Drinkin' Trees

I was chatting with a couple of guys in their 70's and 80's today at the senior center and they were telling stories about tapping maple trees and boiling down the sap to make syrup. They'd cook it down over a big fire and stay up all night to tend it. I was so fascinated it got me to thinking about maple sap. I had this weird idea that if you drank it straight, maybe it would taste like coconut water (which I loooove.)

Anyway, for once I remembered to look up "that thing" I was wondering about when I got home. Believe you me, I wonder plenty and much of it leaves my brain before I follow up on it. So once I researched, I discovered:

1. Yes, people do drink fresh maple sap and it's lightly sweet. I hope I get to try it sometime.
2. You can make syrup out of other trees, particularly black walnut and birch, but they don't taste like maple syrup. Now I want to try those, too!

Oh yeah, and evidently you can make moonshine. I didn't notice this on the websites but I believe the guys, since the wife of one told me they have a still in their basement :D