Gruit Ale Recipe

This my friends was an experiment, almost alchemical in undertaking. The idea behind it is to go a bit medieval in the brewing process that we know so well today. You see, before the widespread use of hops as the conservative of our brews european peoples used a slew of other herbs commonly called Gruit. Just like curry is not a spice, but a mix of spices (pepper, chili, cloves, coriander, cumin, paprika, ginger, turmeric, ...); In the same way Gruit was not a single additive to the brew but a mix of herbs, these herbs it is believed were:

• yarrow
• mugwort
• sweat gale
• Marsh rosemary
• ...
  

To make a long story short, the Church at the time thought that all of this was all a bit too pagan. These herbs were reportedly hallucinogenic and were often described as libido enhancing. The Church attempted (and succeeded) in controlling the rampant use of these herbs by becoming the single source of Gruit. Latter when Hops was discovered as a better preservative to a brew, the Church actually imposed laws (in Germany these laws are still place) on how a brew should be brewed.



So all of this to say that I attempted to re-create what those crazy pagans were drinking back then. It didn't work all that well. Below is my recipe, somehow my batch turned, I guess I didn't get the correct proportions of gruit. I will keep you posted on new experiments.

Fe-Fiada is Irish Gaelic for fairy fog.