13th Century Grut Bier
Before the German Purity Law "Reinheitsgebot" of 1516 it was common practice to use any kind of different spices, herbs, fruits and other plants to provide balance to beer. Hops was not yet well known at this time.
Grut bier has roots in many cultures and each culture had it’s own “special ingredients": Egyptians, Native Americans, Arabian Tribes, Gaulles, Germanic Tribes and the Vikings.
This interpretation of a traditional Grut Bier is spiced with Lorbeer (Bay Leaves), Ingwer (Ginger), Kummel (Caraway), Anis (Anise), Rosemarin (Rosemarie) & Enzian (Gentian). It is brewed with water, wheat & barley malt, "pollinated wild hops" and fermented using top fermenting yeast.
- Dr. Fritz Briem
Historic Signature Series
[ http://www.bunitedint.com/portfolios/producers/historic series/grut bier/overview.php ]
Grut bier has roots in many cultures and each culture had it’s own “special ingredients": Egyptians, Native Americans, Arabian Tribes, Gaulles, Germanic Tribes and the Vikings.
This interpretation of a traditional Grut Bier is spiced with Lorbeer (Bay Leaves), Ingwer (Ginger), Kummel (Caraway), Anis (Anise), Rosemarin (Rosemarie) & Enzian (Gentian). It is brewed with water, wheat & barley malt, "pollinated wild hops" and fermented using top fermenting yeast.
- Dr. Fritz Briem
Historic Signature Series
[ http://www.bunitedint.com/portfolios/producers/historic series/grut bier/overview.php ]
3.3
255 reviews
Friesing, Germany
Community reviews
Definitely a unique beer. My wife has been wanting to brew one of these so we gave it a shot. Poured hazy gold with little foam. Bay leaf and ginger dominate aroma with a nice lemon presence. Obviously a big medicinal and earthy flavor profile...all over the place: Ginger, bay leaf, anise, lemon, pepper. Finishes bitter and dry.
Wow, talk about loaruel and ginger in here. Not sure how much I like this one. Pours cloudy yellow without much head or lacing. Lots of rosemary as well. A little jumbled. Tap at Pizzeria Paradiso Dupont.
Tons of spices in the aroma. Where do I begin? Bay leaf, ginger, rosemary, pepper, cardamom, with lemon as well. Taste is much milder. Slightly spiced tasting; more sweet, grainy, and fruity. Light to medium bodied. Hazy yellow with a white head.
The dominate aroma is ginger supported by herbal notes. Pours a hazy straw hue with a non-lasting white head supporting no lacing. The taste is extremely herbal and moderately bitter. Ginger, bay leaves, pepper, and rosemary, with a hoppy bitter finish. Medium body and medium carbonation. Overall, this beer is like a liquid salad. In fact it would probably be good with a green salad.
Hmmmhmmm! Aroma of fresh, unburned (good) cigarettes and potpourri. Hazy, light yellow color with a thin white ring head. Very herbal. Lots, I mean a ton, of herbal stuff going on here. Its hard to tell where the adjuncts stop and the beer begins. An earth queen’s dream.
Rated on 11-21-2010. This beer has a medium sized very, very fizzy white head that quickly dissipates, transparent yellow body, fizzy, fast rising carbonation, and no lacing. The aromas are wheat, herbal, lemony, ginger, spicy, lightly fruity, and sweet. The taste is sweet, fruity, spicy, herbal, lightly bitter, and semi-dry. The mouth feel is syrupy, sticky and thick. This beer is light-medium bodied. The flavor of this beer is not for me at all. I could not get a liking for it as the flavors just taste weird to me. This is a beer I will not drink again. To each their own.
Pours a hazy gold with a thin white head and lacing. It has a mild aroma of light malt and numerous spices like bay leaves and anis. The same spices a throughout the flavor leading to a clean, spicy finish over a medium-light body. A very interesting brew.
Bottle shared by my brother. Clear yellow in color with a thin white head. Aroma of rosemary, malt, pine and citrus. Malty flavor giving way to grapefruit peel, plants and rosemary before a very bitter finish.
Bottle: Pale gold to straw, with weak head and no lace. Just spice and herbs. I cant see anything else. Unpleasantly strong and cheap perfume like. Dry, slightly sour and bitter. Hard and nasty flavor. Just leaves a horrible flavor and mouthfeel.
Not for me. This shows why the purity laws were introduced. No technical faults
Poured a very cloudy yellow, moderate head and lacing.
Nose is very herbal and medicinal. The anise really comes through in the aroma.
Medium mouthfeel, moderate carbonation.
The flavor is dominated by the herbs and spices. The bay leaves are pretty strong, as is the anise. No malt or hop character.
Glad I tried it. It is certainly interesting, but I would have a hard time finishing a pint. It did drink easier after the first couple of sips, so perhaps it’s something that grows on you. Tasted this one as part of a craft beer class at the Holy Grale in Louisville.
floral, grass, citrus, herbs, leaves, ginger, clove, hay, toothpaste ,golden, pale, hazy, minimal head, white foam, light sweetness, medium bitterness, lightly sour, chalk, limestone ,light body, thin feel, lively, flat, astringent,
Pale, muddy looking yellow color with minimal foam. The aroma is mild ginger. Refreshing aroma. Flavor is bitter with a dryness. Rosemary comes through nicely. Finish is dry and slightly bitter. Interesting beer.
A: Hazy Golden Straw Hue, Passes Some Light, White Head, Decent Lacing
S: Rosemary, Chardomum, Grassy
T: Rosemary, Grassy, Hay
M: Decent Carbonation, Light to Medium Bodied, Mildly Drying
Overall, so freaking earthy with the different combination of spices, great beer....especially for $3.
Bottle (thanx to jfb!!!):Pale golden, cloudy, some floaties visible, small and loose White head, moderately spicy (X-mas and cough-syrup and herbs de Provence) sourish-sweet nose; moderate sourish-sweet flavour, light bodied, a bit fizzy; light spicy and sourish finish. Like a diluted cough-syrup with a dash of lemon-juice...; no hope without hops!
500 ml. bottle. Shared with Gabe. Pours a thin but well retained white head, over a hazy yellow (SRM 3) body....nose is coriander, light malts.....taste is light sour, with multiple spices including bay, caraway, lemon, finishing with moderate spice bitterness....mouth feel light of medium, carbonation adds tingle. This is a very different beer with multiple aromas and flavors, that are quite unusual. BJCP 7/3/14/4/7
Smell of berries, grain, cardamom, pepper, glögg, ginger. Yellow-greyish muddy colour. White head that diminishes quickly. Aroma of yeast, basement, ginger, pepper, honey, some glögg. Apples in finish. Fruity, with "Christmas flavours". Lively and plentiful carbon. Rather exciting taste. Mostly sweet.
No bottling information.
Appearance: The body is bright and hazy straw color with a thin and short head that quickly settles into a thin coating.
Aroma: A strong medley of herbs, maybe sage, rosemary and black licorice.
Taste: Crisp, possibly wheat, body with hints of lemon. The spices are subdued until a strong finish of herbs that lingers for a long time. Anise comes to mind on the finish. This isn’t very pleasant, it numbs my tongue a bit.
Palate: Crisp and light bodied.
Overall: This is what I expected, that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Not a fan of this, especially the finish. I’m glad I didn’t live in a time where I had to drink these.
Wow, I don’t even know where to start with this beer. Pours a hazy straw yellow with thin white head that disappears quickly with no lacing. Aroma is of a flippin’ spice rack. I can’t even distinguish all of them with the exception of ginger and pine. Taste matches all too well and is a bit overwhelming. Aftertaste like I took a bite of a pine tree and is not very pleasant. I have to keep drinking it in order to not have the aftertaste. Very interesting beer, but not my style.
Tap @ Proletariat w James. Hazy white-yellow, big white head. Aroma is fresh and grassy with notes of cedar sawdust. Taste is tantalizingly aweet and tart off the bat then mellows out and goes down like a wit or heffe or something with overripe banana in the aftertaste. Some astringency at the end as well. Pretty cool and complex and I like that it teases.
@ RBESG 13 Grand Tasting Geel, niet helder, minimale witte schuimkraag, ruikt kruidig, sauna kruiden, gember, smaakt kruidig, gember, bitter, zuur en droog, niet lekker
Hazy, pale yellow colour, white head. Herbal aroma, spicy, rosemary, caraway, reminding of nasi kruiden, the cheap "Dutch" spice mix for making "Indonesian" fried rice. Light bitter flavour, very spicy, bay leaves, angelic root. Finish bay leaves, herbal, angelic root. Strange and cool beer, but not a beer I could drink every day.
(From 50cL bottle @ RBESG 2013 Grand Tasting, De Molen. Thanks for sharing, jfb!)
Hazy yellow pour. Smells of rosemary, coriander, tart, bay leaves, celery, bitters(gentian). Very herbal. Flavor is clean mostly rosemary some wheaty brinyness. Minimally sweetened with assertive bitter on the end. Herbs are present, but not overpowering. Very good balance. Refreshing with a slight sour tart mouthfeel finish. Well done herbal beer.
Draft at BRU. Pours a murky gold with no head or lace. Spice bomb. Nose of pepper, cinnamon, ginger, anise, caraway. Medium to light body, tons of spice flavor, a bitter finish. Certainly interesting but I think one of these a lifetime will suffice.
Bottle. Hazy yellow beer with a white head. Citrus and menthol aroma. Menthol and sourish flavour. Strange beer...
Sampled @ RBESG 13 Grand Tasting. Hazy yellow colour with a small white head. Smells ginger, sweet, herbs, spices. Tastes ginger, herbs, spices and a particular kind of candy (Anta-Flu Orange version). Like bad babi-pangang. Thin body, soft carbo.
Bottle @ RBESG13. Aroma has big big notes of spices and herbs, gruitbeer allright, some flowers as well. Flavour is flowery herbs, nasty potpourri with faint bitterness. We switched to hops for a reason ;)
Appearance: medium fluffy white head, dissipates quickly, light good color, very hazy Aroma: rosemary, very spicy, smells different than most other beers Taste: some sourness, tart, a different type of spice maybe pepper tasting, some bitterness on the end, a grass note too but different from hop grass taste Palate: average carbonation, light mouthfeel, a bit of a spicy bitter aftertaste Overall: this is my first gruit beer and it’s definitely different, kind of a sourness and lots of unique spice dominate, totally different than most beers out there
50 cl. bottle sampled @ RBESG 2013. Thx! to jfb. Pours a very murky bright citrus yellow with a creamy white head on the sides. Nose is hupe lemon soap, mint, herbal, ginseng, candy,… taste is very bitter gingeng, huge mint, bitter candy, very long herbal candy, flowers, ginseng linger on for a very long time on the pallet, brutal anise, rosemary,… Touch high carb. Interesting that is for sure but this is almost impossible to drink it is like a super concentrate of herbs which are tolerable only in small quantity & many of which I do not like. It is almost like a joke, absolutely brutal. Not even sure what to rate something like this. I wouldn’t call it bad but it just so many intense tastes in such high concentrations at once which even in small portions would be overkill for me. This marks the first time I find myself supporting the Reinheitsgebot.
Bottle at RBESG ’13 Grand Tasting. Pours hazy yellow with almost no head. Aroma is lots of bay leaves, other spices, medicinal. The taste is really terrible. Very herbal, extremely bitter and slightly sour. Did not expect the taste to be this bad after the aroma.
50cl Bottle at RBESG’13 Grand Tasting. Murky pale yellow colour, white head. Aroma of loads of spices, ginger, bay leaf, caraway, some anise, cardamon. Flavour is very herbal bitter, rosemary, bitter thyme/rosemary oil, caraway, dry bile-like bitterness. Smells OK, tastes awful imo. Interesting stuff though. Light-bodied.