1337 Bière St. Bertin

Before hops conquered Europe, beer belonged to gruit.

Gruit was not a single recipe, but a system. A mixture of herbs and botanicals used to flavour and preserve ale before hops became dominant. Bog myrtle, yarrow, rosemary, spruce, sage, and dozens of other plants found their way into medieval beer depending on local custom and availability.

But gruit was also political.

Across much of medieval northern Europe, the right to produce and sell gruit was controlled by authorities through a system known as gruitrecht: the “gruit right.” Brewers were often required by law to purchase approved gruit mixtures from churches, monasteries, princes, or licensed officials who controlled its sale. Beer was taxed through flavour itself.

And people hated paying taxes.

In the 1300s, the Low Countries were dense with trade, conflict, tolls, monopolies, and competing authorities. Wealth flowed through the textile cities of Flanders and Liège, while surrounding rural communities carried much of the economic burden. Grain was heavily taxed. Brewing was regulated. Foreign princes and distant rulers extracted wealth from farming populations already living close to subsistence.

Then came hops.

At first, hops spread slowly through northern Europe alongside older gruit traditions. Many drinkers considered hopped beer harsh and unfamiliar. But hops possessed one revolutionary advantage: they preserved beer exceptionally well while reducing the amount of grain needed to produce stable ale.

And crucially, hops often sat outside the old gruit taxation system.

Suddenly brewers had a way to make durable beer while avoiding part of the economic machinery surrounding gruitrecht. Hops were not merely a new flavour. They were a loophole.

This transformation began early in regions around modern Belgium and northern France, including the hop-growing areas near Poperinge and the Abbey of Saint Bertin. Though now largely ruined, Saint Bertin Abbey once stood at the centre of an important religious and economic network tied to agriculture, brewing, and trade across Flanders.

The exact role monasteries played in spreading hopped beer remains debated by historians, and this beer intentionally leans into a bit of myth-making around that transition. But the broader story is real: somewhere in this region, rural brewers and farmers began experimenting with a new kind of beer that would eventually reshape Europe.

A beer balanced not only by herbs, but by hops.

A beer that lasted longer.
Travelled farther.
And perhaps cost less to make under unpopular systems of taxation.

Our 1337 St. Bertin Beer exists in that in-between world.

It is neither a fully traditional gruit nor a fully modern hopped ale. Bog myrtle still carries the old flavours of medieval brewing: resinous, herbal, earthy, almost wild. But hops begin to emerge beneath it, sharper and more familiar, announcing the future of beer.

The result tastes like transition itself.

A beer from monastery lands, wool towns, muddy roads, and damp northern fields where hops first climbed rough wooden poles beside older herbal traditions that had shaped brewing for centuries.

A beer from a world where ordinary people quietly adapted to power, taxation, and economic pressure the same way they always have: creatively, practically, and one drink at a time.

Availability: Seasonal

First Produced: 2020

Alc/vol. 5.8%