1885 New Guide Hotel Bar Restaurant

i6t

SPRUCE DRINKS.

of spruce buds, i. e., the buds of the spruce-fir, allowing IJ lbs. of treacle to 2 lbs. per gallon. Boil the water and the spruce buds for 1 hour; say you have a gallon of water and the required quantity of spruce buds, you must allow another -I gallon of water for evaporation, in other words the spruce buds are put on to boil in IJ gallons of cold water and boiled has reached this stage, strain it off on to the treacle which should be in the ferment- ing tub ; ferment with yeast, then strain and bottle. Another and to my mind a far more scientific method of using the spruce buds is to make- till reduced to 1 gallon. When it This is an American recipe. Mr. Markham being a con- siderable manufacturer of spruce, which he supplies to hotels, bars, and private families. His method is to take the spruce buds when in season, a quart measure pressed down, and pour on them a gallon of '*corn" spirit, that is spirit of Indian corn, (maize) rice, barley, or oats, in contra- distinction to spirits made from the maple, sugar cane, beet- root, potato-sugar, grasses, &c. ; also 1 pint of distilled or soft water. This is infused for about a fortnight or three weeks, violently agitated 2 or 3 times a day by ''rockers" hung up for the purpose. The liqueur is then drawn off ; the buds are rocked in water for 3 days, to extract any spirit that may have been left and is extractable. Mix the two infusions and cask or bottle in large jars for future use. The buds are then taken out and dried. They are used for fire-lighting in the manager's house. Then follows the process of brewing a good dark treacle beer, in which high-dried rye corn malt is used as a flavourer. 1 quart of malt is ground down and boiled with every 3 gallons of treacle wort ; a spatula is used the whole time, stirring the treacle from the sides and bottom K Spruce Beer a la Markham. No. 4.