Written by: John Holl | Wine Enthusiast
May 13, 2022
Fruits have long been used as an ingredient to enhance a beer. Styles like kriek, brewed with cherries, framboise, brewed with raspberries and pêche, brewed with peaches, are commonplace in Belgian-brewed ales as well as across the world.
There has been a boom in fruity beer offerings over the last several years thanks to consumers who are eager for new tastes and brewers keen to experiment with traditional recipes and a seeming endless supply of flavorings.
Once upon a time a fruit beer meant that fresh, whole fruit was added to a beer, sometimes during the brewing process, other times during or after fermentation. Using whole fruits which sometimes involves peeling or slicing, is a labor-intensive process but offers big aromatics.
More recently a number of flavor companies have made in-roads to the beer space and have been offering flavored syrups that mimic nearly any kind of fruit or fruit combination that the imagination can conceive. Other companies are offering fruit purées that brewers use to blend with their beers.
While these are aseptic, they do contain sugars and unless a beer is pasteurized before sale, there is a risk that residual yeast in the beers will referment those fruit sugars if the can is stored at warm temperatures. Therefore many fruit beers will urge customers to keep the beers cold.
The purees also have some viscosity to them and pulp. This can settle to the bottom of a can or bottle during storage, so some brewers have added an instruction of rolling a can before opening.
Sour ales and Berliner weisse remain popular base beers, but brewers are also experimenting with India pale ales, brown ales, stouts, saison and more. This means near endless choice in the category and a chance to experiment the sweet or tart flavors of fruits both familiar and not.
Lindemans Pêche (Lambic; Lindemans, Belgium); $16/250ml 4 pack. Find at Total Wine & More. Sweet peach ring candy aroma appears first and is given depth from a more earthy, yet still candied peach flavor. Funky yeast adds a floral character to the beer with a nutty malt lightly perceivable in the background. Finishes sweet, but not cloying, inviting another sip. John Holl
Rating: 92
Samuel Smith Organic Apricot (Fruit beer; Samuel Smith, England); $14/12oz 4 pack. Find at Total Wine & More. A fruit beer that fully embraces its fruit addition. The juicy aromas of dried apricot, fuzz and all, are lively in the glass, with undertones of peach and pear. Light, breezy and refreshing while still having a medium body makes this ideal for summer picnics or gatherings in the park. John Holl
Rating: 91
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