WHY DID HOPS DISPLACE OTHER FLAVORS IN BEER?

WHY DID HOPS DISPLACE OTHER FLAVORS IN BEER? The wikipedia article on gruit says that: “The exclusive use of gruit was gradually phased out in favor of the use of hops alone in a slow sweep across Europe occurring between the 11th century (in the south and east of the Holy Roman Empire) and the late 16th century (Great Britain).” The most plausible theory to me is that hops was a good preservative in addition to providing good taste. India Pale Ale was developed with a higher hops content to withstand the voyage from England to India. Another theory is that some of the flavorings used in gruit mixtures included poisons like hens bane and deadly nightshade, but it would seem to have been simpler to ban only the deadly ingredients. Another theory is that the use of hops was promoted to support the Protestant Reformation. The wikipedia article gives the argument that: “Princes wanting to undermine the power of the Church therefore tended to promote brewing with hops rather than gruit, to try to cut off this revenue for the monastic orders who had a monopoly on it.” The objection to this theory is that the change to hops doesn’t fir well with the chronology of the Reformation. I suspect that the taste that hops gave beer played an important role in the change over.