Everything about Spruce Beer totally explained
Spruce beer is a
beverage flavored with the
buds, needles, or essence of
spruce trees. Spruce has been a traditional flavoring ingredient throughout the upper latitudes of the
Northern Hemisphere where it's found, often substituting for ingredients otherwise not available, such as
hops.
Spruce beer can refer to either
alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.
A number of flavors are associated with spruce-flavored beverages, ranging from
floral,
citrusy, and
fruity to
cola-like flavors to
resinous and
piney. This diversity in flavor likely comes from the choice of spruce species, the season in which the needles are harvested, and the manner of preparation.
The fresh shoots of many spruces and
pines are a natural source of
vitamin C.
Captain Cook had both malt and sugar-based spruce beer made during his sea voyages in order to prevent
scurvy in his crew.
Types
Malt beverages
Spruce may be used to flavor traditional
beer made from
malted
barley and water
fermented with
yeast. This flavoring can be added with spruce essence or by including spruce twigs or needles with the
wort during the boiling stage of
brewing, either in addition to or as a substitute for
hops. See also
gruit and
sahti.
Fermented sugar beverages
Alcoholic spruce beer may also be made from sugar and flavoring from the
spruce tree. Leaves, small branches, or extracted essence of spruce are boiled with
sugar and
fermented with
yeast. Two different sources of sugar may be used, either
molasses or white refined sugar. Some consider the latter to be better, but other aficionados prefer the complexity that molasses gives to the former.
Soft drink
In the
Canadian province of
Quebec, where it's known in French as
bière d'épinette, spruce beer may refer to either an artificially flavored non-alcoholic carbonated
soft drink, or to genuine spruce beer.
Regional varieties
Europe
Norway Spruce is used for making spruce beer widely in northern Europe . In
Scandinavia it's used to flavor fermented
ales in the absence of hops.
North America
Alcoholic spruce beer was common in the
colonial United States, and eastern
Canada. An American recipe from
1796 states:
Take four ounces of hops, let them boil half an hour in one gallon of water, strain the hop water then add sixteen gallons of warm water, two gallons of molasses, eight ounces of essence of spruce, dissolved in one quart of water, put it in a clean cask, then shake it well together, add half a pint of emptins, then let it stand and work one week, if very warm weather less time will do, when it's drawn off to bottle, add one spoonful of molasses to every bottle.
Today
Sitka spruce, native to the
northwest coast of
North America, tends to be favored, although other species of spruce have also been used. Lighter, more citrus-like flavors are produced by using the bright green fresh
spring growth before the new needles and twigs harden and become woody. Sitka spruce trees on the north-central
Oregon Coast develop spring growth in early to mid May.
Commercial examples
- Marco Beverages
(Canada)
- Spruce Ale, Siletz Brewing Company, Siletz, Oregon
- Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce, Yards Brewing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Spruce Beer, is a New Zealand beer based on Captain Cook's original recipe and was first made in Dusky Sound, New Zealand, 1773. It is flavored with 'spruce' (rimu) and tea tree. Spruce Beer is brewed for Heritage Foods (NZ) Ltd. by Wigram Brewing Co. in Christchurch.Spruce Beer (flavored with the rimu tree rather than true spruce).
- Alba Scots Pine Ale. Uses Malted Barley Bree, Scots Pine and Spruce Sprigs. Alba is a "triple" style ale. Brewed and bottled by Heather Ale Ltd. Williams Bros Brewing Co. Alloa. FK10 1NT Scotland UK. www.heatherale.co.uk.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Spruce Beer'.
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