Gruit and Bear It!
October 1, 2025
Before hops stole the spotlight, there was gruit. As a beer, it is an herbaceous brew that’s equal parts history and mystery. Originally brewed with bold botanicals in place of hops, this ancient style offers floral aromas, and earthy, often slightly tart flavors.
It’s a taste of brewing tradition that predates modern beer, and might just catch you off guard. Gruit’s got a wild grin, so we say, gruit and bear it!
What is Gruit?
Historically, gruit (from the German word for “herb”) was a blend of herbs and spices used to flavor beer long before hops became the standard around the 16th century. The mix varied by region and climate, and they were often closely guarded secret recipes. Common ingredients, though, included bog myrtle, yarrow, wild rosemary, juniper, wormwood, and whatever local plants were available. Each gruit reflected the landscape it came from.
Today, the term gruit or gruit ale is used more loosely to describe beers made with herbs instead of (or alongside) hops. While modern versions are inspired by tradition, they’re often creative and experimental, exploring a wide range of botanicals. Gruit isn’t a specific beer style; it’s a return to brewing with nature’s original spice rack. It’s art with an attitude.
History of the Gruit
Before hops took over the beer world in the 1500s, brewers flavored their ales with wild herbs and plants, a blend known as gruit. These botanical brews were earthy, spicy, sometimes floral, and totally unique to the local landscape.
Although not every region in the Middle Ages deemed flavor a necessity when it came to its brews. England, for example, brewed without any added flavorings.
But gruit wasn’t always just “gruit”. In the region we now call Germany, yes, gruit was gruit. Also grut or grüssink. In the European region, it was also called materia, maceria or maire (meaning matter or substance) when it came to Romance languages such as Italian, for example. We could even go as far as connecting gruit to Dutch words like grutten, gort, and gruis. But, let’s be honest here, beer was being brewed far and wide using local flora, long before there was even a name for it.
Whatever you want to call it, it became well known for its role in the brewing process. Gruit became big business. The Catholic Church took notice and quickly gained control over its production and sale, turning it into a profitable monopoly. They taxed it and reaped the rewards from it.
Then came the Protestant Reformation. Protestant brewers and merchants teamed up to break the Church’s grip on gruit. The result? A shift in power, and the beginning to the shift in what defined beer. At least in the Bavarian region. With the rise of the Reinheitsgebot (the German Beer Purity Law), hops became one of the four legally allowed brewing ingredients, alongside water, barley, and ultimately yeast. Herbal brewing fell out of favor, and gruit faded into the background.
Gruit Today
Today, gruit is emerging from the background. While it may never gain its popularity it once had in the Middle Ages and prior, it is finding its place again, albeit with a modern flair.
A gruit ale is now recognized as a beer brewed with herbs, spices, and plants, instead of hops, although hops are often included in the brewing process alongside the variety of herbs.
Innovative and creative brewers today enjoy the fine art of science when it comes to crafting beer. Hops or not, if brewing a gruit, you may find a combination of local flora seamlessly blended with an herb from another culture entirely. The possibilities are endless: cherry blossoms, lavender sprigs, spruce tips, rose petals, and any wild edible plants you can get your hands on.
Similar to hops, each botanical will have unique qualities and react differently throughout the brewing process. Meaning that at different points in the boil, you are bound to get different reactions based on the plant used, resulting in a wide variety of flavors in the finished product.
Brewing with fruits and plants often gives off a sour characteristic of sorts. Because of this, and the simple fact that most beer drinkers have no idea what a gruit is, craft brewers today will often call gruits, sours. Like it or not, this is a simpler way to ensure that beer buying patrons understand the funkiness of the flavors they are about to experience in their glass.
Gruit as a style or a lifestyle?
The same ambiguity arises when it comes to defining gruit as a style of beer. Of which it is not. Instead, when referring to a gruit, we are talking about its mixture of herbs and plants, not the style of beer.
It may not be a style, but we like to think that it’s a lifestyle. One built from the history of ancient beers. One built from exploration and creativity. A lifestyle built from celebrating ancient traditions and local ingredients while harnessing the art and science that is craft beer today.
Gruit and bear it? We’ll do more than that. We’ll gruit and love it!
MMC Knows Malts
Gruit ales may be known for their floral and herb mixtures, but they’ll be made all the better with quality malts from Malteurop to bring out the funky flavor profiles we expect from unique, ancient brews. Whatever malts you need for your recipes, here at MMC, they’re all exceptional. So when you’re ready to embark upon this ancient brew, we’re ready for you!
“Malt should not be something that somebody has to worry about. That’s our job as maltsters. We produce something consistent and to specification every time and take that off of your plate.” (Joel Grosser, Director of Operations for North America)
Premium grains from field to flavor.
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About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC
Malteurop Malting Company (MMC) is based in North America—specializing in growing and producing quality malts for the beer, whiskey, and food processing industries.
With local farms and Malthouses spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Malteurop’s commitment to excellence is fully ingrained into every batch it produces, ensuring businesses of any size can create the finest beverages and food products on the planet.
Visit www.malteuropmaltingco.com to learn how we can support your malting needs.
Contact us at customersuccess@malteurop.com or (844) 546-MALT (6258) for questions or to place your order.
Malting is our passion. Quality is our promise.
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