Gruit

gruit.(groyt’)
A mixture of herbs and spices—principally sweet gale (bog-myrtle), marsh (wild rosemary), coriander, yarrow, and milfoil, as well as other ingredients such as juniper berries, caraway seed, aniseed, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon—once used to flavor English and European ales before the introduction of hops. Hops and sometimes resin also entered into the composition of gruit in some countries. After the organization of brewers’ guilds, the preparation of gruit became the work of specialist who operated in gruthouses, or gruit houses. Once spelled: grut; gruyt; grug; gurz.