I found these details which includes a recipe for beer from the Betula pendula (Silver Birch)

Common name: Silver birch Family: Betulaceae
Author: Roth. Botanical references: 11, 17, 200
Synonyms: Betula verrucosa (Ehrh.), Betula alba pendula (Aiton.), Betula alba (L. pro parte.)
Known Hazards: None known
Range: Britain.
Habitat: Open woodland and heaths. Rarely found on chalk].

Physical Characteristics
A decidious tree growing to 20m by 10m at a fast rate. It is hardy to the UK. It is in flower in April, and the seeds ripen from July to August. The scented flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Wind. It is noted for attracting wildlife. We rate it 4 out of 5 for usefulness.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in heavy clay and nutritionally poor soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid soil. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations
Woodland, Canopy, Secondary, Sunny Edge.
Edible Uses
Flowers; Inner bark; Leaves; Sap; Tea.
Inner bark - cooked or dried and ground into a meal. It can be added as a thickener to soups etc or can be mixed with flour for making bread, biscuits etc. Inner bark is generally only seen as a famine food, used when other forms of starch are not available or are in short supply.

Sap - raw or cooked. A sweet flavour. It is harvested in early spring, before the leaves unfurl, by tapping the trunk. It makes a pleasant drink. It is often concentrated into a syrup by boiling off the water. Between 4 and 7 litres can be drawn off a mature tree in a day and this will not kill the tree so long as the tap hole is filled up afterwards. However, prolonged or heavy tapping will kill the tree. The flow is best on sunny days following a frost. The sap can be fermented into a beer. An old English recipe for the beer is as follows:-

"To every Gallon of Birch-water put a quart of Honey, well stirr'd together; then boil it almost an hour with a few Cloves, and a little Lemon-peel, keeping it well scumm'd. When it is sufficiently boil'd, and become cold, add to it three or four Spoonfuls of good Ale to make it work...and when the Test begins to settle, bottle it up . . . it is gentle, and very harmless in operation within the body, and exceedingly sharpens the Appetite, being drunk ante pastum."

Young leaves - raw or cooked.

Young catkins. No more details are given.

A tea is made from the leaves and another tea is made from the essential oil in the inner bark.

Medicinal Uses
Disclaimer
Anticholesterolemic; Antiinflammatory; Antirheumatic; Antiseptic; Astringent; Bitter; Cholagogue; Diaphoretic; Diuretic; Laxative; Lithontripic; Miscellany; Skin.

Anti-inflammatory, cholagogue, diaphoretic.

The bark is diuretic and laxative.

An oil obtained from the inner bark is astringent and is used in the treatment of various skin afflictions, especially eczema and psoriasis. The bark is usually obtained from trees that have been felled for timber and can be distilled at any time of the year.

The inner bark is bitter and astringent, it is used in treating intermittent fevers.

The vernal sap is diuretic.

The buds are balsamic. The young shoots and leaves secrete a resinous substance which has acid properties, when combined with alkalis it is a tonic laxative.

The leaves are anticholesterolemic and diuretic. They also contain phytosides, which are effective germicides. An infusion of the leaves is used in the treatment of gout, dropsy and rheumatism, and is recommended as a reliable solvent of kidney stones. The young leaves and leaf buds are harvested in the spring and dried for later use.

A decoction of the leaves and bark is used for bathing skin eruptions.

Moxa is made from the yellow fungous excrescences of the wood, which sometimes swell out of the fissures.

Other Uses
Adhesive; Besom; Charcoal; Compost; Dye; Essential; Fibre; Fungicide; Hair; Paper; Pioneer; Polish; Repellent; Tannin; Thatching; Waterproofing; Wood.
The bark is used to make drinking vessels, canoe skins, roofing tiles etc. It is waterproof, durable, tough and resinous. Only the outer bark is removed, this does not kill the tree. It is most easily removed in late spring to early summer.

A pioneer species, it readily invades old fields, cleared or burnt-over land and creates conditions suitable for other woodland trees to become established. Since it is relatively short-lived and intolerant of shade, it is eventually out-competed by these trees.

A tar-oil is obtained from the white bark in spring. It has fungicidal properties and is also used as an insect repellent. It makes a good shoe polish. Another report says that an essential oil is obtained from the bark and this, called 'Russian Leather' has been used as a perfume.

A decoction of the inner bark is used to preserve cordage, it contains up to 16% tannin.

An oil similar to Wintergreen oil (obtained from Gaultheria procumbens) is obtained from the inner bark. It is used medicinally and also makes a refreshing tea.

The resin glands (the report does not say where these glands are found) are used to make a hair lotion.

A brown dye is obtained from the inner bark

A glue is made from the sap.

Cordage can be made from the fibres of the inner bark. This inner bark can also be separated into thin layers and used as a substitute for oiled paper.

The young branches are very flexible and are used to make whisks, besoms etc. They are also used in thatching and to make wattles.

The leaves are a good addition to the compost heap, improving fermentation.

Wood - soft, light, durable. It is used for a wide range of purposes including furniture, tool handles, toys and carving. A high quality charcoal is obtained from the bark. It is used by artists, painters etc. The wood is also pulped and used for making paper.

Cultivation details
A very easily grown plant, it tolerates most soils including poor ones, sandy soils and heavy clays. It prefers a well-drained loamy soil in a sunny position. It is occasionally found on calcareous soils in the wild but it generally prefers a pH below 6.5, doing well on acid soils. Fairly wind tolerant though it becomes wind shaped when exposed to strong winds.

The silver birch is a very ornamental tree with many named varieties. It also has a very wide range of economic uses. It is a fast growing tree, increasing by up to 1 metre a year, but is short-lived. It is often one of the first trees to colonize open land and it creates a suitable environment for other woodland trees to follow. These trees eventually out-compete and shade out the birch trees. It makes an excellent nurse tree for seedling trees, though its fine branches can cause damage to nearby trees when blown into them by the wind.

Trees take about 15 years from seed to produce their own seed.

A superb tree for encouraging wildlife, it has 229 associated insect species.

A good plant to grow near the compost heap, aiding the fermentation process. It is also a good companion plant, its root action working to improve the soil.

Trees are notably susceptible to honey fungus.
Propagation
Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a light position in a cold frame.Only just cover the seed and place the pot in a sunny position. Spring sown seed should be surface sown in a sunny position in a cold frame. If the germination is poor, raising the temperature by covering the seed with glass can help. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a cold frame for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.

If you have sufficient seed, it can be sown in an outdoor seedbed, either as soon as it is ripe or in the early spring - do not cover the spring sown seed. Grow the plants on in the seedbed for 2 years before planting them out into their permanent positions in the winter.

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However, the recipe brought back memories of childhood visits to Heysham where I dimly remember a shop selling nettle beer plus real dandylion & burdock on low benches outside, as you went towards the beach. It was on a sloping concrete path but recent visits to Heysham have failed to locate it. Has anyone any photos or a better memory than me? (well I was only about 4 years old).

My wife and I visited Heysham about 4/5 yrs ago, there was only one shop open and yes they were selling nettle beer.It was the last shop on the left as you start to decend towards the sea.

As a lad in the late 40's and fifties the beer was sold at just about every other cottage doorstep, (Not only shops) you could see the screw-toppedbottles stood on the thresholds with simple signs hung up proclaiming its availability.

I have memories of the main village street absolutely choked with throngs of visitors, but know it seems much quieter, unless we were just lucky.

I suspect the beer had very low alcoholic content (1.5 - 2%?) as when I visited in my cycling days, from Barlick, I would have a 'thirst-on' and would down a couple of large bottles with no effects whatsoever.

I found an old book at the car boot sale at Kelbrook on Sunday.  American book full of formulae for everything from Acid-proofing table tops to 'writing under the shell of an egg' and how to dry yeast.  I'll have a furtle later.  Nettle beer, sarsaparilla and Dandelion and burdock are in there.......

EXTRACTS FROM ‘FORTUNES IN FORMULAS’. PUBLISHED 1907 BY THE Norman Henley Publishing Company, USA. 1944 edition.

GINGER BEER.
6 Lemons. Bruised ginger, 3 ounces. Sugar, 6 cups. Yeast, compressed, ¼ of a cake. Boiling water, 4 gallons. Water enough[sic].

Slice the lemons into a large earthenware vessel, removing the pips. Add the ginger, sugar and water. When the mixture has cooled to lukewarm add the yeast. Cover vessel with cheesecloth and leave to stand for 24 hours. Strain and bottle but leave corks slightly loose to avoid bottles bursting.

TREACLE BEER
Hops, 1 ½ lbs. Coriander, one ounce. Half an ounce of ground capsicum pods. 8 Gallons of water. Boil for ten minutes and then strain into a barrel containing 28 lbs of treacle. Stir well and then throw the sold residue of hops etc back in and boil with an additional 8 gallons of water. Rummage the whole well with a stout stick, strain again and add 21 gallons of cold water. Add half a pint of fresh yeast and allow to stand for 24 hours in a warm place. It will be ready to tap off into bottles in 2 days and fit to drink in a week. Foe a stronger beer add up to 56 lbs of treacle and it will then keep for up to twelve months. This is a wholesome drink but apt to prove laxative when taken in large quantities.  Makes about 37 gallons.

BLACKBERRY CORDIAL
Fresh blackberry juice, 3 pints. Sugar, 8 ounces. Water 1 ½ pints. Pint and a half of brandy. Oil of cloves, 3 drops. Oil of cinnamon, 3 drops. Alcohol, 6 fluid drachms[approx. 20cc] Dissolve the sugar in the water and juice and then add the brandy. Dissolve the spice oils in the alcohol and add the mixture to the cordial to taste. Filter and bottle.

Remember that these are old recipes, I post them for interest only.  If you use them, the responsibility is yours.  Mind you, the Blackbberry Cordial looks inviting......

Rose Hip Wine

For 1 Imperial gallon
3 lbs fresh rose hips
18 cups of hot water
2 1/2 lbs of sugar
1 1/4 tsp acid blend
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
1 crushed Campden tablet
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1 pkg Lalvin EC-118 wine yeast

Pick the rose hips after the first frost. Wash thoroughly and cut up or crush. Combine all ingredients except the yeast and pectic enzyme. Pour in the hot water and stir to dissolve. Cover primary and let stand for 24 hours. Add pectic enzyme and yeast as per instructions on package. After 6 days strain through a sieve into a glass bottle. Attach airlock. When fermentation is complete (about 3 weeks) rack off the sediment into a clean secondary. Top up to 2 inches below neck of bottle with cooled pre-boiled water. Reattach air lock. Rack off sediment again after 2 months. When clear you can bottle

Thanks Ringo....will give it a go!!

Did I go to school with you??? I'm from Foulridge and then went to Walton High.

What is Nettle Beermade out of?

I did go to school in Foulridge many years ago.