regional soda pops: spruce beer & cheerwine

When a friend of ours was heading to Montreal a few weeks ago, my husband asked him to pick up some spruce beer. Cornelius had a hankering for it from when he worked as a bike courier in Montreal. He'd stop by the local casse-croute and pick up a steamie and a spruce beer as an after-work treat.

I had heard so much about spruce beer so I was eager to try some. Our friend brought back 3 different brands for us to try. The only one we tried was 2 litre bottle, a no-name supermarket brand, that we split with friends on Halloween. It was way too sweet but it had potential...if you like the strong taste of pine. Crazy as it sounds, we still haven't tried the other two artisinal brands, although Cornelius (and most of Montreal) swears by the Bertrand brand (now available only at Paul's Patates). When we do crack open those 2 bottles, I think I'll make a whole meal out of it with some poutine and steamies.

As for the Cheerwine, it's a pretty fantastic cherry soda from North Carolina. Luckily, you can purchase it at Pine State Biscuits in Portland, OR (which is much closer to home than NC). As I can attest to, it makes the best ice cream floats. My best friend moved to Durham so she could attend library school, so I think I've got to make a NC visit within the next year and a half. She says you can get Cheerwine floats everywhere there. Dreamsville!