Gruut Herbal Beer appears as a signature dish in 1 Belgium cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Gruut Inferno (Herbal Beer) · Ghent
Gruut Inferno is Ghent's herbal amber ale brewed without hops using a medieval gruit recipe of bay laurel, sweet gale and juniper at the Gruut Stadsbrouwerij on Rembert Dodoensdreef.
Before hops became universal in northern European brewing around the 12th century, ale was bittered and flavoured with a mixture of herbs called gruit. The Ghent city authority held the exclusive right (gruitage) to supply gruit to local brewers, making it a significant civic monopoly. The modern Gruut Stadsbrouwerij, founded in 2009, revives this pre-hop tradition using historical herb combinations. Gruut Inferno is the brewery's strongest and most aromatic beer, with a bitter-herbal character unlike any hop-bittered ale.
Where to eat in Ghent:
- Gruut Stadsbrouwerij
- Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant