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Drink

Spruce Beer

A fermented beverage made from sugar, water, spruce essence, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Spruce Beer

Spruce Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Make the wort

  1. Dissolve the sugar in hot water.

  2. Allow the mixture to cool to body heat.

  3. Mix in the essence of spruce and agitate to dissolve.

  4. Add the yeast and mix thoroughly.

Ferment and bottle

  1. Allow fermentation to commence; keep warm in winter.

  2. When fermentation subsides, draw off the liquid and wash the cask.

  3. Return the liquid to the cask for a second fermentation.

  4. When this diminishes, bottle the liquid.

  5. Wire down the bottles and lay them on their sides until brisk.

  6. Test a bottle; if ready, set them upright to prevent bursting.

  7. If the beer becomes flat, lay the bottles on their sides again.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Loaf sugar
Provides the sugar that yeast ferments into carbonation and alcohol.
Essence of spruce
Supplies the characteristic spruce aroma and flavour.
Solid yeast
Ferments the sugar, producing carbon dioxide for fizz and alcohol.

The step that matters

Testing a bottle before setting them upright. Fermentation keeps producing carbon dioxide inside sealed bottles. If the beer is not ready and the bottles are stood upright too soon, pressure can build and the bottles may burst. Testing first helps confirm that fermentation has finished before they are upright.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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