Thinking About Fruit Flavored Beers
This past weekend Eliza and I spent the day on Saturday up in Asheville at the annual Brewgrass beer and music festival. It was a lot of fun (and a lot of drinking). I cannot recall all the beers I got to try but I know that some of them were quite good (I was particularly fond of Highland Brewing’s offerings as well as New Belgian’s special sours).
While trying the wide variety of beers I had a few fruit flavored beers and as usual with such beverages I was left kind of stumped on my position.
I feel, that more often than not, I am not too much of a fan of fruit flavored beer. I think that my aversion comes from the fact that most of the fruit flavored beers I have tried over the years have been a bit too strong in the fruit flavor, making me think more of some kind of juice than of beer. Generally, when I want a beer, it is because I desire a beer flavor. There are a few fruit flavored beers that I have encountered over the years that do not take away from the overall beer experience (Long Trail Blackberry Wheat for one) but more often than not I feel like I am left wanting.
Recently I brewed my own fruit flavored beers (to be one of the beverages offered at my upcoming wedding). This was a simple wheat beer base recipe, with a ton of fresh pawpaw fruit added in secondary fermentation. The end result, which I bottled last week, was not entirely up my alley, but that is more to do with the fact that I am not a huge fan of pawpaw fruit. Overall, ignoring my subjective preferences (or lack there of) I’d say it was a pretty successful fruit beer brewing. It still tastes like a wheat beer, just with a slight pawpaw undertone. Eliza is pretty pleased with how it came out and I am curious to hear what other people think about it.
I don’t know that I will ever love fruit beers or be too enthusiastic about drinking them, but I will certainly be willing to give them a try to see how the work out. Maybe someday I will find the perfect fruit beer that I will actively pursue. Until then, I’ll make do with other things.
