HOW A FUNKY SPRUCE BEER FUELED THE US ARMY

摘要

One of my most unpopular opinions is that IPA beers taste a whole lot like pine needles. But when troops fought in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, a piney beer was the only thing standing between the Army and a slow painful death by scurvy. Spruce Beer, made from plentiful spruce trees found in North America, was the only solution to solving soldiers' scurvy woes. The disease, most commonly associated with rum-soaked pirates who don't have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, is caused by vitamin C deficiency and can lead to anemia, oozing sores, tooth loss, and delayed healing processes for injuries - which, if you were a soldier during America's early conflicts, could most certainly kill you. An early version of the ale, which doesn't contain alcohol, was drunk by Vikings, who brewed their beer from Norway spruce shoots, according to the second edition of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America.