Gruut Beer. Before hopped beer

Gruut or Gruit or Gruyt or Kruyt all mean 'herb mixture used to bitter and flavor beer.' A gruut beer is a beer that uses herbs instead of hops.

Recipes exist dating back to the 9th century using herbs such as Mugwort, Wormwood and Bog Myrtle.

"A schooner of your finest Bog Myrtle ale please barman"

Hops were not generally discovered till late 9th century and were not in common use till 11th or 12 century. When local governments and Churches realized the popularity of beer it was decided to tax the product on the quantity of herbs used in the brew.

The increase in herb pricing and taxing made brewers look for alternatives . Hops became the choice bittering ingredient and as the herb markets died out, soon Gruut beer was replaced by the new hopped ales and lagers.

In 1516, The Bavarian authorities decided to introduce a regulation decreeing all beer to made of only 3 ingredients, that being Water, Barley and Hops. The Reinheitsgbot act or German Purity law spread throughout central Europe, resisted by many, and is still followed by many German brewers today. They didn't mention yeast in their ingredient list as it was not widely known till 1800's how this magic happened. The brewer knew and she probably transferred yeast from 1 batch to another knowing its importance.

Modern Gruut beers have a small following, and a few breweries still specialize in its production the most popular of which is Stadsbrouwerij in Belgium.

Nowdays the recipies are secret and I can only assume that in todays market, most any herb can be attained and transported. I'm goin to try using Junipers as a bittering and Mint or Corriander seed ( sounding like a Gin ) as an aroma in a Pilsner type grain recipe and find a clean ale yeast to build my first Gruut.

Love this sport.

Brew Love.