In a country known for its beer and breweries, surprisingly enough, Gruut is Ghent's only working brewery. It opened in April 2009 and is run by a woman brewer, Annick De Splenter. Annick is incredibly dedicated and diligent in her work. Wanting to recreate the medieval recipe for Grutt, she spent years going back to school and researching before she opened her brewery. She also paid her dues working for other companies. Now she has perfected her craft and we get to reap the benefits of her hard work every time we visit Ghent and her amazing Brewery, Gruut.Gruut, or gruit or grut, depending on who is spelling it, is pronounced Groot (among many other variations depending on where you happen to be in Belgium). It was the mix of spices and plants used in medieval times to flavor and somewhat preserve beer. This was used as opposed to hops. It actually has a longer history than hops in brewing, however, when hops came into play, many of the local Lords and other rich controlling nobles did their best to keep hops out of the picture since they were taxing the local brewers based on the amount of gruut used in their brews. Eventually they figured out how to get a piece of the hops action and hops began to overtake gruut in the brewing world.What seperates Gruut from most other breweries is that Annick totally did her research of the use of gruut in beer in medieval times, so she was able to come up with an authentic and highly guarded secret recipe. When we first visitied Gruut in December 2009, they were brewing three beers: An Amber 6.5%, a Blond 5.5% and a White 5% When we returned again during our Bon Beer Voyage Belgium Beercation in October of 2010, Annick was up to brewing 5 beers- adding a Bruin at 8% and a Belgium Ale at 9%.we're looking forward to seeing what might be in store for us when we bring our beer tour group back in 2011! Everything about Gruut is unique; from the beer to the funkiest restrooms you've ever seen- you can see pics on our blog at: http://bonbeer.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/beer-travels-in-belgium-part-4-gent/ The brewpub is built on the site of a 14th century brewery. It is a really great space, formerly a textile factory, so it has that kind of loft feel to it; bright and open, with the brewing equipment right out in the open, yet its very comfortable at the same time. It was hard dragging the group out of there last time! We visit many pubs and breweries on our Belgium Beercations, but Gruut is a really special place and should be included on any beer trip itinerary. Cheers!
