Gruit Beer: Where To Buy This Ancient Beverage

Gruit beer, also known as ancient herbed ale, is a unique beverage that has captured the interest of many beer enthusiasts. With its roots in medieval times, gruit beer is characterised by its absence of hops, instead featuring a blend of herbs, spices, and other ingredients to create a complex flavour profile. For those intrigued by this unconventional brew, the question arises: where can one purchase gruit beer? Various retailers, including online stores and speciality shops, offer gruit beer options. Some sources suggest checking local establishments such as Bier Stein and 16 Tons, which occasionally carry gruit beer or can special order it upon request. Online retailers like GotoLiquorStore and Total Wine & More also provide options to buy gruit beer, although availability may depend on location. Additionally, breweries like New Belgium Brewing and Big Beaver Brewing Co. offer their own interpretations of gruit beer, which can be worth exploring.

Gruit beer in the US

Gruit beer, an ancient herbed ale, is brewed with botanicals, spices, and herbs instead of hops. The traditional gruit recipe includes three herbs—myrica gale (also known as bog myrtle), yarrow, and wild rosemary) but brewers often add other herbs and spices like ginger, caraway seed, aniseed, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Gruit beer is not easy to find in the mainstream US marketplace. Some laws require hops to be present for a product to be sold as beer, limiting the distribution and sales channels for breweries. However, the microbrewery movement in North America has renewed interest in unhopped beers, and several breweries have tried reviving ales brewed with gruit.

• Kvasir by Dogfish Head: Includes lingonberries, cranberries, myrica gale, yarrow, honey, and birch syrup.
• Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale by Williams Brothers Brewing Company
• 13th Century Grut Bier by Professor Fritz Briem
• St. Luke's Verse (Lavender Gruit) by Beau's All Natural Brewing Company, Vanleek Hill, Ontario, Canada: Includes organic barley, heather, and spices.
• Wild Oats Series No. 8 - Bog Father Eastern Ontario Gruit by Beau's All Natural Brewing Company: Includes locally foraged herbs, flowers, roots, and berries, as well as classic gruit ingredients.
• Young Sitka spruce tip ales by Moonlight Brewing Company, Alaskan Brewing Company, Anchor Brewing Company, Haines Brewing Company, Kodiak Island Brewing Company, Baranof Island Brewing Company, and Island Trails.
• Gruit Heather tips, Rose hips (5.7%) by Denizen's Brewing Company, Silver Spring, MD, USA
• Yarrow, sweet gale, and Labrador tea by Dunagan Brewing Company
• Missouri Cedar branches, heather tips, and basswood honey by Proper Brewing Company, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
• Star Anise, caraway, ginger, and spruce by Dangerous Man Brewing Co., Minneapolis, MN, USA
• Clove, juniper berry, rainbow peppercorn, and caraway seed by Great Notion Brewing, Portland, Oregon, USA
• Witchcraft Gruit Ale by Great Notion Brewing, Portland, Oregon, USA: Includes dandelion, ginger, coriander, lavender, and orange peel.
• Zingiberene Ginger Gruit by Schmohz Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, USA: Includes wormwood, grains of paradise, and hand-picked wild yarrow.
• Wormwood, mugwort, turmeric, lemongrass, and sage by Campbellford, ON, Canada
• Chamomile and elderberries, Earl Grey Tea, lemon verbena, and foraged rosemary, Granache grape must and yarrow flower, and rosemary and dried lemon peel by Los Angeles, CA, USA-based breweries
• Sweet gale and other herbs by 4th Tap Brewing Co-op, Morrisville, VT, USA

Online stores for gruit beer

Gruit beer, also known as ancient herbed ale, can be purchased from several online stores. GotoLiquorStore offers gruit beer, although you must be over the legal drinking age to enter the site and view products. Similarly, Total Wine & More offers Scottish Gruit/Ancient Herbed Ale, although it is not available in all locations due to state laws.

Big Beaver Brewing Cº offers a gruit beer called Burning Wood Gruit, based on an 800-year-old medieval recipe that uses over 17 herbs and spices to create a unique flavour. New Belgium Brewing also offers a gruit beer, made with horehound, bog myrtle, yarrow, wormwood, and elderflowers, along with rich malts to create a bitter, dry, velvet-like sweetness.

Additionally, some online stores such as Craft Beer Temple offer gruit beers from specific breweries, such as Theoretic Ales' Arcadium Gruit, which is made with oat, rosemary, savory, marjoram, and Saaz hops.

Gruit beer in Oregon

Gruit beer, also known as gruit or grut ale, is a type of beer flavoured with herbs and spices instead of hops. The term comes from an area now in the Netherlands, Belgium, and northwestern Germany, and the earliest reference to gruit dates from the late 10th century.

In Oregon, Dangerous Man Brewing Co. in Minneapolis offers a gruit beer flavoured with star anise, caraway, ginger, and spruce. In Portland, you can find a gruit beer flavoured with clove, juniper berry, rainbow peppercorn, and caraway seed.

If you're looking to try a variety of gruit beers, International Gruit Day is celebrated every year on February 1. This day aims to raise awareness of and pay homage to the historical traditions of brewing beer with botanicals.

You can also try brewing your own gruit beer at home. The book "Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More" by Wendy Tweten and Debbie Teashon is a great resource for learning how to use traditional ingredients in your beers.

Gruit beer in Colorado

Gruit beer, a blend of herbs used to enhance the flavour of beers before the general use of hops, can be tough to find in the mainstream marketplace. However, there are a few craft breweries in Colorado that have been known to offer gruit beer.

Wynkoop Brewery, Denver

Wynkoop Brewery in Denver offered a gruit ale as a long-time fixture on its menu. Although the server's description of the beer as tasting like "bong water" may not be the best sell, it is described as strongly antiseptic-like and bitter.

Mountain Town Brewing Co.

Mountain Town Brewing Co. offers a gruit beer called Sacred Gruit Ale.

Moonlight Brewing Company

Moonlight Brewing Company is another brewery that has been known to offer gruit beer.

Uiltje Brewing Company

Uiltje Brewing Company has a gruit beer called Most Wonderful Time For A Beer.

Big Thorn Farm & Brewery

Big Thorn Farm & Brewery offers a gruit beer called Scruit.

The Beer Diviner

The Beer Diviner offers a gruit beer called Ancient Gruit Ale.

Rock Art Brewery

Rock Art Brewery offers a gruit beer called A River Runs Gruit.

Beau's All Natural Brewing Company

Beau's All Natural Brewing Company in Vanleek Hill, Ontario, Canada, offers a gruit beer made with organic barley, heather, and spices.

Salt Spring Island Ales

Salt Spring Island Ales in British Columbia, Canada, offers a gruit beer made with locally foraged herbs, flowers, roots, berries, and classic gruit ingredients.

Earth Eagle Brewings

Earth Eagle Brewings offers a gruit beer based on archaeological research at The Archeosite D'Aubechies, using sweet woodruff (wild baby's breath) and bog myrtle, among a dozen other different spices.

4th Tap Brewing Co-op

4th Tap Brewing Co-op offers a gruit beer made with sweet gale and other herbs.

The Manual

The website The Manual also recommends Williams Brothers Brewing Co. and Dogfish Head as breweries that offer gruit beers.

Gruit beer in the UK

Gruit beer is an ancient herb ale brewed with botanicals rather than hops, giving it a perfume-like aroma. The traditional gruit mixture includes bog myrtle, yarrow, and wild rosemary, with brewers adding other herbs and spices such as ginger, caraway seed, anise, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Gruit ales were believed to have health benefits, with ingredients like rosemary, yarrow, and sage having antiseptic properties.

In the UK, you can find a variety of gruit beers to try. Ilkley Brewery, in collaboration with beer sommelier Jane Peyton, has created a limited-edition gruit beer called "Doctor's Orders". This 5.0% ale is brewed with rosemary, yarrow, sage, bog myrtle, heather flowers, and other herbs, taking inspiration from a medieval beer recipe. It offers a unique flavour profile with rich chocolate notes.

Stirchley Wines & Spirits offers Jopen Koyt, a 330ml gruit ale from the Netherlands. Brewed with malted barley, malted wheat, and oats, it has a malty taste with a smooth herbal finish. The aroma hints at herbs and spices blended with dark malt.

Kettlesmith Brewing Company's Stone Angel Gruit is another option available in the UK. This medieval gruit ale contains honey, yarrow, broom, heather, dandelion, rosemary, coriander, liquorice, and orange zest, resulting in a highly drinkable, well-balanced amber ale.

Gruit beers provide a unique drinking experience with their herbal and botanical ingredients, offering a refreshing change from traditional hopped beers.

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