Gruit Grists

In my post about brewing a gruit at Beau's in Canada, I mentioned that I had a series of gruit grists for medieval Holland. Some of you asked if I could publish them. What can I say? your wish is my command.

To be honest, these aren't all Gruits. Hopbier, unsusprisingly, was hopped. Bet you never would have guessed that, eh? Koyt I'm pretty sure was always a Gruit. The others without a specific name? Who knows. They could be either hopped or not.

Here's a table with all the details. The very last entry was the basis of the Beau's beer.

Dutch Medieval Grists
Year	Town	beer	OG (Plato)	litres beer	grain (kg)	oats	wheat	barley	rye	hart coerens	oats or rye or mesteluyn (a mix of wheat and rye)
1340	Delft	Hopbier or Turfbier	18.9	3725	1274	837	437
1404	Utrecht	Hopbier	13.2	3100	747	477	270
1433	Utrecht	Dubbelde Hoppen	20.3	2480	915	645	270
1433	Utrecht	Dubbelde Koyte	20.1	2800	1019	484	190	345
1433	Utrecht	Eenwisselen Bier (Hoppe or Koyte)	15.8	2480	714	484		230
1447	Utrecht	Dik Bier	18.1	2480	1018	403	270	345
1451	Utrecht	Dun Bier	11.5	2480	518	403		115
1491	Utrecht	Bier	19.2	2480	868	523		345
1491	Utrecht	Bier	19.5	3725	915	685		230
1407	Haarlem	Hopbier	20.5	1790	668	465		203
1407	Haarlem	Hopbier	21	1790	685	465	183	37
1407	Haarlem	Koyt			777	310	244	223
1501	Haarlem	Hopbier	19.9	1850	668	465	203
1501	Haarlem	Hopbier	21.2	1850	718	465	142	111
1407	Haarlem	Koyt	13.7	3950	985	413	203	369
15th C	Amsterdam	Bier	16.6	3100	935	336	240	359
1475	Naarden	Bier	18.6	2480	837	480	151	206
1484	Amerfsfoort	Bier	24.4	2480	1098	630	198	270
1484	Amerfsfoort	Bier	15.6	3880	1098	630	198	270
1488	Gouda	Bier	15.6	3820	1085	19 sacks oats, spelt, wheat, rye or barley
1513	Gouda	Bier	14.5	3950	1040	540		274		226
1497	Leiden	Bier	8.5	5120	794		180	294			320
1497	Leiden	Bier	8.6	4350	684		148	262			274
1500	Wijk-bij-Duurstede	Bier	23.8	3725	1615	650	408	557
1515	Zutphen	Eenvoudige Koyten	9.5	4970	863	348	183	332
1515	Zutphen	Dubbele Koyten	18.8	3100	1058	426	244	388
Source:
De Middeleeuwse brouwerij en de gruit by G. Doorman, 1955.

Notice the crazy amount of oats in just about everything - as much as 80% in some cases. Only a couple of the Leiden beers contain none. You'll also see that none of the beers used a single type of grain. All used at least two and sometimes more. This was typical in all of the Low Countries, both what is now Belgium as well as Holland.

This has just been a short aside. I'll be back to WW I and/or Scotland next time.

Dutch grists in the late Middle Ages

I'm terrible when it comes to books. Ones about beer, that is. I have to buy them, but then leave them, sometimes for years, before looking at them properly.

"De Middeleeuwse Brouwerij en de Gruit" is a good case in point. I think I bought it in the second half of 2009. Though admittedly that's a guess based on how deep it was down my book pile. I could have had it longer.

Earlier this week I was asked a question about Dister Bier. One of the books I consulted was "De Middeleeuwse Brouwerij en de Gruit". Didn't find anything about Dister, but I did find a table of late medieval beer grists. And you know what a sucker I am for tables.

The demonstrates a particular feature of brewing in the Low Countries: using multiple grains. And, even stranger, using a majority of oats in the grist.  A practice that still lives on today in beers such as Tripel Karmeliet.

Take a look:

Mud. Is that a great name for a measure or what? But I digress. There are three types of beer listed: hopbier, koyte and turfbier. Hopbier is pretty effing obvious: beer with hops. Koyte was a gruit beer, flavoured with herbs rather than hops. And turfbier? Not the foggiest idea what that might be. Though it does appear to be another form of gruit beer.

I'd best warn you. This is just a small part of the orignal table. Expect me to pester you with more in the coming days.