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In my post about brewing a gruit at Beau's in Canada, I mentioned that I had a series of gruit grists for merdieval 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.





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