Skip to main content
Drink

Spruce Beer

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Spruce Beer

Spruce Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Make the wort

  1. Boil 8 gallons of water.

  2. Pour the boiling water into a beer barrel containing 8 gallons of cold water.

  3. Stir in 16 pounds of molasses and a few tablespoons of essence of spruce.

Ferment and bottle

  1. Add ½ pint of yeast and keep the mixture in a warm place with the bung half open for 2 days.

  2. Once fermentation has abated, seal the bung and bottle the beer.

  3. It will be ready to drink in 1-2 days.

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

Molasses
Provides the sugar that yeast ferments, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars, producing alcohol and carbonation in the beer.
Essence of spruce
Adds the characteristic resinous, piney aroma that defines this beer.

The step that matters

Keeping the bung half open during fermentation. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide. Sealing the barrel too early can build pressure, while leaving it open lets in contaminants. Waiting until fermentation has abated before sealing keeps the beer safe and controlled.

“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.

You might also like

Vegetable SoupVegetable Soup350 recipesRaspberry VinegarRaspberry Vinegar214 recipesBrown Coffee with EggBrown Coffee with Egg175 recipesBlackberry CordialBlackberry Cordial129 recipes