Spruce beer continues to have a following | Hacker News Reader

Spruce beer continues to have a following

bbc.com

57 pointsMiriamWeiner35 comments

This article is trying really hard to make spruce beer a health trend, like maple was (is?).

At the moment, it’s just a different kind of soft drink. It tastes a bit like a Christmas tree stand smells. Sort of minty, earthy, and a bit medicinal. It’s no weirder than root beer, or Asian soft drinks that have a grassy flavor profile.

For me it’s mostly a Christmas season thing, like eggnog. It often appears in Quebec supermarkets around this time, although, alas, not so much out west. You can sometimes get it in restaurants that specialize in Quebec-style fast food.

Though, I think if some enterprising young people put their minds to it, they could make it a premium experience and sell it in the kombucha aisle. The First Nations/miraculous elixir angle is clever, albeit exploitative.

> “It’s usually a problem to ship it by plane because of the pressure, but I made some phone calls and there was a pilot who agreed to keep it in the cockpit with him.”

Wouldn’t an exploding bottle of spruce beer be more dangerous in the cockpit than elsewhere in the aircraft?

I can’t imagine it would pack enough punch to cause fire or bring down an aircraft, but in the cockpit it could incapacitate a pilot or damage controls and instruments!

Yes, but this would be the only place that a pilot could store such a thing. Cargo is not pressurized, which is why the spruce beer can't be flown normally.

And I doubt he had it in his lap the entire flight. It was likely stored in his personal bag.

Cargo is pressurized. It isnt always heated, but everything inside the skin is pressurized. (On all western airlines, all cargo craft derived from passenger aircraft, boeing/airbus ect)

Even so, the pressure differences are slight compared to the pressures a beer bottle must contain anyway. When planes do depressurize on occassion, the drinks cart doesnt explode.

What!? If the aircraft is pressurized, then the cargo area is pressurized too. There aren't any aircraft that have separately pressurized compartments. That would be a very bad design.

Also, I would suspect that the bottles were bagged and in a box and not necessarily right next to the pilot.

Then my information was incorrect. Thanks for the update.

To expand on this, the cylinder of the airplane's fuselage is the pressure vessel (like a submarine). It would take additional structural material to have the pressure vessel be a truncated cylinder (i.e. a half-circle shape), as you're introducing corners.

However, just because the cargo hold is pressurized doesn't mean it's warm in there -- it can be quite cold, and pets stored below occasionally die.

As the flight in question was to Newfoundland, it could well have been on a smaller turboprop aircraft, many of which have cargo holds located behind the aft pressure bulkhead.

Come on; that wouldn't even hurt a fly...

Birch beer is my favorite. Very nice wintergreen flavor. Boylan's has a good version that's pretty widely available in the US.

You must be talking about white birch? Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer is very similar to root beer.

Redwood tip beer available in the bay area: https://moonlightbrewing.com/beers/working-for-tips/

I have still not tried it, but want to.

Very interesting, it's cool how far back it dates in Canada, I'd not heard that before.

Does anyone know about the history of pine ale in Scotland out of interest, was reading this https://www.williamsbrosbrew.com/beer/alba which says 'A traditional Highland recipe, popular in Northern Scotland until the end of the 19th Century. '

If you are thinking of brewing some, or just want to read more about North America's version of Spruce Beer, this fine article provides more detailed information: http://zythophile.co.uk/2016/04/20/a-short-history-of-spruce...

The bit about the guy in Newfoundland warmed my heart.

I've had spruce beer on a few occasions and it's exactly what it sounds like.

Bubbly liquid spruce. If you peel a few needles off of a Christmas tree and chew on them, you'd get the same flavour.

Question: Doesn't the fermentation process destroy some/much of the vitamin C content of the spruce?

It's really awesome how Roys shipped the dying man his last drink. Touching.

>> and the water from Montreal, which Roy claims to have just the right purity level to produce his spruce beer’s unique taste.

Must be the result of this: https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/12/americas/canada-montreal-wast...

This situation was really bad but obliviously wastewater isn't the water that we drink.

My neighbour growing up had a great patch of wild rhubarb in the back yard. Giant stalks with giant leaves. Turns out his septic tank was leaking and it was directly under the rhubarb.

That first sentence brings back not-so-fond memories of Canada's cuisine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine

To each their own. I live in the US but I am a 4:30 hour drive from the Montreal so it makes a nice weekend trip... and putine is one of my favorite Canadian exports.

Spruce beer on the other hand sounds awful to me but I'm willing to try it.

It’s similar to root beer, i guess. Sugary for sure

Poutine is one of those things that can be amazing if done right, which is not often the case. The place mentioned in the article is apparently one of the better ones, although I haven't tried it.

By a wide margin my favourite dish. Poutine has tremendous range, though, like pizza.

It is very likely that if you had poutine and didn't enjoy it, you ate what we call tourist poutine.

It bring me shame to say but a lot of tourist spots will sell the worst possible poutine. If what you had was some dry french fries with some low quality gravy on top, it isn't poutine. McDonald's poutine is also a joke.

Poutine is an incredible diverse dish. My favorite kind has chili, caramelized onions and pulled pork over it. Freshly made fries in quality oil and the best possible quality local cheese curds are a requirement.

To get a good one, you need to either go to a restaurant that specialize in poutine or to a pataterie.

Here, take a look:

http://labanquise.com/en/gallery.php

https://www.instagram.com/poutineville/

https://www.mtlblog.com/best-of-mtl/best-montreal-poutine-re...

All of this being said, poutine is greasy fast comfort food. It is not for everyone, especially if you usually eat healthy.

It is best eaten at 3 AM after the bars close for the night (a lot of poutine stops are open 24h/7 or close very late in the night).

I had the plate with the poutine thrown on my table in Montreal. I am not sure the reason for such bad service. The waiter told the tip is 10$ before taking my order. Is tipping mandatory or something in Montreal ?

Tip is expected to be 15% for regular service and 20% for good service. Restaurant staff are paid under the minimum salary and the government expect them to make up the missing half with tips. Mimimum wages are $12 an hour but only $9.80 an hour for employees receiving tips.

Bad service isn't to be expected and should be reported to the managers when it happen.

https://www.retailcouncil.org/resources/quick-facts/minimum-...

In Canada in general tipping is expected for appropriate service; we're a bit behind US in general, about 5% (when they were 15 we were 10, when they inched to to 20 we centimetered to 15, now we're moving to 18). I wouldn't say it's quite mandatory though, and especially not for service not meeting the standard.

Now, if you are in a large group, many restaurants will have a percentage gratuity applied - this is clearly stated on menu, receipt, etc. It's not typically a dollar amount.

While there may be specific few diner joints where bad service is part of the "charm" of greasy but delicious food, overall it sounds you just got a grouchy waiter and poor service :-/

I'm more of a fan of neat foods like Japanese sushi. Not only for health reasons but mainly appetite - eating food that is half liquid like a slop just seems gross to me. I dont get mayo on my sandwiches for the same reason.

It is possible this has something to do with slight autism/OCD tendencies. I am very decisive about my food being neat to the point that something like poutine I will be unable to eat due to nauseating feelings.

you mean Québecois cuisine ;)

Poutine is amazing. Source: Spend a lot of time in northern Maine and it's served many places.

Some other things to try next time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_tart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanaimo_bar https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:London_Fog

Not really a fan of poutine myself (though I like gravy with fries - just not swimming in it. Mayo and fries is okay too sometimes). I do love me some chilli cheese fries though.

I love the first two, and the third one I've never tried but my friend loves them. My mother is from Manitoba, I'm dual citizen.

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