Reinheitsgebot

The very first appearance of the word Reinheitsgebot (1) is early in the 20th century. The word was coined in connection with the new beer-law (Biersteuergesetz) of the relatively new German Imperium (Deutsches Kaiserreich). For the very first time the many German cities and kingdoms who used to have their own regulations agreed on a common law on beer.
The new law was somehow connected to the ‘Bayerische Landesordnung’ of 1516, an ordinance that was interpreted in a very specific and narrow way. It is clear this ordinance is about more than quality, it is also about dividing a given amount of grain between brewers and bakers and about tax. In hindsight the interpretation is perhaps understandable from a 20th century perspective where bottom-fermented brewing with exclusively barley was considered superior.
We have to make a clear distinction between the 20th century Reinheitsgebot and the early 16th century Bayerische Landesordnung (Bavarian country ordinance) because in the intermediate time there was no such Reinheitsgebot, but much in contrast a very multidimensional reality. Lets be clear about this; Reinheitsgebot and Landesordung are two different things.

Over 450 years Reinheitsgebot; proven untrue

Tradition
In the Middle Ages making beer had been a matter of preparing food on a small scale, but durable hopped beer became a trade good of Hanseatic brewers (2). Many centuries before the Landesordnung and at the other end of the Holy Roman Empire composed of many independent principalities (3) industrial scale brewing came about. Hamburg was at the forefront of this development and from there in the whole region many regulations like the Landesordnung were made.
German beer tradition includes many regional specialties, all kinds of ingredients including various herbs, styles of beer and ways of fermenting and cannot be described in the scope of these few lines. Some interesting fragments of this history can be read in the Neuw Kreuterbuch by Tabernaemontanum who describes German beer-culture of those days (1588). From this and some others I made translations below, to elucidate my point (4). These and many others are proof there were no restrictions in place in the centuries between the Reinheitsgebot and Landesordung.

Restrictions versus diversity
Narrowing all this down to the restrictions of the Reinheitsgebot is not only counter to historical facts, it opposes and denies the multifaceted old as well as modern trends in brewing. Lots of money was made with brewing pilsner-style beer over the past century and folklore around the so-called Reinheitsgebot has become a matter of pure faith to almost every German citizen. Only very recently it started to hurt when beer-culture in Belgium was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO while the application of the Reinheitsgebot was ignored. The diversity of culture was recognized and is contrasted by German restrictions and a poorly understood history.

Frederik Ruis

(1)
Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstages,
Volume 275
Verlag der Buchdruckerei der ‘Norddeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung’,
1909

p.1894
Zutreffend ist auch die Angabe der Petition, daß es dem Eckardt gelungen sei, sein patentiertes Brauverfahren in einigen norddeutschen Brauereien, für die vor dem 1. Juli 1906 das gesetzliche Reinheitsgebot nicht bestand, einzuführen.

p.1895
allen Brauern, die vorher Surrogate für untergärige Bieren verwendeten und durch dass vom Gesetz vorgeschriebene Reinheitsgebot zu einer anderen Brauweize gezwungen wurden.

[All brewers, who previously used surrogates for bottom fermented beers and were forced by the Law of the Reinheitsgebot to brew in a different way.]



(2a)
Ein Städtisches Exportgewerbe des Spätmittelalters in seiner Entfaltung und ersten Blüte: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Hamburger Seebrauerei des 14. Jahrhunderts
Gerald Stefke
Hamburg,
1979

(2b)
Die Hanse und ihr Bier
Christine von Blanckenburg
Böhlau,
2001

p.196 - 197
Aus Stadtbüchern, die seit dem 13. Jahrhundert überliefert sind, wissen wir, dass es in und um die Brauerstädte Hamburg, Kiel, Braunschweig, Lübeck, Bremen, Rostock und Wismar Hopfengärten gegeben hat.

[From Town-books, that originate from the 13th century, we know, that around the Brewers-cities Hamburg, Kiel, Braunschweig, Lübeck, Bremen, Rostock and Wismar there used to be Hop-gardens.]

(3)
Das heilig romisch reich mit sampt seinen glidern.
The Holy Roman Empire with all its members.
David de Negker
1510

(4a)
Neuw Kreuterbuch
Jacobus Theodorus
Iacobum Theodorum Tabernaemontanum
Basseus,
Franckfurt am Maijn,
1588

p.726
Roggenbier. Cerevisia Secalina.
Aus dem Roggenkorn machen ettliche auch heutiges Tags ein sehr gut und kräftig Bier, wiewol es nicht sehr im brauch ist, sintemal diese Frucht mehr dann einige ander Getreijde vor den gemeinen Mann zum Hausbrodt gepflantset und aussgehaben wirdt. Dieses Bier stärcket wol und gibt gute Nahrung, wirt die Malz darzu bereijtet, wie auch das Bier davon gesotten, wie von der Gersten.

[Roggenbeer. Cerevisia Secalina.
From the Rye-corn some make a very good and strong Beer today, although it is not very common, and this Fruit is more than any other Grain in use to make House-bread for the ordinary Man.
This Beer makes one strong and is nourishing, if Malt is made from this, and Beer is brewed, like from the Barley.]

p.786
Etliche machen das Bier zu unser zeit also wie folget: Sie nehmen Weijzen, Gersten, Speltz, Roggenkorn oder Havern, ein jedes insonderheit, (dann auss allen gemeldten Früchten gut Bier kan bereijtet werden) oder deren Früchten zwo oder dreij zusammen

[Many make Beer in our time in the following way: They take Wheat, Barley, Spelt, Rye or Oats, any seperately (because from all mentioned Fruits good Beer can be made) or from their Fruits two or three together]

p.1491
Kräuter-Bier
[Herb-Beer]

(4b)
Allgemeines oeconomisches Lexicon
Volume 1
Georg Heinrich Zinke
Gleditsch,
1744

p.319
und von Weizzen, auch manchmal von Dinckel, Breyhahn oder weisses Bier gebrauet wird, wiewohl der Weizen an den mehreren Orten einen ziemlichen Zusatz von Gerste, manchmal auch etwas von Hafer bekommt. Wo der Weizen allein verbrauet wird, da wird das davon gekochte Bier, zum Unterschied des aus Dinckel gebrauten weissen Bieres, Weizen-Bier genannt

[and from Wheat, also sometimes Spelt, Breyhahn or white Beer is brewed, although to the Wheat a fair amount of Barley, often also some Oats is added. When only Wheat is used, this beer, to Differentiate it from Spelt made white Beer, is called Weizen-Beer]

p.392
Bottel-Bier oder Bouteillen-Bier, ist eine Art gut vergohrnes Weiss-Biers, wenn selbiges auf steinerne Flaschen oder gläserne Bouteillen gezogen, und ihm ein angenehmer Würz-Geschmack gemachet worden. Es bestehen aber die hierzu gebräuchlichen Ingredientien in folgenden, als in langlicht geschnittenen Citronen-Schalen, klein geschnittenen Caneel oder Simmer, Würznelcken, einigen Cardemomen, und auch wohl etlichen Rosinen.

[Bottle-Beer or Bouteillen-Beer, is a kind of well fermented White-Beer, when this is brought in stone or glass Bouteillen, and a pleasant Herb-flavour is prepared. There are the usual ingredients like, Lemon-peels in long slices, finely cut cinnamon or simmer, Cloves, some Cardamom, and also quite a few Raisins.]

(4c)
Oeconomische Encyclopädie oder Allgemeines System der Land-, Haus- und Staats-Wirthschaft
in alphabetischer Ordnung, Volume 5 (Google eBoek)
Johann Georg Krünitz, Heinrich Gustav Flörke, Friedrich Jakob Floerke, Johann Wilhelm David Korth
Joachim Pauli,
1775

p.108
Der Haber, welcher an manchen Orten ebenfalls zum Bierbrauen gebraucht wird
Auch der Spelz ... sind zum Bierbrauen vollkommen gut zu gebrauchen

[The Oats, which are used in many Places in Beerbrewing
Also the Spelt... are completely allright to use in Beerbrewing]

(4d)
Sammlung der hannöverschen Landesverordnungen und Ausschreiben des Jahrs 1816
II Stück (Volume 2)
enthaltend die Verordnungen vom 2 Julius bis 31. Dezember incl.
Hannover,
bei den Brüder Hahn
1816

BeerSmith Podcast #141
German Brewing Traditions and Reinheitsgebot
2017

Rory Lawton joins me from Berlin, Germany to discuss the tradition of the German Purity Law or ‘Reinheitsgebot’ and some very controversial efforts to challenge it. Along the way we discuss the history of the law, how it has evolved and it affects brewing in Germany.

The 2019 sequel to my 2016 article in Brewery History 

Further evidence on the essence of gruit

Through the ages people have wondered about the nature of gruit. Many, often bizarre theories have formed and were also rejected. Most often gruit was interpreted as grain or malt, but people just couldn’t figure out how.
Today gruit is often seen as a collection of herbs but this was never properly demonstrated and hinders a true understanding of the matter. Sources simply continue to point to grain and malt. What about the herbs, one might ask: Well, they were certainly there in some places, but they were just herbs and were also called herbs. The ‘herb theory’ remained obstinate despite the lack of proof and the first one to object was dutchman Hans Ebbing (1).
The oldest Latin sources present gruit in terms like ‘negotium generale fermentate cervisie’, meaning something as ‘main stuff (for) fermented graindrink’. Later there are more informative terms as ‘polenta’, ‘pigmentum’ en ‘frumentum vulgariter dicitur Gruyt’. All these have in common that they have nothing to do with herbs. Especially polenta and frumentum point to grain and in later sources indications like that continue constantly.
My 2016 article concluded gruit must have been boiled down wort and connected this to graut and grout from respectively Scandinavia and England. This theory is endorsed by many more clues I will present below.

Latin
Below some of the present evidence on the nature of gruit from Latin sources.
Fermentum (or fermentatae (2)): added concentrated wort will result in an extra or elongated fermentation and a thicker, stronger, more durable beer and could have been used at almost any stage of brewing. Concentrated wort explains the Latin ‘soppa fermenti’ (3), and the vulgar ‘gruetsoppe’ (4). Polenta (5) was translated by de Lobel (Latin: Lobelius) as Naerbeer or Graut, being concentrated wort. Levarentur (6) speaks of levitation or the rising of beer during fermentation.
One of the clearest early (1074) indications about the nature of gruit is this one: frumentum vulgariter dicitur Gruyt. Translated: the grain ordinarily called gruit (7). Conservabimus (8) is probably about conservation. Latin pigmentum (9) could be caramelization or a similar reaction when making concentrated wort. When boiling down wort the liquid will become ever darker and will eventually be a very dark brown sticky and durable substance.
Some Latin glossaries make the connection between Grutum and English grout, German Grut and other variations in spelling, but there is not yet any mention of herbs in connection with gruit in early sources.


Polenta in the Neuw Kreuterbuch, 1588

Coroners
Two 13th century British coroners (10-11) were confronted with people that incidentally fell into a large vat of boiling gruit and did not survive. They are reports in Latin by government officials and speak of boiling gruit (grutum bulliente en grut’bullientis) and form the strongest possible evidence for our theory on the essence of gruit. These two sources are consistent with several others: for instance the gruit kettle that was also present in gruithouses on the continent. The contents of the kettle could only have been boiling wort, for boiling the various herbs that were present in continental gruithouses makes no sense at all. The kettle being large was for added efficiency, the durable grout made in the kettle could have been for their own use, or be distributed to a number of brewers with much smaller kettles. They could have made a stronger and better beer for their clientele in such a way.

Bookkeeping
It takes ages before we encounter herbs in connection with gruit like in 14th century Cologne.
In a piece of bookkeeping about gruit in Cologne dated 1391, herbs are mentioned but it begins like this; ‘Ausgaben eines halben Jahres zur Ausnutzung der von Hermann Goch gepachteten Gruth. In deim ersten maende gaf ich us in urber der grous van 23 malder maltz zo tolle 8 mark. Item van demselven maltze zo malen 21/2 mark’. Hermann Goch bought malt for making gruit is what he wrote himself literally.

Misunderstandings
There are many misunderstandings surrounding the history of beer and a related one is the notion that, first there was gruitbeer and later it was replaced by hopped beer. Solid proof for brewing with hops long before and around the year 1000 needs to be neglected for that. My alternative theory is population growth and other circumstances in the high middle ages must have made hops very scarse, making people look for alternatives. Hopped beer export started in the 13th century from Bremen and Hamburg seaports with gruitbeer being made in Cologne simultaneously. More about the pre-history of hopped beer in my article about that.

Recipes
The connection between ‘grutum’, ‘polenta’, ‘gruit’ and ‘grout’ is made by many. Contemporary researchers sometimes focus on regional differences, but gruit was essentially the same everywhere. It was indispensable to make good beer in the absence of hops and often with grains like oats and spelt.
Lobelius (13), a scientist and intellectual, mentions his ancient greek colleague Dioscorides as an early source of Polenta being a porridge made of concentrated wort. He uses it to make beer (Enghelsch bier Ael geheete, translated: English beer called Ale) and to make various medicines. He further indicates it was eaten with bread in Delft (Holland).
Historie of the World, one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire was translated into English by Philemon Holland (14) and describes the making of ‘The ordinarie drie grout or meale also Polenta’ in detail.
Charles du Fresne (15) describes grutum as a ‘boullie qui se saifoit avec de l’eau & toute sorte de farine’, translated: porridge made with water and all kinds of flour. Various editions of his ‘Glossarium’ (16) make the connection between grutum and Granamelum, Anglis Grout, à Saxonico Grut, Far, condimentum cerevisiae.
There are more recipes for making grout (17) ‘To make grout’ and many later British sources and recipes that indicate grout is essentially concentrated wort. One of them is of particular interest and describes ‘The method of brewing beer, before the use of hops’ and ‘It was neccessary first of all to make the grout’ (18).
The dictionary Anglo-Latinus by the Camden Society (19) features a story on ‘Growte for ale’ and links it to medieval Latin grutum or grudum, old French gru or grust and Anglo-Saxon grut.
Van de Kieft (20) mentioned one of the oldest sources of gruit, the 11th century ‘polenta cervisie que vulgo maire’ and explained it as ‘une sorte de bouillie’, translated: a kind of porridge.

Malt
Gruit is connected to malt in Dordrecht, Arnhem, Deventer, Zutphen, Cologne and Dortmund.
Dordrecht (21): ‘van elken hoede mouts hoir gheld also groet, als syt gheven souden van anderen biere, dat si met grute gruten souden’. Dordrecht (22): ‘zijn mout dat dair toe behoirt ende dair binnen zal him die gruter zine grute gheven’. In both instances the amount of gruit is tied to the corresponding amount of malt used for the beer.
Arnhem (23): ‘elke mauder mouts gruten sal’. This also ties the amount of malt to gruit, but could also be interpreted as simply a tax related to the amount of malt.
Dordrecht (24): ‘Item so wat brouwer, die zijn ghelt ende mout int gruuthuus niet en brocht, als zede en ghewoente is’. Here brewers bringing their malt into the gruithouse is presented as an old custom. In Dordmund we find a regulation about whether or not to bring malt into the gruithuis under various conditions; ‘wie gerstenbeer vele wolde brouwen, solde dar nichts dem Gruethues van dem malder malts geven’ (25).

Workflows
Although tax laws varied in different places, the basic nature of gruit remained the same everywhere. Wort was concentrated and could be mixed in all kinds of workflows and with all kinds of substances, like wort, herbs and yeast. Its compact, durable and sticky nature must have made it easy and logical to do so. There is relatively large quantities of unhopped beers like British Godeale exported to the continent and beer sent down the river Rhine from Duisburg (Duusburs beer) as well as very small batches of local ale and gruitbeer with herbs, durable for only a few days.
Concentrated wort is durable and fits a society that doesn‘t waste any food and is very useful for a brewer. It can be employed in many stages of brewing, it is consistent and logical; it was basically the same substance everywhere. There is a plain recipe by Lobelius (28): Graut wordt aldus ghemaekt, translated: ‘Graut is made like this’, and there is more to follow (29-30).
Many Latin dictionaries make the connection between the Latin Grutum and British (Anglis) Grout, German Grut and other variants. Concentrated wort is consistent with: ‘a porridge called graut, -a favorite dish of the Northmen-, for the cooking of which an unusually large kettle was provided’(31).

Yeast
Although descriptions of a practical workflow of making gruit are scarce, there is a few in which it is combined with fermentation or adding yeast (32, 33). Boiling yeast could result in added yeast nutrients in gruit. Gruit made in this way places the Latin term ‘fermentum’ in a broader perspective.


Fermentum in the Neuw Kreuterbuch, 1588

Herbs
Much of the above evidence rules out gruit as simply a mixture of herbs, but some knowledge of the brewing process could also be helpful to understand why herbs were not what was ‘made’ while manufacturing gruit. Hops have to be boiled for some time to be able to preserve beer, add their bitterness and balance the original sweetness. Most other herbs however will lead to a very bad tasting beer when presented to a brewer boiled for a fair amount of time. This could be compared to making tea by boiling the tealeaves. There are various methods to impart delicate herb flavors to beer, but that is outside the scope of this article. It is important to understand that herbs were not likely to have been what was boiling in the kettle mentioned earlier.
Gruit is distinguished from herbs in both Arnhem and Cologne; Arnhem (32): ‘verboden gruit ofte cruyt elders te halen’. Cologne (33): ‘einig grudt noch kraudt im bier zu thun’.
There is more instances mentioning the two together; ‘grudt noch kraudt’, also in Cologne, but this time much later in 1593 (34). There is also hops in gruit; hoppe ind gruiss’ (25) and hops are mentioned in the Deventer gruithuis; humuli ad domus fermenti’ (35).
In al these cases one could argue herbs (and hops) were part of gruit, but they were not the same and certainly not the essence. My personal idea is to be clear about it; gruit is gruit and herbs are herbs. Logical and in accordance with the facts.


Holland court; grute and hoppe, 1326

Confusion
Mid 19th century a edition of ‘Mittelniederdeutsches Handwörterbuch’ appears with this line of text: ‘des men an den crude hadde, dat to der grut horde’. This sentence is from a 1444 charter that reads: ‘umme dure tidt willen des men an den ernde hadde, dat to der grut horde’.
The dictionary uses the false quote to prove wild rosemary or ‘Porst’ was gruit. But not the herbs belonged to gruit, originally the (grain)harvest belonged to it.
From this date the theory spreads despite a try to correct the fault; ‘Die Gleichsetzung von gruit und Porst ist unrichtig’, states the Bergischen history-magazine in 1874 (36). Anyway, the 1876 edition of the mentioned dictionary repeats the same mistake (37).
Later historians compared a gruithuis to a regular brewery and made a simple judgement; the obvious difference is in the herbs, so herbs must be gruit.

Caldarium
Aloys Schulte wrote a valuable essay on gruit and herbs, but in the end he returned to the ‘grossen Kessel (caldarium)’; the big gruit kettle. Schulte concludes: ‘Jedenfalls war die Bereitung der Grut an eine grössere Anlage gebunden’, translated: ‘anyway the preparation of gruit was tied to larger equipment’ (38).
The Cameraars-accounting from 1347 Deventer mentions costs ‘ad magnum caldarium in domo fermenti’, for the large warmwater facility of the gruithuis. In Roman times a caldarium was part of a bathhouse. As we saw previously in 13th century England they were so big one could fall into it accidentally.

Conclusion
Gruit (Latin: grutum, grute) was prepared in this big cettle or caldarium and it was very likely to have contained wort boilling down. It was thus concentrated, made compact, durable and very useful. On the side many other activities and workflows could have taken place. These were likely to have been different through time and region. In my theory gruit was essentially the same everywhere from England to Flanders, parts of the Netherlands, parts of Germany along the present Dutch border and Danmark; a large area where hops have been scarce for many generations and centuries.

My online collection of sources on gruit has been ever expanding and contains many new items. With that and this new (2019) article I hope to have shed some meaningful light on the subject.

Frederik Ruis

1. Ebbing, H. (1994) Gruytgeld ende hoppenbier: Een onderzoek naar de samenstelling van de gruit.
2. Oorkondenboek van Holland en Zeeland (1866). p.45 negotium generale fermentatae Cervisiae
3. Cameraars-rekening, Deventer (1347) p. 274-280 de soppa fermenti II marcas VI solidi
4. Cameraars-rekening, Deventer (1345) p. 218 de fecibus fermenti dictis gruetsoppe
5. Elenchus Fontium Historae Urbanawe, van de Kieft (1967) p.296 Polenta cervisie
6. Miraeus Opera Diplom. Tom. I(1064) p.63 materiam faceret unde levarentur cerevisiae
7. Akademische Beiträge zur Gülch- und Bergischen Geschichte, Zweiter Band, Christoph Jakob Kremer (1776) p.205 fermento cervisie, quod frumentum vulgariter dicitur Gruyt
8. Archieven der Ridderlijke Duitsche Orde, Balie van Utrecht Volume 2 (1871) p.792 grutam et ius fermentandi per eadem tempora in jure suo conservabimus
9. Liste chronologique des édits et ordonnances de la principauté de Liège, Goddaerts (1873) p.5 pigmentum propre à faire de la cervoise
10. The Early records of medieval Coventry, Peter R. Coss, ‎British Academy (1986) p.50 in quodam plumbo pleno grut’bullientis
11. The Publications of the Selden Society (1896) p.15 grutum in quodam plumbo bulliente
12. Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln (1879) p.55-57
13. Kruydtboeck, De L'Obel (1581) p.35 p.285
14. The Historie of the World, Philemon Holland (1601) p.561 ordinarie drie grout or meale also Polenta
15. Dictionnaire universel (1690) p.211
16. GLOSSARIUM, Auctore Corolo du Fresne, Domino Du Cange (1688) p.267 - 268 Grutum
17. A true gentlewomans delight (1653) p.36 To make grout.
18. Horda Angel-cynnan, Volume 3. p.72-73
19. Promptorium Parvulorum by Camden Society (1843) p.217 In medieval Latin it was called grutum
20. Acta Historiae Neerlandicae I, Van de Kieft (1966) p.68 une sorte de bouillie, entrant dans la fabrication de la bière
21. Groot Charterboek der Graaven van Holland, Tweede deel (1754) p.256
22. Handvesten, privilegien, vrijheden, voorregten, octrooijen en costumen, Dordrecht, 1770 p.150
23. Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 64e jaargang, Alberts (1951) p.334
24. De oudste rechten der stad Dordrecht, Fruin (1882) p.117
25. Die Chroniken der deutschen Städte, Erster Band: Dortmund, Neuss, (1887) p.330
26. Kruydtboeck, De L'Obel (1581) p.35
27. A choice manual of rare and select secrets in physick and chyrurgery (1653) p.34
28. The operative chemist, Gray (1828) p.866
29. Social Scandinavia in the Viking Age (1920) p.158
30. Horda Angel-cynnan Vol. III , Joseph Strutt (1776) p.72
31. The operative chemist, Samuel Frederick Gray (1828) p.866
32. G. van Hasselt's Arnhemsche oudheden Vol. 4 (1804) p.24-25
33. Ausführliche Darstellung der gerechten Ansprüche des Grafen zu Bentheim-Tecklenburg
auf die Herrschaft Bedbur (1788) p.70-71
34. Die Kölner Zunfturkunden bis zum Jahre 1500, 2e band spezieler teil. Heinrich von Lowsch (1907) p.59
35. Cameraars-rekeningen Deventer (1344) p.158
36. Zeitschrift des Bergischen Geschichtsvereins, Zehnter Band (1874) p.29
37. Mittelniederdeutsches Handwörterbuch, August Lübben (1876) p.160
38. Vom Grutbiere, Aloys Schulte (1908) p.131

All sources backing this article can be found in chronological order: History - Sources about beer - Gruit - Grutt - Gruijt - Grout - Graut

Graut is made like this.
One takes 6 or 8 pounds of crushed malt, boiling hot water 12 or 15 pounds, which mixed together and well stirred 6 times in a day, and with blanckets and straw very well covered soo long together in a clean barrel shall soak that it becomes thick as syrup. After that it shall be fired and boiled, and stirred very well to keep it from burning, till it is thick as porridge.

This article appeared earlier in the 166 issue 2016 of BREWERY HISTORY
The Journal is © 2016 The Brewery History Society Brewery History (2016) 166, 50-53

A note on the essence of gruit
In the larger Low Countries area, beer brewing was connected with gruit in ancient times. Brewers were required to buy and use this mysterious substance and paid a type of tax that way. It was supposed to contain various herbs, but there were also grains and malt and even wax delivered to the gruithuis (in Latin domus fermenti) according to old invoices from a gruithuis in Deventer, a city that is today in the Dutch province of Overijssel. For centuries and up to the present day what kind of substance gruit exactly was is still something of a mystery. Generally gruit was thought to be some mixture of herbs, despite an alternative presented by the Dutch historian Hans Ebbing in 1994. Ebbing presented a very thorough study into the nature of gruit that was almost totally neglected (1).

Infusion of malt
First we need look into the brewing techniques of those old days, in particular the fact that there was more than just one infusion of the malt, because not everything could be drawn from it in one cycle as we do today with our modern equipment. These secondary or third infusions could be treated in all kinds of ways. The simplest way was to make lesser beers out of them. But there were many instances of continental professional brewers that were not allowed to make more than just one beer. The amount of barrels that could be filled out of one batch could also have been regulated and limited. Both were common measures to ensure a certain quality of the resulting beer. There the mash, grist or gruetsoppe could perhaps be exchanged with the gruithuis. Over at the gruithuis they would have had the time to draw everything from the malt, concentrate the resulting wort into a thick paste and mix it with herbs. That is what I have come to think is what the old gruit was. How I arrived at that idea I will try to explain below.

Gruithuis
Many believe nowadays that gruit was a mixture of herbs, but that was only partially true. One of the activities in the gruithuis was done by a machine that could crush things. Basically that is the meaning of the word gruit (or grut): small fragments of things. The gruithuis could have been a kind of service centre for brewers and there is evidence for a range of activities from the Cameraars, (or financial Chamber) of Deventer. Collecting and preparing ingredients was one of them, making malt out of grains, followed by crushing herbs and malt and making and concentrating wort in a large kettle. The resulting thick porridge could then be mixed with the herbs. In at least one case ‘Gruyt and Cruyt’ were named separately. In the Dutch town of Arnhem it was forbidden to get these two from anywhere else than the municipal Stat Gruythuys (2).

Novus modus
Things change over time, and Emperor Charles IV of the Holy Roman Empire mentioned the ‘novus modus fermentandi cervisiam’ in 1357. For this ‘new method of brewing’ it was needed to separate the herbs from gruit. The new herb was hops and those had to be cooked with the wort, at least partially, whereas gruit was added at a later stage, at fermentation, or maybe even later. Generally if herbs are used in beer today they are not cooked with the wort. Gruit was adapted to the new way of brewing and stayed around, and we have examples of ‘gruit’ beers made in a very plain way; with only water, malt, hops and yeast. The first clues are given by Matthias de l’Obel in his 16th century Kruydtboeck (Book of Herbs):

English Ale
To make the best English beer called Ale, which has a sweet and wine-like taste, and is drunk most in the winter, for it it does not keep well: One takes soaked malt, that is, Wort, 200 pounds, hops 2 handfuls to change the sweet and bland taste of the Wort, and as that has boiled together well and has filtered through soo shall one next mix together, yeast of Beer or Ael, 3 pounds, and English Graut (what we call Naerbier) 6 to 8 pounds.

Graut is made like this:
One takes 6 or 8 pounds of crushed malt, boiling hot water 12 or 15 pounds, which mixed together and well stirred 6 times in a day, and with blankets and straw very well covered so long together in a clean barrel shall soak that it becomes thick as syrup. After that it shall be fired and boiled, and stirred very well to keep it from burning, till it is thick as porridge (3).

a kind of general practice among physicians and pharmacists

The extraction method De L’Obel describes above is a kind of general practice among physicians and pharmacists of the time (4). In his Kruydtboeck he mentions English Graut (what we call Naerbier) and describes various medicines made with this Naerbier. Naerbier was the carrier of the herbs and perhaps also a way to sweeten the intake of it. It can be safely assumed to have been intensely sweet and could very well help with fermentation when mixed with wort and yeast as De L’Obel suggests above. On page 285 of the Kruydtboeck he mentions slight differences in the old way of making Naerbier and ‘the Graut of the English’, but continues that ‘today’ (hedens-daegs) it is still useful to make various medicines and is even used as a food and eaten with bread.
Later sources confirm this way of making Ale with graut or grout as concentrated wort (5). Devonshire White Ale is a well known example that even survived into modern times (6).

Gruit = Graut = Grout
Generally we should keep in mind a fixed spelling of words is a modern concept. The Dutch ‘ui’ cannot be pronounced by most other speakers and is generally changed a little bit. Later Graut and Naebier are mentioned in the book Liber de Cervisia, written by the scholar Martin Schoock, who was professor at the University of Groningen in the 17th century (7). Additionally we find a very plain entry in A dictionary, English-Latin, and Latin-English, by Elisha Coles in 1679: ‘Grout [wort] Condimentum cerevisiae’. Many later etymological publications have a largely similar entry (8).

Re-fermentation
The Dordrecht, South Holland brewer Adriaen Mels wrote in his notebook about what happened in his brewery in the last four decades of the 17th century, (9) but his story on the drink known as Mol started in the past tense; it ‘used to be’ made of white barley without any other grain. Nimweeghse Mol, from Nijmegen, in the modern Dutch province of Gelderland, was an export product in the 16th century. It was exported in particular to Antwerp. Mol had had a special status in the big city that Antwerp was around 1537 (10) and could be imported, whereas most other beers were banned. The brewer slowly boiled down part of the wort he had kept separate, while at the same time the main brew was fermenting. After the main fermentation, the thick beer was mixed in and the beer was barreled. The intense sweet syrup will have meant a re-fermentation in the barrel to see it through till opened at its ultimate destination. This fermentation must have been the reason for the Latin name of gruit being a fermentum in the old days or of levarentur cerevisiae; ‘levitating’ the beer (11).

Conclusion
Boiling down and concentrating wort could very well have been one of the mysterious activities in the gruithuis. Details as which (and whether) herbs were mixed in have differed over time and region. De l’Obel located what is essentially an old brewing technique in 16th century ‘s Hertogenbosch, the province of Holland and England, but it is also encountered in the Nordic countries (12). Basically graut, grout or gruit was an auxiliary that could be used for beer, like in Nimweeghse Mol and ale, but also was a food product and was eaten with bread in Delft. Unlike the grøt we find in the Nordic countries today the bulky spent grains will have been separated and could have served as food for cattle, leaving the concentrated paste for human consumption, compact, durable and handy for travel. Mixed with herbs it was a medicine like De l’Obel described. The essence of gruit probably never was herbs, but was the intense sweet substance causing (re-)fermentation; a fermentum.

Frederik Ruis

References:
1. Ebbing, H. (1994) Gruytgeld ende hoppenbier: Een onderzoek naar de samenstelling van de gruit. Amsterdam, ‘However the soppa or soppe is the residue of a substance called gruit or fermentum. That implies wort and gruit can be considered equal’, p.25; ‘It is called polenta cervisie, which means as much as ‘the porridge or semolina for the beer’. In 1668 England the word polentarium was used to point out a brewery and in 1367 the word polenta was used for indicating porridge. At DuCange polenta was meant as a porridge of milk and flour, but polentarii are those controlling, grinding and preparing the malt, for making beer. In the Dictionnaire Français-Latin polenta is explained as a ‘boullie faite avec de l’orge ou du maïs’. Classic Latin knew the term polenta meaning ‘dehusked barley’, p.27; ‘It is hard to tell what the exact composition of gruit was. It was supposed to “change another substance into its own nature”. It is therefore likely that the porridge consisted of some amount of highly concentrated soaked (wheat) grain’, p.30.
2. van Hasselt, G. (1804) Arnhemsche Oudheden, Vol. 4. Arnhem: J.H. Moeleman Jr, p.25: ‘Die Gruyt of Cruyt anderswaer haelde of dede haelen dan in der Stat Gruythuys, die verlore der Stat v. ff. toties quouties.’ [Gruit and Herbs mentioned separately]
3. De L’Obel, M. (1581) Kruydtboeck Oft Beschryvinghe van allerleye ghewassen, kruyderen, hesteren, ende gheboomten. Christoffel Plantyn, p.35 - translation from old Dutch by the author.
4. Mathias de l’Obel, Mathijs de Lobel or Matthaeus Lobelius (1538 - 3 March 1616), physician to Prince William the Silent or William of Orange, leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish and James VI and I (19 June 1566 - 27 March 1625), King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death.
5. Vogel, M. (1874) On Beer: A Statistical Sketch. Trübner, p.12: It was also recorded how the English brewed their beer. They made a kind of extract of malt they called Graut, which was very thick, and a kind of common hopped beer called Ale.
6. Gray, S.F. (1828) The Operative Chemist. p.866. Devonshire White Ale. The grouts here mentioned are made by infusing 6 or 8 lb. of malt in a gallon and a half of water, covering it warm by the fire side, stirring it often: when in full fermentation it is to be boiled down to a thick paste.
7. Schoock, M. (1661) Martini Schoockii liber de cervisia. Bronchorstius, pp.95-101. ‘De Ala Anglorum’ (‘The English Ale’) ‘apud Belgas vulgo vocatur Naebier, apud Anglos vero Grau’ (‘People of the Low Countries commonly speak of Naebier, but the English say Graut.’) p.97.
8. Coles, E. (1679) A dictionary, English-Latin, and Latin- English, Second Edition enlarged. G. Sawbridge. ‘Grout [wort] Condimentum cerevisiae’.
9. Adriaen & Melchior Mels, A. M. (1660-96) Brewer’s notebook. Dordrecht: Nimweeghse Mol. ‘The second infusion or Nabier, as it is out of the kettle, one pumps the 15 to 16 barrels (approx 2,250 litres) wort you kept apart in the kettle, add no hops, and boil down to 5 barrels (approx 750 litres), very slowly, till it is thick as syrup, and keep this, until upon filling the barrels, add the thick beer, and barrel it after half an hour. Note: The thick syrup sometimes boils for two whole days. The softer and gentler it cooks, the better. The third day the Mol was barreled. Five guilders were paid for one barrel. The first infusion should be two thirds of the total liquid and the second one third.’
10. Antwerpse brouwers tijdens het ancien régime: documenten Ivan Derycke, 1537.
12° Men moet de ordonnantie op de bieren van 1537 onder- houden, vooral art. 9 waardoor zonder toelating van de brouwers geen bieren van brouwers die 3 mijl of verder buiten de stad actief zijn zomaar verkocht kunnen worden in de stad.
13° ‘Uitzondering hierop zijn de bieren van Leeuwen, Hoegaarden en Nijmweghen die op basis van de ordonnantie van 1537 wel vrij binnen mogen.’ (‘Exempt are the beers of Leeuwen, Hoegaarden and Nijmweghen that can enter freely based upon the regulation of 1537.’)
11. Sint-Truiden, A. (1064) Bevestigings oorkonde bisschop Adalbert. Miraeus, p.63. ‘materiam faceret unde levarentur cerevisiae’ (‘substance for the rising [fermenting] of the beer’).
12. Williams, M.W. (1920) Social Scandinavia in the Viking Age. London: Macmillan, p.158: ‘Much of the home milled meal was used for porridge called graut, a favorite dish of the Northmen, for the cooking of which an unusually large kettle was provided’; O’Leary, M.H. (2010) Barley, oats, rye, and wheat, were made into graut; Culture and Customs of Norway. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, p.82: ‘Traditional Food - In addition to flatbread, a staple of the diet in the medieval period was a porridge made of grain, called graut’.

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Many additional references on gruit can be found at History - Sources about beer - Gruit - Grutt - Gruijt - Grout - Graut

Historic Dutch beer in the 21th century

Unique and authentic things have an increasing lure and the story behind products are an important factor. Consumers are looking for the real thing and demand is so high that all kinds of stuff is sold as handcrafted and authentic. Craft beer is no exception and in the Netherlands there is an emerging consciousness about our heritage in beer. Question is: what’s for real and what’s less real in ‘historic’ brewing.


Hoppenbier brewing with hops early 14th century

Original recipes
In the Netherlands there are many old city regulations on beer dating back to the high middle ages like on the historic styles Hoppenbier and Koyt. These regulations often contain instructions on what grains are to be used together with the maximum amounts of barrels to be filled with the beer. Reading carefully they also contain other information like on brewing techniques of old. Re-creating old styles of beer could involve things like kinds of water and yeast-strains, kinds of grains and their races, techniques on drying malt, fermentation on wood, etc. In practice even the basic use of the prescribed grains often proves to hard.

Rolled oats
The old city regulations where translated to the limited possibilities of the past decades, some ingredients were just not available anymore at the time. The most profitable was changing the prescribed oat-malt for rolled oats. Because to much rolled oats would have ruined the beer, most prescribed oats were conveniently changed around for barley. Original Hoppenbier was made with 75 - 80% oatmalt and 20 - 25% wheatmalt and this was changed into largely barleymalt, some rolled oats and some wheat. The same fate was destined for Koyt, it was recreated largely with barley and somehow stayed an authentic recipe.


The making of hoppenbier in Utrecht in 1404

New possibilities
Brewing with oat- and spelt-malt has become possible only recently. The availability of oat- and speltmalt is still very limited and brewing based on these grains is much more demanding than regular barley-based brewing. Only the best and most innovative brewers are up to this challenge. For the consumer it is very hard to make out what is real or less real in historic brewing. I’m just hoping to enhance awareness about these matters with my website.

Arc of Taste
The real Koyt was admitted into the Arc of Taste from SlowFood and was even described correctly by the Brewers Association in Dutch-Style Kuit (Kuyt, Koyt); ‘the distinctive character comes from use of minimum 45% oat malt’. A renewed chance for a piece of Dutch heritage, although the oat-malt must still be imported from England. Koyt remains on the verge of extinction and a real challenge for brewers. In 2016 brewers will compete in the new World Beer Cup category worldwide.


Beer based upon spelt: Liege beer

Rediscovered
Another beer-style based upon a different grain was the recent rediscovery of Liege beer. Liege beer was made in many Dutch towns and was originally based on speltmalt. Contemporary spelt has its caff removed witch makes it less useful but still, with some adjustments some Liege beers were made.

Unique character
Historic beer in the Low Countries is so special because of these unusual malts, with little or no barley. Barley is the basis of beer worldwide, but these beers are something very special. They need time for further development and are very hard to make. We also need more and better oat- and speltmalts, just like with barley because better malts are also the basis of improvement in more conventional beer.

Frederik Ruis



(1a)
[Another new possibility is in brewing authentic Belgian style white beer and changing rolled oats and/or ricehulls for malted oats that originally belong in the beer.
f ]

Pierre Celis obituary (abbreviated)
Roger Protz
2011

The special character of the white beers of Brabant was created not only by the use of wheat and oats alongside barley malt, but also exotic spices and fruits brought to the Low Countries by Dutch traders. Hoegaarden became the centre for brewing the style, but in the 20th century the white beer breweries started to close, unable to compete with mass-marketed lagers, in particular those produced in Leuven by Stella Artois. The last brewery in Hoegaarden, Tomsin, pulled down the shutters in the late 1950s. It was mourned by many in the town, including Celis, a milkman who had done some part-time work in the brewery when he was a schoolboy.

(1b)
Interview with Christine Celis (citation)
2014

First Celis White of the Celis Brewery in Austin was launched in 1992. ‘Two years later we couldn’t keep up with demand’, says Christine. ‘Our distributors we nagging because they had to wait for new batches for months, their customers were complaining. Then we were approached by Miller Brewing Company (now MillerCoors). They offered to help us build a bigger brewery. We made a deal with Miller. Soon that proved to have been a mistake. We had to compromise on quality and brew as cheap as possible. Sales dropped and we could no longer support our own beer. In 2000 Miller proposed to buy the brand. We agreed to their offer.’



[Hoegaarden beer (and wine) early 16th century (1514) together with other contemporary beers like Mum, Jopen- and Hamburg (= Koyt) beer.
f ]