By Alexandre Bessette
In the summer of 2010, my wife and I headed for a 14 hour drive North of our home in Montréal to reach the Basse Côte Nord region. The search for the Holy Gruit Herbs had begun.
Brewing Herbs and Recipes
By Alexandre Bessette
In the summer of 2010, my wife and I headed for a 14 hour drive North of our home in Montréal to reach the Basse Côte Nord region. The search for the Holy Gruit Herbs had begun.
By Alexandre Bessette
By Alexandre Bessette
In essence, standart Gruit Ale is primarily a combination of three mild to moderatly narcotic herbs:
But for centuries brewers have used more than 64 plants in their beer recipes. Of these:
Perhaps what has made Hops so popular with brewers is that it covers all bases, being aromatic, bittering, antiseptic and medicinal. Other than Hops, only four plants would by themselves qualify in fulfilling all 4 functions :
Their origins are essentially European. The Asian plants which arrived in 11th century Europe became widespread by the 16th century, in reduced proportions however. After the 16th century, American plants such as sassafras (aromatic and antiseptic) also made their way into beer recipes.
By Dave Bonta / Used with kind permission
From my own,
fairly limited experience,
here are some points to remember in composing a good gruit:
If you’ve never brewed, there’s never been a better time to start. With the help of the internet, you can locate cheap supplies and all sorts of exotic ingredients that might’ve taken months to hunt down just a few years ago. If you’re already a homebrewer, congratulations. It’s legions of American homebrewers who, over the last 30 years, have made the microbrew revolution possible.