History of Beer
The oldest fermented beverage was found in China (7000 B.C.E.), making beer older than wine. Proto-cuneiform texts dating from 3200 to 3000 B.C.E. document that at the time when writing was invented, beer was no longer simply an agricultural product of the rural settlements, but rather belonged to the products subjected to the centralized economy of Sumerian states (1). The epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2700 B.C.E.) shows evidence of brewing and the use of beer for merriment. The ancient Sumerians worshipped Ninkasi, the goddess of brewing, to whom they dedicated the hymn of Ninkasi (1800 B.C.E.).
Fast forward a couple thousand years and we're now in Europe. Tax records show that during the Middle Ages, brewing was part of the household and women took care of it, hence the name brewsters or alewives. In England, a peasant household of 5 people might consume about 9 gallons of ale every week, yet ale could only last for a few days before it became sour and undrinkable. Excess ale beyond that needed for their own families was often lent or sold to their neighbors. Manorial courts charged a small fee each time a batch of ale was sold. The vast majority of brewsters were married women and they used the profits from brewing to supplement their household incomes. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, the brewing of ale was slowly overtaken by the brewing of beer, which contained hops and tended to last longer. With this switch, women found themselves excluded from brewing, pretty much until nowadays where female brewers are making a comeback (2). Also, abbeys and monasteries started spreading all over Europe in early Medieval times and more and more took over the role of brewing beer.
Before adding hops to beer as a preservative and aromatic, brew(st)ers were using other herbs in their ales (theoretically an ale was beer brewed with anything else but hops). This herbal mixture was called gruit. Depending on the region they were in, the gruit mixture would vary. Often it would be different from city to city. Nevertheless, the most often used plants were sweet gale (Myrica gale), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), heather (Calluna vulgaris), sage (Salvia officinalis), horehound (Marrubium vulgare), bog myrtle (Myrica gale), juniper berries, nettles, ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), coriander, etc... There's a common thread here. All these herbs have bittering agents, much like hops, which makes them more or less reliably antiseptic.
Etymology
I'm still unclear to the actual origins or meaning of the name gruit. Various sources claim it's German, others that it's Flemish/Dutch. Apparently gruit and grout have the same origin, but obviously grout (yes, that stuff between the tiles in your bathroom and/or kitchen tiles) has a completely different meaning now. That in itself isn't strange of course. If you're interested in the history of English, I strongly urge you to listen to Kevin Stroud's excellent History of the English Language Podcast. Grout would refer to a thick, muddy sediment, not unlike what you would find in a kettle after brewing beer. Anyway, I have doubts about the German origin. Germanic sure, but not German. Everything I could find points to old Dutch and even then no one is really clear on the meaning of the word. Various meanings are attributed to it:
- Similar to griet, grut or grutten, i.e. grains of sand or coarsely ground, sand-like grains such as barley. Middle Dutch (1200 - 1550)
- A component used in brewing beer;
- As in heffe, meaning either yeast or yeast waste (trüb).
The first definition is really a collection of granular, crumbling components such as coarsely ground cereal or a grain-like mash. This would be encountered in gruitmolen or a mill that coarsely grounds cereal (for instance buckwheat).
The second definition is the one that is used (again) nowadays. While the herbs were added to increase the shelf life of beer and to enhance the flavor, there was a general view in the Middle Ages that gruit would also enhance or even start the fermentation (in this case pointing to definition #3). This continued with hops as well, as can be seen in a recipe of 1364: "Novus modus fermentandi cerevisiam, videlicet per apposotionem cutiusdam herbae, quae humulus, vel hoppa vocatur", i.e. "A new method to ferment beer, through addition of a certain herb, that is named humulus or hops".
Schiller-Lübben (Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch) mentions under the word Grüte, that in a Low German text of 1447, beer was only brewed with gruit in Dortmund: "welches in den Heiden wechset, auch Porsse genandt" or "which grows in heath, also named Porsse". This Porsse, Porst or Post is wild rosemary or Marsh Labrador tea (Rhododendron tomentosum; syn. Ledum Palustre), although in some cases it could also refer to bog myrtle (Myrica gale). Given that both plants tend to grow on heath, the above excerpt doesn't conclusively denote either herb. Here's an old recipe from an unknown date (3):
"Om Gruyt ende Gruytbier te maken. Neemt tegen eenen pot (t.w. op éénen pot biers) een Coren bakelaer, ende also veel Appoys, ende wat haueren doppen, ende twee zaykens van Gaghel. Ende maeckt dit Bier alleen van gersten Moute, ende set dit dan met Ghiste".
The word Appoys is unknown, but to make gruit beer they used a laurel berry, oat chaff and 2 branches of gale.
In 1602 the meaning of the word gruit had already been lost (4):
"Tschijnt wel dat gruyte van outs gheweest is eenige stoffe of behouften diemen tot her brouwen van bieren van bederf (van node) hadde."
Translated it means that gruit was a substance added to beer to prevent it from spoiling. There are those (5) who claim that gruit being a number of distinctive plant species is almost certainly an incorrect view.
As for definition #3, a charter from 1064 defines gruit as "materiam unde levarentur cerevisiae" or the material from which beer rises, while a charter from c. 1218 states "fermentum cerevisiae, quod vulgo grut nuncupatur" or "the fermentation of beer, which is commonly called gruit" (6).
Get Rich Fast
Local authorities quickly understood that there was money to be made here and they came up with "gruytrecht", i.e. only certain families were allowed to make gruit (the herbal mixture) and all brewers had to buy it from them. This is how the family of van Brugghe-van der Aa, became exceptionally wealthy. This building shows exactly how they spent that money. It's also how they acquired the name of lords of Gruuthuse, which literally means the house of gruit. The most memorable family member was Lodewijk van Gruuthuse (ca. 1422-1492), a top diplomat, one of the most influential courtiers of the court of the dukes of Burgundy and a Knight of the Golden Fleece as of 1461. His motto was 'Plus est en vous' (There is more in you).
What does Gruit mean today?
If it wasn't yet clear from the etymology, no one really knows what gruit really stood for. There's a revival of the 'style' and beeradvocate even has a page dedicated to it. Whatever it's called now, it will be nothing like beers from the Middle Ages. If it's your goal to recreate those ancient ales you might as well stop now. Besides, from what I've read early Medieval beers were hardly comparable to what we've come to enjoy now: they were mostly flat (no carbonation).
I've found quite a few blogs dedicated to creating gruit ales, but I wonder about the safety. Some of the plants used, for instance wild rosemary (not to be confused with the herb rosemary used in the kitchen) contains poisonous terpenes which affect the central nervous center. Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) also contains terpenoids, terpene-rich volatile oils known to irritate the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys. Even though it's been used as salad greens for centuries, the safety of ground ivy has not been established scientifically. Just because something has been done in the past doesn't make it safe. Keep that in mind when you gather herbs for brewing.
(2) Bardsley, Sandy. Women's roles in the Middle Ages, 2007
(3) Kruyskamp, Cornelis. Woordenboek der Nederlandse taal, Volume 5, p. 1169, 1900
(4) Van Summeren, P. N. Over Gruit, Gruitbier en daarmee samenhangende woorden. Natuurhistorisch Maandblad, 37e Jaargang, Nos 11-12, 1948.
(5) Unger, Richard W. Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. 2004.
(6) Noordewier, M. J. Nederduitsche Regtsoudheden. 1853