Spruce Tip Gin & Soda

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Written by: Josette Deschambeault

Sitka spruce trees are one of my favorite coniferous evergreens. I’m pretty biased, though, having spent three years hiking through the Tongass National Forest staring at them for a living. They cover a large swatch of earth, but there’s a heavy concentration of them in Southeast Alaska. And the coolest part about them? Their tips. 

Allow me to nerd out. 

When spruce trees grow, they form buds of pine needles at the ends of branches, usually in groups of 3. These buds are jam-packed with vitamin C, something that the coastal natives (Tlingits, specifically) knew, and had to teach the Euro-American explorers to consume them to avoid scurvy. (Not an abundance of oranges in Alaska.) 
Spruce tips have been a hugely popular foraging item because they’re 1) easy to identify, 2) really easy to pick (they’re tender when they’re just emerging from their brown casings), and 3) low-consequence foraging. You’re not going to pick the wrong kind of spruce tip and die (thanks, mushrooms).

Spruce tip drinks are a big deal up and down the northwestern coast, and one of my favorites was inspired by Caitie of Port Chilkoot Distillery in Haines, Alaska. She made her own spruce tip syrup and concocted so many genius drinks with spruce tips that I lost count. Maybe because I was drinking them. Hmm. Regardless, I brought home a bottle of 50 Fathoms Gin (my fav for martinis, let me tell you what), picked some spruce tips, and infused the bottle with them. On a hot day, a dreary day, or literally any day at all, I’ll pull out that bottle and it reminds me of the coastal north. 

As a note, I soaked about 20 spruce tips in a bottle of gin for more than a year, which accounts for the color of the gin (brownish) and the lack of spruce tips adorning my drink (they’re hard to fish out!). This is super easy to do, and I highly recommend doing so. 

Here’s my favorite spruce tip gin and soda: 

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 oz gin (go local)

  • 1 tsp orange blossom honey (or whatever local honey you have) 

  • 2-3 spruce tips per drink

  • 4 oz soda water (seltzer)

  • 1 ice cube (we have circular ice cube molds, and they’re great)

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Step 1

  • Wash spruce tips. 

  • Drizzle 1 teaspoon of honey into a glass. 

  • (Pro move: pour a splash of hot water in to melt honey.) 

 
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Step 2

  • Pour 2 ounces of gin into the glass. Stir to mix in honey. (See why the hot water is a pro move?) 

  • Then, add an ice cube. (or several)

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Step 3

  • Add about 4 ounces of soda water (to your preference). 

  • Rub the spruce tips between your palms. (It releases the oils!) Drop them into glass. Stir. 

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Step 4

  • Enjoy! 

drinksJosette Deschambeaultgin, gin and tonic, spruce tips, spruce, spruce tip gin and tonic, alaskaComment