Christmas celebrations are all about the lovely feasts and wine or drinks that accompany on the dinner table. With just 3 days left for the Christmas Eve 2018, the preparations have already begun. Christmas sweets and cakes are common but some of these things differ from place to place. In Canada, there is a tradition of Christmas in a bottle, which essentially means making and having the spruce beer. Called the bière d’épinette, it is a sweet beer which has a reputation of being a life-saver. Weirdest Christmas Traditions Around The World: Stripping Naked for Sauna to Enjoying Deep-Fried Caterpillars, These Are Some Bizarre XMas Customs.

The name may be of alcoholic beverage, but the spruce beer contains a very negligible amount of alcohol. It is a like sweet root beer in taste. It is made in a traditional manner through fermentation with yeast. Although nowadays the modern makers have changed their ways of brewing the authentic drink. Christmas 2018 Recipes: From Roasted Chicken to Mashed Potato, 5 Popular Traditional Dishes to Prepare This Holiday Season.

As legend has it, this beer has saved life many years ago. The indigenous people who first made it, used it as a medicine. In fact, the earliest mention of this spruce beer goes in 1536 during a heavy outbreak of scurvy. The local tribes then made a drink from the bark of the pine trees and it helps in the cure of the people. The spruce beer is also said to be a guaranteed remedy to cold in the winter season. The drink thus has several health benefits.

There are few places in Canada which provide authentic spruce beer. It may be commercially available in some places, but there are very few brewers who make a fresh brew in their homes. The tradition of spruce beer remains special to Canadians and not everyone in the world knows about this 'Christmas in a bottle.' Apparently, it has been a custom that is being carried on since the 1920s.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 22, 2018 04:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).