spruce beer

8.9

A fermented drink made with sugar and the sap of spruce trees

noun
/spruːs bɪr/

: cerveza de abeto

In colonial times, spruce beer was a common drink during the long winter months.

Examples

The brewery introduced a new seasonal spruce beer inspired by historic recipes.
She was curious to try spruce beer after reading about its unique flavor in a travel magazine.
I love drinking spruce beer during the summer.
Have you ever tried spruce beer?
In colonial times, spruce beer was a common drink during the long winter months.
The brewery introduced a new seasonal spruce beer inspired by historic recipes.
She was curious to try spruce beer after reading about its unique flavor in a travel magazine.

Synonyms

beer

vsspruce beer

∞ 1.0

A drink made from grains and hops that contains alcohol

uses molasses and tree extract rather than cereals and hops

brew

vsspruce beer

83 3.5

A drink like beer made by letting ingredients turn into alcohol

is a specific fermented drink made from molasses and tree extract

home brew

vsspruce beer

1 3.9

Beer made at home rather than bought from a shop

is defined by using molasses and tree extract rather than production location

Surface Forms

spruce beer singular

spruce beers plural

Morphology

spruce + beer

The meaning is directly compositional: 'spruce' names the tree/ingredient and 'beer' names the fermented beverage, so a learner who knows both words can infer it is a beer made with spruce (sap or extract). This ingredient+beverage naming pattern is common cross-linguistically, making the expression immediately understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Spruce beer comes from an old recipe where people added parts of the spruce tree, like needles or sap, to a sweet brew. Sailors and settlers drank this brewed mix to stay healthy and warm, so today spruce beer means a beer or fermented 'drink' flavored with spruce.