Menaud Camerise Berry Liqueur

This is a distillery after my own heart. Menaud was founded by 4 friends in Charlevoix, Canada, who wanted to make spirits that reflected the region. The name pays tribute to a book called “Menaud, maître-draveur” (Menaud, log driver), written in 1937 by a local nature-lover. All the ingredients are sourced from local farmers (except for the juniper, which comes from England). The base of this is a savory gin made from local wheat (75%) and rye (25%), which is then macerated with haskap berries grown by the nearby Bherer family. Haskap berries look like long blueberries but have bright red flesh. It's not a sweet as you might expect, but rather a mix of sweet and tart cherries, with an underlying salinity. You could swap it out for sloe gin, but also let it be an inspiration for cocktails of your own.