Gruit
Gruit (alternately grut or gruyt) is a herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. Gruit or grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit.
Historically, gruit is the term used in an area today covered by the Netherlands, Belgium and westernmost Germany. Today however, gruit is a colloquial term for any beer seasoned with gruit-like herbs.
Gruit is a combination of herbs, commonly including sweet gale (Myrica gale), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), horehound (Marrubium vulgare), and Calluna heather (Calluna vulgaris). Gruit varied somewhat, each gruit producer including different herbs to produce unique flavors and effects. Other adjunct herbs include juniper berries, ginger, caraway seed, aniseed, nutmeg, cinnamon, mint and occasionally hops in variable proportions (although gruit today is often sought out for lacking hops).
Historical context
The word gruit stems from an area now in the Netherlands, Belgium and westernmost Germany. Here, the sale of gruit was a monopoly held by various local authorities, and as such a de facto tax on beer. The word gruit could refer to the herb mixture itself or the monopoly of its sale. The earliest reference to gruit dates from the late 10th century, and although largely replaced by hops in the 14th and 15th century, gruit beer was locally produced in Westphalia up to the 17th century.[1]
Outside the area where the gruit monopoly applied, other countries and regions produced ales containing spices, but they were not named gruit. For instance, 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.
In both the area where gruit existed and outside it, the traditional spices were gradually replaced by hops, 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). In 16th century Britain, a distinction was made between ale, which was unhopped, and beer, brought by Dutch merchants, which was hopped.[2] Currently, however, ale usually refers to beer produced through a top-fermentation process, not unhopped beer.
The main factor for the replacement of spices by hops is that hops were cheaper (especially in the gruit area, where the price of beer flavouring spices was artificially kept high) and were better at rendering the beer keepable. 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.[original research?]
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 North America 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:
| Beer name | Gruit | Brewery | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beann Gulban | Heather | White Hag[4] | Sligo, Ireland |
| Golden State of Mind | Chamomile, Coriander and Orange Peel | Ale Industries | Oakland, CA, USA |
| Fraoch | Heather flowers, sweet gale and ginger | Williams Brothers | Scotland, UK |
| Alba | Pine twigs and spruce buds | Williams Brothers | Scotland, UK |
| Myrica | Sweet gale | Hanlons[5] | England, UK |
| Gageleer | Sweet gale | Proefbrouwerij | Belgium |
| Cervoise | Heather flowers, spices, hops | Lancelot | Brittany, France |
| Artemis | Mugwort and wild bergamot (Also known as bee balm or horsemint) | Moonlight Brewing Company | Santa Rosa, California, USA |
| Alaskan Winter Ale | Young Sitka spruce tips | Alaskan Brewing Company | AK[6] |
| Our Special Ale | Young Sitka spruce tips | Anchor Brewing Company | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| Spruce Tip Ale | Young Sitka spruce tips | Haines Brewing Company | AK, USA |
| Spruce Tip Gruit | Young Sitka spruce tips | Wolf Tree Brewery | Seal Rock, OR, USA |
| Island Trails Spruce Tip Wheat Wine | Young Sitka spruce tips | Kodiak Island Brewing Company | AK, USA |
| Sitka Spruce Tip Ale | Young Sitka spruce tips | Baranof Island Brewing Company | AK[7][8] |
| Bog Water[9] | Myrica gale (bog myrtle) | Beau's All Natural Brewing Company | Vanleek Hill, Ontario, Canada |
| Spring Fever Gruit | Organic barley, heather, and spices | Salt Spring Island Brewery | British Columbia, Canada |
| Various Weekly Offerings | Locally foraged herbs, flowers, roots and berries as well as classic gruit ingredients | Earth Eagle Brewings[10] | Portsmouth, NH, USA |
| Posca Rustica | Recipe based on archeological research at The Archeosite D'Aubechies | Brasserie Dupont | Wallonia, Belgium |
| Namastale | Juniper and Rosemary | Church Key Brewing | Campbellford, Ontario, Canada |
| Dunes | Wormwood, mugwort, turmeric, lemongrass, and sage | Solarc Brewing | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Session Gruit | Chamomile and elderberries | Solarc Brewing | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Earl | Earl Grey Tea, lemon verbena, and foraged rosemary | Solarc Brewing | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Wine Trash | Granache grape must and Yarrow Flower | Solarc Brewing | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Sun Eater | Rosemary and dried lemon peel | 4th Tap Brewing Co-op[11] | Austin, TX, USA |
| Jopen Koyt | Sweet gale and other herbs | Jopen | Haarlem, Netherlands |
| A River Runs Gruit | Lavender, Chamomile, Rose hips, and Elderberry | Rock Art Brewery | Morrisville, VT, USA |
| Spruce Stout | Spruce Tips | Rock Art Brewery | Morrisville, VT, USA |
| Zingiberene Ginger Gruit | Ginger | Schmohz Brewing Company | Grand Rapids, MI, USA |
| Ancient Gruit Ale | Wormwood, Grains of Paradise, Hand-picked Wild Yarrow | The Beer Diviner | Cherry Plain, NY, USA |
| Stop Trying to Make Gruit Happen | {Barrel aged (6.5%)} | Denizen's Brewing Company | Silver Spring, MD, USA |
| Gruit | Yarrow, sweet gale and Labrador tea | Proper Brewing Company | Salt Lake City, UT, USA |
| Earthbound Gruit | Missouri Cedar branches, heather tips, basswood honey | Dangerous Man Brewing Co. | Minneapolis, MN, USA |
| Nursia | Star Anise, caraway, ginger, and spruce | Avery Brewing Co. | Boulder, CO, USA |
| Special Herbs | Lemongrass, hyssop, Sichuan peppercorns, and orange peel | Upright Brewery | Portland, Oregon, USA |
Since 2013, craft brewers with an interest in making gruit ales have banded together to mark February 1 as International Gruit Day.[12] The day is intended to raise awareness of and pay homage to the historical traditions of brewing with botanicals.
See also
References
- ^ Aloys Schulte, 'Vom Grutbiere. Eine Studie zur Wirtschafts- und Verfassungsgeschichte', in: Annalen des historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein insbesondere die alte Erzdiözese Köln, nr. 85 (1908), p. 118-146.
- ^ Ian S. Hornsey, A history of beer and brewing, Cambridge 2003, p. 323.
- ^ James Roberts (March 2, 2012), "Spruce tips to birch syrup, beers with the Alaska touch", Anchorage Press
- ^ "The White Hag Brewery - An Irish Brewing Company". thewhitehag.com.
- ^ "Award Winning Devon Brewery - Hanlons Brewery - Exeter Devon". Hanlons Brewery - Award Winning Craft Beers Devon.
- ^ Beer Blotter editors (November 12, 2010), "Alaskan Winter Ale is released", Seattle Post-Intelligencer
{{citation}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ James Roberts (June 4, 2014), "Spruced Up", Anchorage Press
- ^ Oliver & Colicchio 2011, p. 655.
- ^ "Bog Water - Beaus". Beaus.ca. 2015-06-08. Retrieved 2016-04-24.
- ^ "Home - Earth Eagle Brewings". eartheaglebrewings.com.
- ^ "Earth 4th Tap Co-op homepage". 4thap.coop.
- ^ "International Gruit Day - February 1st". www.gruitday.com. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
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
- Heilshorn, Butch (2017), Against All Hops: Techniques And Philosophy For Creating Extraordinary Botanical Beers, Page Street Publishing, ISBN 978-1-62414-379-3
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