ottawa foodies

My daughter sampled spruce beer and is now crazy for it. I am looking for an Ottawa area source for the non-alcoholic variety and of course will travel to la belle province if it's not too far afield.

Jazz ... Check this out.

"The Giant Tiger in Hull on eddy .... can also find SPRUCE BEER! Yeah, you read correctly, SPRUCE BEER, made by cotts."

ottawafoodies.com

... and all I did was enter the words "Spruce" and "Beer" in the find box at the top of most Ottawa Foodie pages.

Capt'n & Jazz,

I just came back from a trip to The Giant Tiger on Eddy in Hull. Unfortunately, they didn't have Spruce Beer, at least not at that time.

However! I went up to the IGA supermarket at Place Cartier and they TOTALLY had Spruce Beer — boxes of 12 cans and 2L bottles. The brand they carry is "Compliments". It has a great aroma and flavour!

My friend and I each got a box of 12 cans. It was about $4.50 for the box. We are so happy to finally be drinking Spruce Beer again. We had been missing it since we first had it in Montreal over 10 years ago.

Thank you, Captain Caper, for the suggestion, nevertheless. Maybe The Giant Tiger will get another shipment of Spruce Beer soon. I am anxious to try Cott's variety of this most refined tree beverage.

Totally? Like for realz?

Is this also known as Nectar? I remember buying pop which was Nectar flavour but only in Quebec. Under the cotts label. Totes and for realzies.

Hi Stewtine,

I know what you're talking about, but no, Spruce Beer and Nectar are two different sodas.

I tried nectar once, but I can't remember exactly what it tastes like, but I know it was different from Spruce Beer. Spruce beer really does taste like you're drinking a pine tree. For realz.

"really does taste like you're drinking a pine tree."

Well, if that doesn't sell a product, I don't know what would!
On a similar line of discussion, this is what I've sometimes wondered about the 66 Giiliad brand of Pine Vodka. Do I really want to be drinking something that tastes like a car freshener?

I'm curious enough to want to try it, though.

What is the attraction to the Spruce beer? Is it extra refreshing? Is it just tasty in a different way?

Actually it tastes more like a spruce or balsam tree. And I know what they taste like from popping the gum bubbles on the side of tree trunks with a little stick that you'd poke into it to get some gum on it, then put the stick in the lake and watch it go, spewing a trail like gas or oil on water behind it. It was messy fun and you sometimes wore the gum on your face and clothes kyand always on your hands so you got to taste it frequently. Ahhh, warm summer memories as a kid at our cottage at Wolf Lake...another is the daily walk to the village store for treats, a 10 cent ice cold bottle of one of my two faves - lemon lime soda or spruce beer - and a 10 cent brown paper bags of sometin' to eat, peanuts in skins (my fave) or mints, or licorice pipes or cigars. Those were the days, my friend...
Nice to see spruce beer is still around for a no doubt select clientele. Mind you I've got some real spruce beer, now that I'm all grown up, down in the cold room, from Garrison brewery in Halifax, courtesy of my favourite sister in law.

Thanks for the memories, Andy.

As kids, we used to chew the spruce gum from the tree trunks. We needed to find the right age of the gum. Too young and it could stick to your teeth. Too old tasted nasty.

Lasted way longer than Dubble-Bubble .... and it was free !

Hubby had lots of samples from Garrison Brewery but the spruce beer was a no for he and his 4 friends. I haven't tried it so no thumbs up or down. Apparently it is a unique taste!

My brother is here from Connecticut. Last evening, while we were having dinner, he said that he wondered where he could get spruce beer, as a friend from CT had driven all the way to Montreal to get some at a Loblaws there. I Googled the topic and saw one of the forum posts directing us to the IGA at Place de la Capitale at St-Joseph and St-Raymond in the Hull sector of Gatineau. We went there and sure enough they had some, both in cans (12 pack) and 1L bottles. All in the Compliments (store label) brand. We picked up four cases of cans for $3.69 each plus the deposit. Amazing. I had never heard of the stuff. Some of the posts say it tastes vile; others love it. It is non-alcoholic, so he'll take it back to CT with him! We bought all the available cans, so wait for them to stock up!! This must be a QC specialty! Thanks, Ottawa Foodies, for the tip!

I was up north this summer and went to 4 breweries - Yukon Brewing, Winterlong, Skagway, Haines Brewing Co - and they all made a spruce tip beer and they were all soooo good. Wish some of Ottawa's local breweries would make these. Is there enough spruce around here to do it properly?

For those who know about these things is Spruce Tip beer the same as Spruce Beer?

Gawd no! One's for hipsters, one ain't. They might taste the same but if yer a hipster you can tell the diff... 👹
Got the big envy on for your recent beer-drinking ways.🍻