Been having a hard time finding Gruit Ales in my area. In fact haven't found one yet. Also seems like when I ask about them in my local liquor stores people look at me as if I had two heads. I have been searching for them on and off for some time now. Theses beers sound so interesting and unique. Does anyone know how I can acquire theses kinds of beers or something very similar thereof?
The Williams Brothers of Scotland https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12142/ brew at least 3 different gruits. I'd expect them to be in NJ since I've seen reviews of them by NJ residents (but they may have traded for them or come into PA to buy them here). I got to try at least one on tap here and then was able to order a mixed case of some of their gruits. Edit: A bit of googling reveals they are in NJ and if you use BeerMenus https://www.beermenus.com/beers/258-williams-brothers-fraoch-heather-ale you should be able to find the place nearest to you that has them.
I bought one of these the other day, but haven't tried it yet: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/514/4897/ Not sure if it gets to NJ or not, but it's imported by Shelton Brothers so if you get any of their other brews, you should be able to find this one too.
FYI: Conyngham Brewing Co. (in Conyngham, PA) recently had a gruit on tap ... they currently have a few "ancient" styles on tap, including a koyt and heather ale ... alas, the only way to get them will be to go there (not too far from Jersey) PS: The Jopen Koyt mentioned in the prior post is categorized as a "Scottish Gruit / Ancient Herbed Ale" ... I assume this style is meant to be a catch-all since there is no distinct category for koyt
Upright Special herbs is a seasonal Gin Barrel aged gruit. probably pretty damn hard to get out in NJ
You might want to check out this link for Gruit Day. Conyngham is mentioned and there may be other closer breweries added as Feb 1 approaches. I have gone to this event when a couple local breweries participated and it was amazing. https://www.gruitday.com/2017participants/
Yeah, I really have no idea what's different from a Koyt and a Gruit. I only mentioned it because the brewer calls it a Koyt Gruitbier. That and the label on it says "Jopen Koyt is a reddish brown topfermented Gruit beer, brewed according to the original city recipe from 1407." I figured I'd give the OP an additional choice to look for. Cheers!
We can get Alba Scots Pine Ale (Williams Brothers) here in flyover country, so I'd think it'd be available there. You might also look for DFH Kvasir, which is classified as a Scottish Gruit / Ancient Herbed Ale on BA. I know this look. I get it pretty much every time I ask for Happoshu.
