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Spruce Beer
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Traditional Spruce Beer Recipe

Traditional spruce beer was more like a ginger beer or mildly alcoholic soda. This is a recipe from the 1800s adapted for modern brewers.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Additional Time7 days
Total Time7 days 1 hour 10 minutes
Author: Ashley Adamant

Ingredients

  • 3 to 6 ounces spruce tips 2 to 4 cups
  • 2 cups golden syrup treacle syrup, maple syrup, brown sugar or molasses
  • 1 packet light ale yeast such as Safale S-04
  • 1 tsp yeast nutrient or a handful of raisins
  • Water to fill about 3 quarts (un-chlorinated)
  • Sugar for bottling optional

Instructions

  • Dissolve the sugar or syrup in about 2 quarts of clean, un-clorinated water.  It helps to gently warm it until just dissolved, then allow it to cool to room temperature.
  • Place the sugar water into a fermentation vessel or carboy.  I like to use a wide-mouth 1-gallon carboy, as it’s easy to clean and works well with solids like spruce tips.
  • Add the spruce tips and yeast nutrients.
  • Dissolve the packet of yeast in a small amount of unclorinated water and allow it to rehydrate for about 10 minutes.  Add that to the carboy with the other ingredients.
  • Fill to within an inch of the top with more clean, unclorinated drinking water.  Seal with an airlock and allow the mixture to ferment for about a week, until fermentation slows.  In warmer weather, 4-5 days may be enough, in cooler weather, it may take 10 days.
  • Bottle the beer in flip-top Grolsch bottles, adding a teaspoon full of sugar or syrup to each bottle.  This is optional, but helps with carbonation.  Allow the bottles to sit out for another 12-24 hours to carbonate, then store them in the fridge until you’re ready to drink them.

Notes

This recipe is a fresh beer, meant to be drunk immediately when young.  It’ll sour in long storage and can overcarbonate at room temperature (it was sored in casks traditionally, which have a bung to allow for expansion).  It’s best kept in the fridge and enjoyed within a few weeks.
It should be lightly alcoholic, about 2-3% ABV (roughly).  Serve cold on a hot day in early summer for the best flavor.
See the article for adjustments to make this a mead, wine, malted beer, or hard cider.