Friday, January 31, 2014

The Great Gruit Revival

February 1st (or rather, feBREWary) is International Gruit Day. At least, that is what the good people at Beau's All Natural Brewery have proclaimed. And with more and more microbreweries getting on board, it may one day be a standard calendar entry.

So what is gruit? Quite simply, it is beer without hops. To take it one step further, it is a traditional, some say original, way to brew beer using herbs in lieu of hops. There's a pretty good article in The Globe and Mail about it.

The great thing about beer is that, if you ignore the Reinheitsgebot, or the Bavarian Purity Law (which states that beers must only contain barley, water, hops and yeast), it is really open to interpretation. That's much different than, say, wine, which tends to be more finicky and precise about how it is produced.

International Gruit Day is the brainchild of Steve Beauchesne and the people at Beau's. Started in 2013, it enters it's second year with more breweries on board, more gruits produced, and a lot more hype. Don't believe me? Check out #internationalgruitday on Twitter.

Gruit is not for everyone. But for beer lovers and history buffs alike, it's good to remember your roots, and if you picture Erik the Red enjoying ale after a good pillaging, he quite likely quenched his thirst with this hearty beverage.

I'll be brewing up my first - a Sandkicker Golden Gruit that will have, among other things, corriander seed, rosemary, sweet gale and yarrow in it.

If you get a chance, give this beer a try. You just might be surprised.

Gruit resources

Explains what gruit day is

A website dedicated to all things gruit.
The Bog Father - Beau's signature gruit-style beer.
History lesson. This guy really did his homework

Cheers!

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