduced its range, and its ability to burn with a near-smokeless flame made it the ideal fuel to chop down for illegal whisky stills. More recently, Phytophthora austrocedrae – a fungus-like pathogen, similar to the species that caused Ireland’s 19th-century potato famine – has decimated the UK’s remaining stocks.

Gin makers have turned to European sources, importing dried juniper cones from Italy and the Balkans. Yet a handful of British distillers continue to use local juniper – both wild and home-grown – as part of their recipes.

ECOLOGY FIRST

Rather than simply harvesting wild juniper from his estate in Northumberland, Hepple Spirits founder Walter Riddell has taken two steps to help the bushes. The first involves picking ripe cones that Lucy, his wife and a trained gardener, propagates into seedlings, which they plant on their moor; the second uses cows and horses to break up the soil to promote natural regeneration.