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Drink

To Make Spruce Beer

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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To Make Spruce Beer

To Make Spruce Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Make the beer

  1. Mix boiling and cold water in a large container.

  2. Add treacle or molasses and essence of spruce; stir well.

  3. Incorporate the yeast into the mixture.

  4. Leave the container in a temperate location with the bung hole open for 2 days.

Bottle and serve

  1. After 2 days, close the cask or bottle the mixture.

  2. It will be ready to drink in a few 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

Treacle or molasses
Provides sugar for the yeast to ferment and adds sweetness and dark flavour.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars, producing carbonation and alcohol.
Essence of spruce
Supplies the characteristic resinous, aromatic flavour of the beer.

The step that matters

Leave the container open for fermentation. The yeast needs warmth and air exchange to ferment the sugars properly. Closing the container too early can trap gas or stall fermentation, so the bung hole should stay open for the stated two days before sealing.

“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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