Gruit (or sometimes grut) is an old fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavoring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. Gruit or grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit. For other uses, see Herb (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Beer (disambiguation). ... Species Humulus lupulus L. Humulus japonicus Siebold & Zucc. ...

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). 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. Some gruit ingredients are now known to have preservative qualities. Binomial name Myrica gale L. Myrica gale is a species of flowering plant in the genus Myrica, native to northern and western Europe and parts of northern North America. ... Binomial name Artemisia vulgaris L. Mugwort or Common Wormwood (Artemisia vulgaris) is a species from the daisy family Asteraceae. ... Binomial name Achillea millefolium L. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. ... Binomial name (L.) Hull Heather redirects here. ... Binomial name Rhododendron tomentosum Harmaja Marsh Labrador Tea, Northern Labrador Tea or Wild Rosemary (Rhododendron tomentosum, formerly Ledum palustre), is a flowering plant in the subsection Ledum of the large genus Rhododendron in the family Ericaceae. ... Juniper berries, here still attached to a branch, are actually modified conifer cones. ... For other uses, see Ginger (disambiguation). ... Categories: | | | | ... Binomial name Pimpinella anisum L. Anise (Pimpinella anisum) is an herb in the family Apiaceae (formerly Umbelliferae) whose seed-like fruit (also called aniseed) is used in sweet baking as well as in anise-flavored liqueurs (e. ... For other uses, see Nutmeg (disambiguation). ... Binomial name J.Presl Cassia (Chinese cinnamon) is also commonly called (and sometimes sold as) cinnamon. ... Hop umbel (branched floral structure resembling nested-inverted umbrellas) in a Hallertau hop yard Hops are a flower used primarily as a flavouring and stability agent in beer, as well as in herbal medicine. ... An assortment of psychoactive drugs A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness and behavior. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

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. Finlandia Sahti, Finnish sahti label Sahti is a traditional beer from Finland made from a variety of grains, malted and unmalted, including barley, rye, wheat, and oats; sometimes bread made from these grains is fermented instead of malt itself. ... Juniper berries, here still attached to a branch, are actually modified conifer cones. ...

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. 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). Beer barrels outside the Castle Rock microbrewery in Nottingham, England. ... For other uses, see Pine (disambiguation). ... Species About 35; see text. ...

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). In 16th-Century Britain, a distinction was made between ale, which was unhopped, and beer, brought by Dutch merchants, which was hopped. (Note : Nowadays, ale refers to beers produced through a top-fermentation process, not unhopped beer.) This article is about the medieval empire. ... For other uses, see Ale (disambiguation). ...

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. 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. Catholic Church redirects here. ... Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk,[1] priest, professor, theologian, and church reformer. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ...

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 beers. 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. 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. Earlier still, in 1434, the Statuta Thaberna [1] [2] in Weissensee, Thuringia already restricted beer brewing ingredients to malt, water and hops. Reformation redirects here. ... For other uses, see Bavaria (disambiguation). ... The Reinheitsgebot (literally purity requirement) is a regulation that originated in the city of Ingolstadt in the duchy of Bavaria in 1516, concerning standards for the sale and composition of beer. ... Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk,[1] priest, professor, theologian, and church reformer. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... The 95 Theses. ... Statue of Martin Luther in the main square Wittenberg, officially [Die] Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany, in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, at 12° 59 E, 51° 51 N, on the Elbe river. ... 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 belladona) 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. Hops grow freely in most of continental Europe and its innocuousness being relatively clear, it was ideally suited to the task. Other people have suggested hops were deliberately chosen due to their sedative properties. Hops also have a number of advantages as far as spoil prevention: beer made with hops last longer than that made with gruit. This no doubt had a large impact on the choice to switch over. Binomial name Hyoscyamus niger L. Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is a plant of the family Solanaceae that originated in Eurasia. ... Binomial name L. Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), also known as belladonna or dwale, is a well-known perennial herbaceous plant, with leaves and berries that are highly toxic and hallucinogenic. ... A sedative is a substance that depresses the central nervous system (CNS), resulting in calmness, relaxation, reduction of anxiety, sleepiness, and slowed breathing, as well as slurred speech, staggering gait, poor judgment, and slow, uncertain reflexes. ...

See also

• Adjuncts
• Spruce beer

Wheat - adjunct or ingredient? The following is about the brewing term; adjunct is also a term used in linguistics. ... Insert non-formatted text hereSpruce beer can be either of two kinds of fermented beverages. ...

External links

• Gruit history, brewing and recipes at gruitale.com
• Gruit recipe from Sean Sweeney
• A Modern Brewer's Take on Gruit