I can confirm that there is some
excellent eau de vie made from service tree fruit in Alsace. I've been fascinated by these trees ever since seeing the wild ones along the mountain roads in the Vosges and then sampling some of the eau de vie. (This was in early September this year; the wild trees were loaded with fruit. They looked a bit like locust trees with bright red holly berries.)
It's odd/annoying that they're almost nonexistent in N. America.
