Spruce Beer Uncorked


 Yes, we are mid-January. 2021. Aaand I know my personal challenge was to finish all the recipes in the Maine Bicentennial Cookbook by the end of 2020. So what are we doing now? Well, beer has a life of its own, and I had to let the bottle sit around in the kitchen, doing its fermenting thing, for a week. Then sit around in a cooler location for a week. Today's the day! I chilled the beer, popped the cork, and boldly toasted the new year.  This beverage gives you the refreshing taste of sweet nature: essence of spruce, brown sugar, a splash of lemon juice, ale yeast, and water.

On another go-round I'll try honey as the sweetener. And I'll be more adventurous with the spruce. I was so concerned that the spruce flavor would overwhelm. But it didn't! In fact, I could have added a wee bit more.

Have you ever tasted mead? This beverage is really rather like mead. How do I know? I was gifted a bottle of mead at Christmas. No spruce essence, but it was pretty good. In fact, I sterilized the empty mead bottle to use for this recipe. And the hilarious reality? When you try to cork this stuff...it likes to pop that cork for the party a little too soon. So I ended up duct taping the cork to the bottle while it was sitting in the cool spot. Golly, did that cork pop when I released the tape today!

I needed an impartial assessment of the product. Naturally, neighbors are the logical taste testers. I filled three shot glasses (I didn't want to make them suffer thru a full glass if it was awful stuff), placed the glasses on a small tray, and walked overstreet to have a tasting party (COVID safe-distanced) with the neighbors. They liked it! Who knew one could become a brewer just like that?!

*Yes, we have one more recipe to complete the cookbook. Broiled Eel. I checked with the local seafood shop, and they are still waiting on their eel source to supply. So, we wait.



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