Berachot 8.8 - Does Birkat Hamazon need a cup of wine? Who were the "cutim"?

This Mishnah discusses whether Birkat Hamazon needs to be said with a cup of wine. Also included is the topic of the "cutim" - possibly the ancestors of the modern day "Karaites" who reject the oral tradition of the rabbis and take the Torah as literally as they can. Others call them the "Shomronim" as they have a community in the Shomron in Israel where they have a Kohen Gadol and do sacrifices etc. There was a time during the Mishnaic period, that the rabbis considered the cutim to be even more stringent with the misvot than the rest of the Jewish people! Interesting stuff!