Spruce beer Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a brew made by fermenting molasses and other sugars with the sap of spruce trees (sometimes with malt)

WordNet

Definitions
  1. . G. sprossenbier; sprosse sprout, shoot (akin to E. sprout, n.) + bier beer. The word was changed into spruce because the beer came from Prussia (OE. Spruce), or because it was made from the sprouts of the spruce. See Sprout, n., Beer, and cf. Spruce, n. A kind of beer which is tinctured or flavored with spruce, either by means of the extract or by decoction.

Webster 1913