Strawberry tree

This is the arbutus bush, also known as the strawberry tree. It produces small fruit which you can eat but I don't think it particularly tastes of anything, and even the birds don't tend to bother!

The fruit are used in Portugal to produce medronho (pronounced meh-dron-yoo) which as far as I can tell is supposed to be a sort of brandy but to me tastes & smells like paint-stripper. I'm no judge though, and making medronho is a traditional thing which I'm sure is appreciated by many. The livelihoods of many medronho producers has been affected recently, not least by fires, and I believe there are efforts by local authorities to help them re-establish their businesses so they don't lose this tradition.