How we made it this far I have no idea.

As an aside, the term "King of Beers" comes from the patron saint of beer, King Gambrinus, who pioneered the use of hops to flavour beer. As you'll see below, there is a good reason he is a saint. Because some of the crap that people used to flavour it until then was just awful, if it didn't kill you.

Brewers in Germany used what was called "grut", a mixture of flavourings to give their unique beer its taste. The brewers were so fond and protective of their blends that a law was enacted, the Flavourings License, that protected the recipes. Consequently they were not happy about the use of hops as a flavouring agent. It totally ruined any secret, cool special blend they had concocted to set their beer apart from the crowd. And to heap coal on the fire of their disgust, the beer drinkers preferred hops flavoured beer.

So what did some of these gruts contain? Some basic Internet research has turned up- Juniper berries (gin flavoured beer?)
Caraway seed
Anise seed
Thornapple (a poison) more of that coming up
Gentian (used to flavour one of the world's first soft drinks "Moxie", said to be able to cure softening of the brain and loss of manhood, whatever that means)
Spruce chips and pine roots (for those of you who like air freshener flavoured beer)
and my favourite- Helbane, aka, Stinking Nightshade. It is poisonous but was a common component in what were called witches brews because of it psychoactive properties. Consuming helbane flavoured beer induced hallucinations, elevated heart rate and induced a good old glorious buzz.

Helbane was the original flavour used to make the classic German Pilsner beer until it was outlawed in 1516 and as a poison in several noted Victorian murders.