Our story

During a trip to the United States, Valérie, founder of JNPR, discovered a beverage offering far more diverse and sophisticated than what was then available in Europe: subtle flavors, natural ingredients, and products designed as true everyday companions. This experience marked the starting point of the first reflections behind JNPR.

As she delved deeper into her research, she immersed herself in the history of plants and distillation. She discovered that in the 15th and 16th centuries—long before the rise of spirits as we know them today—distillation was primarily an art applied to plants, roots, flowers, and spices. Foundational works such as Liber de arte distillandi by the Strasbourg apothecary Hieronymus Brunschwig (1500–1512), and later The Art of Distillation by John French (1651), describe distillation as a rigorous method for extracting essences and active principles, used for medicinal, culinary, and aromatic purposes.

At that time, botanicals such as juniper berries, coriander, and various roots were already being distilled and recognized for their properties. Alcohol was not an end in itself, but merely one technical medium among others, serving extraction, preservation, and stability.

This historical perspective strongly resonated with JNPR’s founding intuition.

Meeting renowned bartender Flavio Angiolillo marked a decisive turning point. Together, they took on an ambitious challenge: to carry forward this tradition of distillation while anchoring it in a contemporary approach, and to demonstrate that it is possible—even without alcohol—to achieve genuine mixology properties. After months of reading, research, experimentation, and encounters with artisan distillers, JNPR was born.

“The fundamental idea of JNPR is to give the choice, which is too often limited today during festive occasions to drinks that are either alcoholic or too sweet”

The JNPR Project

500 juniper plants have been replanted in Normandy since the start of the adventure

The name JNPR comes from the juniper berry; gin’s signature ingredient and the heart of the JNPR collection.

The first 60 plants were planted in 2020, knowing that the shrubs take 3 years to produce the first berries. The project is growing with the brand and 500 new plants were planted in March 2023.

The project will not be self-sufficient at this stage. We are ensuring the quality and future supply of some of our berries. For our partners, the hedges that are thus created help to combat soil erosion and promote biodiversity.

The art of the Distillation

JNPR alcohol-free spirits are the result of meticulous craftsmanship, inspired by ancestral distillation techniques. Historically, distillation was not conceived as a means of producing alcohol, but as a process for extracting and concentrating aromatic essences. This is the approach JNPR claims today.

At JNPR, distillation is understood as a tool for aromatic revelation. It allows for the separation, fractioning, and selection of the most expressive compounds from botanicals, in order to build complex, structured, and persistent profiles, without relying on alcohol as a source of power.

For the JNPR collection, distillation is carried out in small batches using a traditional copper Charentais still. This choice enables precise control over temperatures, extraction times, and collected fractions, in a manner closely aligned with the principles described in historical pharmacopoeias. Particular attention is paid to heat management, in order to preserve the most delicate aromatic compounds and avoid any cooked or bitter notes.

To achieve the length on the palate and aromatic intensity expected of an adult spirit, JNPR deliberately uses two to five times more botanicals than in a conventional alcoholic recipe. This concentration, combined with precise blending of the different distilled fractions, allows for the creation of alcohol-free spirits that are intense, balanced, and perfectly suited to mixology.

JNPR recipes are the result of this work of extraction and assembly. While the principles of distillation are openly claimed and embraced, the precise balances, proportions, extraction sequences, and blending methods remain deliberately confidential. This element of secrecy is not an artifice; it protects a body of know-how, a standard of precision, and a distinctive signature that cannot be reduced to a simple list of ingredients.