The Beer Certainly Contributed Not A Little.

As I have already observed, we at first made it of a decoction of the spruce leaves; but finding

That this alone made the beer too astringent, we afterwards mixed with it an equal quantity of the tea plant (a name it obtained in my former voyage, from our using it as tea then as we also did now,) which partly destroyed the astringency of the other, and made the beer exceedingly palatable, and esteemed by every one on board. We brewed it in the same manner as spruce-beer, and the process is as follows: First, make a strong decoction of the small branches of the spruce and tea plants, by boiling them three or four hours, or until the bark will strip with ease from off the branches; then take them out of the copper, and put in the proper quantity of molasses, ten gallons of which is sufficient to make a ton, or two hundred and forty gallons of beer; let this mixture just boil, then pot it into the casks, and to it add an equal quantity of cold water, more or less, according to the strength of the decoction, or your taste: When the whole is milk-warm, put in a little grounds of beer, or yeast, if you have it, or any thing else that will cause fermentation, and in a few days the beer will be fit to drink. After the casks have been brewed in two or three times the beer will generally ferment itself, especially if the weather is warm.

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