The colonials were enthusiastic about birch beer which would not be classes as a beer at all in modern terminology, since it was not a malt drink.
The first birch beers were homemade, brewed without a standard recipe. Black birch trees as with maples, have a sap run in the spring. Early versions of birch beer contained yeast and were left to ferment, making them alcoholic.
The sap has less sugar than maple sap, but it does have sufficient sugar to be boiled down and used for beer.
Original Birch beer was first made in an apothecary in 1890.
Birch beer is a regional specialty sold mostly in the mid-Atlantic states and New England.
Birch beer
