Gruit (or sometimes grut) is an old fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, before the extensive use of hops. Gruit or gruit 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 rosemary (Rhododendron tomentosum, formerly known as Ledum palustre). Gruit varied somewhat, each gruit producer adding additional herbs to produce unique tastes, flavours, and effects. Other adjunct herbs were juniper berries, ginger, caraway seed, aniseed, nutmeg, and cinnamon; many of these ingredients may have psychotropic properties too. Some gruit ingredients are known now to have preservative qualities.

Historical Context

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Up until the Protestant Reformation in Europe, gruit was what we regard beer to be today. Its production was often monopolised by the Roman Catholic Church and it was widely drunk for its euphoric and aphrodisiacal properties. As the Reformation proceeded, hopped beers were increasingly promoted as a restorative.

With the increasing use of hops, primarily used as a preservative, the consumption of gruit was suppressed on religious grounds.

External links

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

Gruit | Грюйт