Gruit (pronounced/ˈɡraɪt/; alternativelygrut orgruyt) is a herb mixture used for bittering and flavouringbeer, popular before the extensive use ofhops.^[1] The termsgruit andgrut ale may also refer to thebeverage produced using gruit. Today, however, gruit is a colloquial term applied to a beer produced with hops that is seasoned with gruit-like herbs.^[2]

The wordgruit 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.^[3] During the 11th century, the Holy Roman EmperorHenry IV awarded monopoly privileges of the production and sale of gruit (Grutgerechtigkeit 'grut licence') to different local authorities, and as such imposed ade facto tax on beer.^[a][4] The control of gruit restricted entry to local beer markets — brewers in adiocese 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.^[5] 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 assahti inFinland, which is spiced withjuniper sprigs, have survived the advent of hops.^[6][7]

Specificgruit recipes were often guarded secrets. In 1420, the town council ofCologne "...directed a knowledgeable woman to teach a certain brewer, and no one else, how to make [gruit]..."^[8] Although largely replaced by hops in the 14th and 15th centuries, gruit-flavoured beer was locally produced inWestphalia until at least the 17th century.^[9]

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 theHoly 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 byDutch merchants, which was hopped.^[10] In more recent centuries, however, the wordsbeer andale have been synonymous, as is still largely the case in British English, although recently there has been an increase in the use^[b] whereale means beer other thanlager 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 examplesage,rosemary, orbog myrtle, also haveantiseptic properties likely to extend theshelf life of beer.^[11] Spruce tips as alocal 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.^[12]

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 flavours and effects. Otheradjunct herbs includemarsh 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).^[13][14]

The 1990smicrobrewery 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-flavoured ales have banded together to mark 1 February as International Gruit Day.^[22] The day is intended to raise awareness of and pay homage to the historical traditions of brewing.

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

• Heilshorn, Butch (2017),Against All Hops: Techniques And Philosophy For Creating Extraordinary Botanical Beers, Page Street Publishing,ISBN 978-1-62414-379-3
• Oliver, Garrett; Colicchio, Tom (2011),"Pine, fir and spruce tips",The Oxford Companion to Beer, Oxford University Press, p. 655,ISBN 978-0-19-991210-0

• Behre, Karl-Ernst (1999), "The history of beer additives in Europe – A review",Vegetation History and Archaeobotany,8 (1–2): 35,Bibcode:1999VegHA...8...35B,doi:10.1007/BF02042841,S2CID 129429552
• Rissanen, Mika,The Reformation had some help from hops, retrieved21 September 2016
• Ruis, Frederik (2016),"A Note on the Essence of Gruit"(PDF),Brewery History,166: 50-53
• Verberg, Susan (2020),"From Herbal to Hopped Beer",Brewery History,183: 9-23

• Gruit history, brewing and recipes at gruitale.com
• Gruit recipe (Archived 15 June 2008 at theWayback Machine) from Patrick Kaeding

• Brewing ingredients
• Herbs
• Types of beer

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• CS1 Flemish-language sources (nl-be)
• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from September 2021
• Webarchive template wayback links