Top 8 Beers to Drink on International Gruit Day
International Gruit Day falls on February 1st, 2019. Continue reading to learn more about International Gruit Day, gruit beers, and what beer you can drink to celebrate today!
By The Beer Community on Feb. 01, 2019
What is a Gruit Beer?
In short, Gruit Ales are beers that are brewed with botanicals and ingredients like Juniper, Bog Myrtle, etc. instead of hops.
If you’re still thinking to yourself, “wtf is a Gruit Beer?!”, then check out this post!
What is #GruitDay?
Since 2013, craft brewers with an interest in making gruit ales have banded together to mark February 1 as International Gruit Day. This day is intended to honour the historical tradition of brewing with botanicals.
8 Beers to Drink to Celebrate International Gruit Day
Groot – Oliphant Brewing
A Gruit-Style Ale brewed with rainbow peppercorn, juniper berries, clove, and coriander.
ABV%: 6
Lamb’s Wool – Beau’s Brewing Company
Lamb’s wool is a spiced gruit ale, made with barley malts and blended before fermentation with organic apple juice. Real cinnamon and whole cloves add a warming spice character to this traditional winter wassail.
ABV%: 6.5 | IBU: 10
Saturnalia Gruit – Salt Spring Island Ales
Saturnalia Gruit is made without hops – using wild-crafted herbs and a little ‘magik’. Complex, fruity and herbaceous, this is a must-try beverage in a class by itself!
ABV%: 5 | IBU: 8
Special Herbs – Upright Brewing Company
Firmly tart and aromatically extreme, Special Herbs uses a blend of different botanicals in place of hops, gin and wine cask maturation, and wild yeasts to create something altogether new. Special Herbs by Upright Brewing Company is also the highest rated Gruit Ale on BeerAdvocate.com
ABV%: 5.7
Plaid To The Bone – Picaroons Traditional Ales
First brewed in 2012 in support of the New Brunswick Highland Games Festival in Fredericton, N.B. Though the name may suggest an aggressive and assertive brew, this is an easy-drinking pale ale made with real Scottish Heather tips.
ABV%: 4.5 | IBU: 20
Mörsugur – Wellington Brewery
Brewed in the depths of winter, this dark gruit is made with a mix of herbs and botanicals including spruce tips, birch bark, juniper, and lapsang souchong tea. With no hops added, this ancient gruit style has subtle notes of smoke and spruce balanced with a roasted malt body and earthy bitterness. Mörsugur is the name for the darkest part of the Norse calendar, just imagine foraging in a scandinavian forest then warming by the fire with this delicious gruit!
ABV%: 7.3
Borealis – Torque Brewing
This traditional Gruit beer was made with spruce tips, lavender, juniper berries and yarrow.
ABV%: 6.5
Gruit Ale – New Belgium Brewing Company
This hazy, golden fruit ale has a heady mix of cloves, pineapple, and peaches, with spicy pepper notes and touches of tangerine. This beer is fizzy at the first sip but becomes smoother and creamier with every drink.
ABV%: 6.7 | IBU: 3
Oops! Did we forget about your favourite Gruit Beer?!
Sorry about that! Let us know and we will add it to this list!
For more great posts like this one, check out these links:
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