Gruit

Beer brewed after a 13th-century recipe using gruit herbs

Gruit (alternately grut or gruyt) is an old-fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavoring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. Gruit or grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit.

Gruit was a combination of herbs, commonly including sweet gale (Myrica gale), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), horehound (Marrubium vulgare), and heather (Calluna vulgaris). Gruit varied somewhat, each gruit producer including different herbs to produce unique flavors and effects. Other adjunct herbs included juniper berries, ginger, caraway seed, aniseed, nutmeg, cinnamon, and even hops in variable proportions.

Some traditional types of unhopped beer such as sahti in Finland, which is spiced with juniper berries and twigs, have survived the advent of hops, although gruit itself has not.

Historical context

The exclusive use of gruit was gradually phased out in favor of the use of hops alone in a slow sweep across Europe occurring between the 11th century (in the south and east of the Holy Roman Empire) and the late 16th century (Great Britain).^[1] In 16th century Britain, a distinction was made between ale, which was unhopped, and beer, brought by Dutch merchants, which was hopped. Currently, however, ale usually refers to beer produced through a top-fermentation process, not unhopped beer.

The phasing out of gruit from brewing is linked to various factors. A possible political factor would be the general emancipation of princes (mainly German) from the political influence of the Roman Catholic Church in a movement that eventually was to lead to Martin Luther's protestations turning into a fully-fledged uprising of those princes against the authority of Rome, in what is known as the Reformation. Princes wanting to undermine the power of the Church therefore tended to promote brewing with hops rather than gruit, to try to cut off this revenue for the monastic orders who had a monopoly on it.^[1]

Some authors present the switch to hops as a Protestant crackdown on feisty Catholic tradition, and as a Puritan move to keep people from enjoying themselves with aphrodisiac and stimulating gruit ales by imposing the sedative effects of hops instead.^[2] However, the switch to hops started in Germany some four or five centuries before the Reformation. Its later gradual enforcement in the 15th and early 16th centuries can in part be traced through legislation drafted by political rulers before the Reformation started.^[1]

The use of hops also has the advantage, in perception or fact, that beer made with hops lasts longer and resists spoilage better than that made with gruit. This preservative effect is thought to have had a large impact on the early movement to switch over, although other plants commonly used in gruit mixes, for example sage, rosemary or bog myrtle, also have antiseptic properties likely to extend the shelf life of beer.

Spruce tips as a local food ingredient has a practical aspect as well; it is a plentiful resource in northern latitudes like Alaska, whereas hops must be imported from the lower 48 United States.^[3]

Modern brews

The 1990s microbrewery movement in the US and Europe saw a renewed interest in unhopped beers and several have tried their hand at reviving ales brewed with gruits, or plants that once were used in it. Commercial examples include:

Since 2013, craft brewers with an interest in making gruit ales have banded together to mark February 1 as International Gruit Day.^[8] The day is intended to raise awareness of and pay homage to the historical traditions of brewing with botanicals.

See also

• Adjuncts
• Spruce beer
• Prohibition (drugs)
• Witbier

References

Books

• Buhner, Stephen Harrod (1998), Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers, Siris Books, ISBN 0-937381-66-7 
• Oliver, Garrett; Colicchio, Tom (2011), "Pine, fir and spruce tips", The Oxford Companion to Beer, Oxford University Press, p. 655, ISBN 9780199912100 

Further reading

• Behre, Karl-Ernst (1999). "The history of beer additives in Europe — A review". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 8: 35. doi:10.1007/BF02042841. 
• Mika Rissanen. "The Reformation had some help from hops". Retrieved 2016-09-21. 

External links

• Gruit history, brewing and recipes at gruitale.com
• Gruit recipe from Patrick Kaeding
• Vanberg & DeWulf profile of Posca Rustica
• International Gruit Day