Gruit

The word "gruit" stems from an area now in the Netherlands, Belgium, and northwestern Germany. The word refers to the herb mixture originally used to enhance the flavour of beers before the general use of hops. The earliest reference to gruit dates from the late 10th century.Verberg, Susan. (2018). "[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329178689_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Gruit_The_Brewery_History_Society_Brewery_History_2018_174_46-78 The Rise and Fall of Gruit]." The Brewery History Society, Brewery History (2018) 174, 46-78. 46-78. During the 11th century, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV awarded monopoly privileges of the production and sale of gruit (Grutgerechtigkeit, or "grut licence") to different local authorities, and as such imposed a de facto tax on beer.{{efn|It is believed that Henry IV awarded the German clergymen the exclusive right to produce and tax gruit in order to gain the clergy's support throughout the Holy Roman Empire.}}{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Diana W. |date=2009 |title=Deregulation despite Transitional Gains: The Brewers Guild of Cologne 1461 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40270926 |journal=Public Choice |volume=140 |issue=3/4 |pages=329–340 |issn=0048-5829}} The control of gruit restricted entry to local beer markets — brewers in a diocese were not allowed to sell beer brewed without the local gruit, and imports were similarly restricted. The gruit licensing system also exerted control over brewers within a city, as the holder of a Grutgerechtigkeit could calculate how much beer each brewer could make based on how much gruit was sold to them.{{Cite journal | last=Thomas| first=Diana W.| date=2009| title= Deregulation Despite Transitional Gains: The Brewers Guild of Cologne 1461| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40270926| journal=Public Choice| volume=140| issue=3/4| pages=329–340| doi=10.1007/s11127-009-9420-4|jstor=40270926| s2cid=189841589 | issn=0048-5829}} Outside the area where the gruit monopoly applied, other countries and regions produced ales containing spices, but they were not called gruit. For instance, some traditional types of unhopped beer such as sahti in Finland, which is spiced with juniper sprigs, have survived the advent of hops.{{Cite web |last=Sirén |first=Ilkka |date=2016-08-11 |title=Sahti, the Ancient Beer of Finland, Is Not for Beginners |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/xymvnj/sahti-the-ancient-beer-of-finland-is-not-for-beginners |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=Vice |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Sahti and Related Ancient Farmhouse Ales |url=https://www.brewingnordic.com/farmhouse-ales/ancient-homebrew-sahti/ |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=Brewing Nordic |language=en}}

Specific [https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/what-is-a-gruit-and-where-can-you-find-one/ar-BB1pSR1s?ocid=BingNewsVerp gruit recipes] were often guarded secrets. In 1420, the town council of Cologne "...directed a knowledgeable woman to teach a certain brewer, and no one else, how to make [gruit]..."{{Cite book | last=Unger| first=Richard W.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMNf-p1mu6AC| title=Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance| date=2004| publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press| isbn=978-0-8122-3795-5| pages=44–45| language=en}} Although largely replaced by hops in the 14th and 15th centuries, gruit flavored beer was locally produced in Westphalia until at least the 17th century.{{Citation | last=Schulte |first=Aloys |title=Vom Grutbiere. Eine Studie zur Wirtschafts- und Verfassungsgeschichte |date=1908 |url=https://de.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Annalen_des_Historischen_Vereins_für_den_Niederrhein_85_(1908).djvu |work=Annalen des historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein insbesondere die alte Erzdiözese Köln |volume=85 |pages=118–146 |language=de |doi=10.7788/annalen-1908-jg05 |s2cid=202507552}}

In both the area where gruit existed and outside it, the traditional spices were progressively substituted by hops, in a slow transition across Europe occurring between the 11th century (in the South and East of the Holy Roman Empire) and late 16th century (Great Britain). In 16th-century Britain, a distinction was made between "ale" (which was unhopped), and the "beer" brought in by Dutch merchants, that was hopped.{{Citation | last=Hornsey |first=Ian S. |title=A History of Beer and Brewing |date=2003 |page=323 |place=Cambridge |publisher=The Royal Society of Chemistry |isbn=0-85404-630-5}} In more recent centuries, however, the words "beer" and "ale" have been synonymous, as is still largely the case in British English, although recently there has been an increase in the use{{efn|Originating in the United States}} where "ale" means beer other than lager 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 more stable. 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.{{Cite web |title=The Oxford Companion to Beer Definition of bog myrtle. |url=https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/wM17GP05gg/#:~:text=It%20was%20traditionally%20one%20of,itch%20medicine%20in%20herbal%20treatments. |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=Craft Beer & Brewing |language=en}} Spruce tips as a local food ingredient have a practical aspect as well; it is a plentiful resource in northern latitudes such as Finland and Alaska, while in Alaska hops must be imported from the lower 48 United States.

Gruit is a combination of herbs, commonly including:

• Common heather (Calluna vulgaris).
• Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea)
• Horehound (Marrubium vulgare)
• Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
• Sweet gale (Myrica gale)
• Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Gruit recipes varied somewhat; each gruit producer included different herbs to produce unique flavors and effects. Other adjunct herbs include marsh rosemary, laurel berries, laserwort, juniper berries, ginger, caraway seed, aniseed, nutmeg, cinnamon, mint, resin, and occasionally hops in variable proportions (although gruit today is often sought out specifically for its lack of hops).{{Cite web |last=Mulder |first=Roel |date=July 13, 2017 |title=Gruit: Nothing Mysterious About It |url=https://lostbeers.com/gruit-nothing-mysterious-about-it/ |access-date=September 11, 2024}}{{Cite web |last=Verberg |first=Susan |date=August 2018 |title=The Rise and Fall of Gruit |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329178689 |access-date=September 11, 2024 |website=ResearchGate}}

The 1990s microbrewery movement in North America and Europe renewed interest in unhopped beers, and several have tried 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 flavored ales have banded together to mark 1 February as International Gruit Day.{{Citation |title=International Gruit Day - February 1st |url=http://www.gruitday.com/ |work=www.gruitday.com |accessdate=3 November 2015}} The day is intended to raise awareness of and pay homage to the historical traditions of brewing with botanicals.

{{Portal|Beer}}

• Spruce beer, flavoured with spruce tree buds
• Witbier, or wheat beer

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{{reflist|refs=

{{Citation |last=Roberts |first=James |title=Spruce tips to birch syrup, beers with the Alaska touch |date=2 March 2012 |url=http://www.anchoragepress.com/food-drink/spruce-tips-birch-syrup-beers-alaska-touch |work=Anchorage Press |access-date=22 September 2015 |archive-date=21 October 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20151021182827/http://www.anchoragepress.com/food-drink/spruce-tips-birch-syrup-beers-alaska-touch |url-status=dead }}

{{Citation |last=Roberts |first=James |title=Spruced Up |date=4 June 2014 |url=http://www.anchoragepress.com/food-drink/spruced |work=Anchorage Press |access-date=30 March 2015 |archive-date=28 April 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150428040602/http://www.anchoragepress.com/food-drink/spruced |url-status=dead }}

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• {{Citation |last=Heilshorn |first=Butch |title=Against All Hops: Techniques And Philosophy For Creating Extraordinary Botanical Beers |year=2017 |publisher=Page Street Publishing |isbn=978-1-62414-379-3}}
• {{Citation |last1=Oliver |first1=Garrett |title=The Oxford Companion to Beer |page=655 |year=2011 |chapter=Pine, fir and spruce tips |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=oWQdjnVo2B0C|p=655}} |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-991210-0 |last2=Colicchio |first2=Tom}}

• {{Citation |last=Behre |first=Karl-Ernst |title=The history of beer additives in Europe – A review |journal=Vegetation History and Archaeobotany |volume=8 |issue=1–2 |page=35 |year=1999 |doi=10.1007/BF02042841 |bibcode=1999VegHA...8...35B |s2cid=129429552}}
• {{Citation |last=Rissanen |first=Mika |title=The Reformation had some help from hops |url=https://www.academia.edu/28640210 |access-date=21 September 2016}}
• {{Citation |last=Ruis |first=Frederik |title=A Note on the Essence of Gruit |url=http://breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/166/Gruit.pdf |journal=Brewery History |volume=166 |page=50-53 |year=2016}}
• {{Citation |last=Verberg |first=Susan |title=From Herbal to Hopped Beer |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346930430 |journal=Brewery History |volume=183 |page=9-23 |year=2020}}

• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060404184739/http://www.gruitale.com/ Gruit history, brewing and recipes]}} at gruitale.com
• [http://blog.kaeding.name/2008/03/double-happiness-gruit-recipe-in-first.html Gruit recipe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615004542/http://blog.kaeding.name/2008/03/double-happiness-gruit-recipe-in-first.html |date=15 June 2008 }} from Patrick Kaeding

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Category:Types of beer

Category:Brewing ingredients

Category:Herbs