Spruce-beer.

Spruce-beer. The essence of spruce is obtained by boiling the green tops of the Black Spruce (Abies nigra) in water, and then concentrating the decoction by another boiling without the spruce tops. The young shoots of this fir, like most others of its family, are coated with a resinous exudation, which is dissolved in the water. Spruce-beer is made by adding the essence of spruce to water in which sugar or treacle has been dissolved, in the proportion of about four ounces of essence of spruce to ten pounds of sugar, or three quarts of treacle, and ten or eleven gallons of water, with about half a pint of yeast. Various spices are used for flavouring. A similar beverage is made largely in the north of Europe, from the buds of the Norway Spruce (Abies excelsa), and is known as Black Beer, that of Danzig being the most famous.