Today we regard hops as the only herb to spice beer. The first hop gardens were established during the 8th century, and for most brewers hops have not been available until the 13th to 15th century. And before? How did brewers spice their beers? Welcome on a journey to the heart of medieval brewing: Gruitbeer!
Maybe the most beautiful point in brewing beer in common in brewing Gruitbeer in special we can discover in antiquity, in the Middle Ages and in modern times on all continents. It´s the never-ending wealth of nature in spices, herbs, sprouts, seedings, or barks and the never-ending creativity of brewers to make use of it as well.
What exactly is Gruit Beer?
In his seminal thesis on gruit with the Institute of Masters of Beer, Dr. Dr Markus Fohr’s master’s thesis defined as follows: Gruitbeer contains as a replacement or as an addition to hops minimum of one spicing component of natural plant-based origins like herbs or spices. As such, gruit beer would have been a type of aromatized ale, that is an unhopped beer spiked with a variety of local herbs.
The term « Gruitbeer » first appeared in Northern Europe. But in fact, ales such fitting the definition above were found on all continents. Instead of the term Gruitbeer often terms like Spiced Beer, Herbal Beer, or even Healing Beer can be found in history.
A History of Gruit
In early medieval Europe, Gruit meant pasted cereals, soup of cereals, or milled cereals in Northern European languages. Gruit was originally used like a malt extract also containing microorganisms to prepare wort and to start fermentation. Herbs or spices were no determining ingredients. Later on, the term Gruitbeer turned into the definition mentioned above. Depending on the region and language you also find writings like Grut, Grutbier, Gruut, or Gruiten.
Pictured above, gale and porse, two of the most common herbs used in Gruit
Herbs, spices and all the other ingredients like spruce used to produce Gruitbeer have been different in historical periods and places. This turned out because people were forced to use ingredients they had available and were allowed to use. Today’s varieties are a result of the aim to rebuild historical recipes on the one hand and the aim just to be creative on the other hand.
Besides herbs and spices, it´s proven that many other ingredients like resin, fruits, special malts, concentrated wort or fermented chaff have been in use to produce Gruitbeers. The ingredients mentioned last do not match our modern definition of Gruitbeers. Modern brewers use these ingredients as well, but they don’t regard it as a part of Gruit. Whereas early medieval brewers would brew with Gruit, modern brewers tend to think of Gruit as adjuncts to influence aroma and color.
What ingredients were used in Gruit?
Here we are with the favorite herbs and spices of historical Gruitbeer (in brackets you find the German terms):
- Gale (Gagel)
- Porse (Porst)
- Caraway (Kümmel)
- Juniper (Wacholder)
- Laurel (Lorbeer)
All these ingredients except porse you can find in modern Gruitbeer too. Hops did not count for the ingredients mostly used as Gruit, but a lot of references prove it to have been used as well. Also in our times, there are examples of Gruitbeer with and without the use of hops.
Historically there are many references to gruit mixing gale and porse. Gale was used because of its taste and its intoxicating effect, and the second one just because of this intoxicating effect. Some of these herbs are very bitter, a natural protection mechanism in plants to repel pests. It is precisely that antibacterial flavor that made such herbs appealing to brewers as a preservative. After hop was gradually adopted by European brewers in the mid-16th century, porse and gale were slowly abandoned.
To summarize we see one main difference between historical and modern Gruit. The modern one is just used to gain aroma. The historical one was also used to support the production of wort and to start fermentation.
Considering the moment to add Gruit we find the same possibilities in history and today. Gruit may be added during wort boiling, fermentation, or maturation. It is and was also possible to combine these techniques.
Brew before Hops
Until the 13th century, hops were just one out of many possibilities to flavor beer. From this time on hops went on to be the only possibility. But Gruitbeer did not vanish overnight. Many references prove their existence in Northern Europe as well as in Germany. Even there it lasted until June 3rd, 1906 when brewers in the whole German Reich were forced by law to follow the Reinheitsgebot and brew just with water, malt, hops, and yeast.
Fortunately, this situation is just present in Germany. In other countries like Belgium Gruit and Gruitbeer didn´t vanish at all over the centuries. They went on living in styles like Witbier, Saison, or Ale, sometimes also Tripel or Biere de Garde. Even in Africa, there are some examples of Gruitbeer.
The role of gruit in the economy of Medieval Europe
In Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium beer, gruit, and hops were and are also important instruments of political, economic, and financial power. In many regions, political or clerical authorities gained a lot of their income from Gruit rights, the right to produce and sell Gruit. A lot of big cities like Köln or Aachen in Germany, and Brügge or Gent in Belgium earned up to 50 % of their complete household by Gruit.
The picture above shows today’s Gruuthuuse Museum in Brügge, Belgium. In the 14th century, it was the residence of the local Gruit Master, Lodewijk van Gruuthuuse. Even for us today this house looks like a palace – and we are talking about the 14th century, when most people lived in huts or just had one single room for a whole family.
When hopped beers were coming up these Gruit rights vanished – but the authorities kept their influence by new rights and laws like German Reinheitsgebot or modern beer and alcohol tax.
Gruit today
There is an analogy between Gruitbeer and many craft beer styles like India Pale Ale or Porter. They have been forgotten in their home countries and all over the world – until craft beer brewers came and reawakened them to new life – and new varieties!
Steve Beauchesne from Beaus All Natural Brewing Company, Vankleek Hill, Ontario, Canada, founded International Gruitday in 2013. He established Gruit Day as his webpage to inform and network about Gruitbeer. In 2018 more than 60 brewers from all continents took part in International Gruitday.
Dr. Markus Fohr, brewing engineer and German Champion of Beersommeliers has been brewing gruitbeer since 2014. His first recipe with sage, peppermint, juniper, and some hops won a golden medal at the International Craft Beer Award 2015. In 2019 he recreated the recipe now using anise, lemongrass, and rosemary, and again won a golden medal in 2020.
International Gruit Day
Joining Gruit Day, you will get to know Grutie, the mascot of the page. He – or maybe she“ – is inspired by magicians like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings or Miraculix from Asterix. Butch Heilshorn created this idea when looking for a title image for his legendary book « Against All Hops », but his publishers thought it to be too extraordinary.
Apart from this, the idea is exactly this – extraordinary. So Dr. Markus Fohr chose it to be the mascot of this page and called it « Grutie ». His daughter Maja Fohr painted Grutie and also provided him with the « hop dragon » as an assistant.
Gruitbeer is a fascinating topic to brew, enjoy, and celebrate. Let´s do this by quoting Steve Beauchesne, founder of International Gruitday:
“Gruits are a part of our past, and a part of the enjoyment for me is that it connects us to our history. It’s like drinking with your great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather”.
Dr. Markus Fohr
Lahnsteiner Brauerei GmbH & Co. KG, Sandgasse 1, D – 56112 Lahnstein email: fohr@lahnsteiner-brauerei.de web: http://www.lahnsteiner-brauerei.de
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