Gruit (or sometimes grut) is an old fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavoring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. A(n herb (ˈhɝb or /ˈɝb/ see pronunciation differences) is a plant that is valued for qualities such as medicinal properties flavor scent or the like Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed Alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea The hop ( Humulus) is a small genus of Flowering plants native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Gruit or grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit.
Gruit was a combination of herbs, some of the most common being mildly to moderately narcotic: sweet gale (Myrica gale), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), heather (Calluna vulgaris) and Marsh Labrador Tea (Rhododendron tomentosum, formerly known as Ledum palustre). Myrica gale is a species of Flowering plant in the genus Myrica, native to northern and western Europe and parts of northern Artemisia vulgaris ( mugwort or common wormwood) is one of several species in the genus Artemisia with names containing mugwort Achillea millefolium or Yarrow (other common names Common Yarrow Gordaldo, Nosebleed plant, Old Man's Pepper, Sanguinary Calluna vulgaris (also known as Ling is the sole species in the Genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae. Marsh Labrador Tea, Northern Labrador Tea or Wild Rosemary ( Rhododendron tomentosum, formerly Ledum palustre) is a Flowering plant Gruit varied somewhat, each gruit producer adding additional herbs to produce unique tastes, flavors, and effects. Other adjunct herbs were juniper berries, ginger, caraway seed, aniseed, nutmeg, and cinnamon or even hops in variable proportions; many of these ingredients may have psychotropic properties too. A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by the various species of Junipers It is not a true Berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged Ginger is commonly used as a cooking spice throughout the world Caraway or Persian cumin ( Carum carvi) is a Biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to Europe and western Asia '''Anise''' or Aniseed, less commonly anís (stressed on the second syllable ( Pimpinella anisum) is a Flowering plant in the family Apiaceae The nutmegs Myristica are a Genus of Evergreen Trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia Cinnamon ( Cinnamomum verum, synonym C zeylanicum) is a small Evergreen Tree 10–15 metres (32 Hops are the female Flower cones of the hop plant ( Humulus lupulus) A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a Chemical substance that acts primarily upon the Central nervous system where it alters Brain Some gruit ingredients are now known to have preservative qualities. A preservative is a natural or synthetic chemical that is added to products such as foods pharmaceuticals paints biological samples wood etc
Some traditional types of unhopped beers such as sahti in Finland, which is spiced with juniper berries, and twigs, have survived the advent of hops, although gruit itself hasn't. Sahti is a traditional Beer from Finland made from a variety of grains Malted and unmalted including Barley, Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by the various species of Junipers It is not a true Berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged
The 1990s microbreweries movement in the USA and Europe has seen a renewed interest for unhopped beers and quite a few have tried their hand at reviving ales brewed with gruits, or plants that once were used in it. A microbrewery, or craft brewery, is a modern Brewery which produces a limited amount of beer usually with an orientation toward distinctive and flavorful products Some commercial examples are Fraoch (using heather flowers, sweet gale and ginger) and Alba (using pine twigs and spruce buds) from Williams Brothers in Scotland; Myrica (using sweet gale) from O'Hanlons in England; Gageleer (also using sweet gale) from Proefbrouwerij in Belgium; and the Cervoise from Lancelot in Brittany (using a gruit containing heather flowers, spices and some hops). This article is about the tree For other uses of the term "pine" see Pine (disambiguation. Spruce refers to Trees of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of Coniferous Evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae
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Historical context
The exclusive use of gruit was gradually phased out in favour 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). The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands In 16th century Britain, a distinction was made between ale, which was unhopped, and beer, brought by Dutch merchants, which was hopped. The Dutch people ( Dutch:) are the dominant Ethnic group of the Netherlands. (Note : Nowadays, ale refers to beers produced through a top-fermentation process, not unhopped beer. Ale is a type of Beer brewed from Malted Barley using a top-fermenting Brewers' yeast. )
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 uprise of those princes against the authority of Rome, in what is known as the Reformation. Martin Luther (November 10 1483 February 18 1546 was a German Monk, theologian, university professor Father of Protestantism, and church reformer The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time Princes wanting to undermine the power of the Church therefore tended to promote brewing with hops rather than gruit, to try and cut off this revenue for the monastic orders who had a monopoly on it.
Some authors (notably Stephen Harrod Buhner in his book "Sacred and herbal healing beers") have been tempted to oversimplify this and present the switch to hops as a Protestant crackdown on feisty Catholic tradition, and as a Puritan move to try and keep people from enjoying themselves with aphrodisiac and stimulating gruit ales by imposing the sedative effects of hops instead. A sedative, or more specifically a sedative-hypnotic, is a substance that depresses the Central nervous system (CNS resulting in calmness relaxation sleepiness This mostly Anglo-Saxon view can be traced back to hopped bier being originally introduced in the mid-16th century to England by Dutch merchants who also happened to be Protestants.
The fact is that the switch to hops started in Germany a good four or five centuries before the Reformation. Its later gradual enforcement in the 15th and early 16th centuries can in part be traced through some pieces of legislation drafted by political rulers before the Protestant Reformation even started. The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time For example, the most notorious edict restricting spicing of beer to hops only (though, nowadays, most beer enthusiasts superficially reduce it to its "barley-only" clause), Bavaria's Reinheitsgebot dates from 1516, the year before Martin Luther kickstarted the Reformation by posting his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 The (literally "purity order" sometimes called the "German Beer Purity Law" or the "Bavarian Purity Law" in English is a regulation concerning the production of Martin Luther (November 10 1483 February 18 1546 was a German Monk, theologian, university professor Father of Protestantism, and church reformer The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power of Indulgences, commonly known as The Ninety-Five Theses, were written by Martin Luther in 1517 Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a Town in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the Elbe Earlier still, in 1434, the Statuta Thaberna [1] [2] in Weissensee, Thuringia already restricted beer brewing ingredients to malt, water and hops. Weißensee is a Town in the district of Sömmerda, in Thuringia, Germany.
Another factor behind switching from gruit to hops could have been concerns about public health. With stimulating, psychotropic and ultimately poisonous plants such as henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) or even deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) being used rather routinely in beer brewing, local lords tended to want to edict a workable rule-of-thumb for the spicing of beer, preferably using a single, non-toxic herb which would be easier to monitor than a complex mix. Henbane ( Hyoscyamus niger) also known as stinking nightshade, is a plant of the family Solanaceae These psychoactive properties include visual Atropa belladonna or Atropa bella-donna, commonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a perennial Herbaceous Hops grow freely in most of continental Europe and its innocuousness being relatively clear, it was ideally suited to the task. Hops also have a number of advantages as far as spoil prevention: beer made with hops allegedly last longer than that made with gruit. This no doubt had a large impact on the choice to switch over, although it must be pointed out that 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. Rosemary ( la Rosmarinus officinalis) is a woody perennial Herb with fragrant evergreen needle-like leaves. Myrica gale is a species of Flowering plant in the genus Myrica, native to northern and western Europe and parts of northern Antiseptics (from Greek αντί - anti, '"against" + σηπτικός - septikos, "putrefactive" are antimicrobial Shelf life is that length of time that Food, drink Medicine and other perishable items are given before they are considered unsuitable for sale or
See also
References
- Buhner, Stephen Harrod (1998-10-25). The following is about the brewing term adjunct is also a term used in linguistics. Spruce beer is a Beverage flavored with the Buds needles or essence of Spruce Trees Spruce has been a traditional flavoring ingredient Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers. Siris Books. ISBN 0937381667.
External links
- Gruit history, brewing and recipes at gruitale. com
- Gruit recipe from Sean Sweeney
- Gruit recipe from Patrick Kaeding
- A Modern Brewer's Take on Gruit
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