Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer was something I encountered all the time when I lived in Bethlehem, PA. I’m not a big soda drinker, but every now and again I liked to indulge in one. A few summers ago, I was lucky enough to live down the road from a farm that tapped its birch trees. I purchased birch syrup and began making my own birch beer. I knew that it took 40 gallons of maple sap to create a gallon syrup, but birch syrup is a whole other animal. It takes a 100 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Isn’t that crazy?! If you’re curious about purchasing birch syrup, definitely look locally, but here’s where I got mine: https://www.silverlakesyrups.com/ . Anyway, making the birch beer is wicked easy, you basically just mix the syrup with seltzer and add honey or molasses to taste. If you want to make your own syrup, that’s not too hard either. Here’s a great resource for that: https://thecrunchyurbanite.com/2017/05/24/old-fashioned-birch-beer-soda/ .
The other thing worth noting is that birch syrup is NOTHING like maple syrup. It’s super savory and tastes more like soy sauce. When I would do syrup tastings, all my visitors commented that they’d love to try the birch syrup as a salad dressing or glaze for meat.
Have you ever tried birch syrup or making your own birch beer?