Spruce beer

Spring growth on a spruce tree

Spruce beer is a beverage flavored with the buds, needles, or essence of spruce trees. Spruce beer can refer to either alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.

A number of flavors are associated with spruce-flavored beverages, ranging from floral, citrus, 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 spruce ingredients are harvested, and the manner of preparation.

Using evergreen needles to create beverages was practiced in both Northern Europe and North America. Certain Indigenous peoples of North America used the drink as a cure for scurvy during the winter months when fresh fruits were not available, as the fresh shoots of many spruces and pines are a natural source of vitamin C.[1] It may also have been brewed in Scandinavia prior to European contact with the Americas, but most French and British explorers were ignorant of its use as a treatment for scurvy when they arrived in North America. Jacques Cartier and his explorers were exposed to it as a tea when they arrived in Stadacona in what is now Quebec in 1535.[2] European sailors adopted the practice and subsequently spread it across the world.

  1. ^ "Tree Book - Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)". British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. Retrieved July 29, 2006.
  2. ^ Ebberts, Derek (9 March 2015). "To Brew or Not to Brew: A Brief History of Beer in Canada". Manitoba Historical Society. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 28 January 2017. Quebec was the geographic epicentre of the development and expansion of the brewing industry in Canada.