Breweries, Wine, and Cheese

Fruity Beer

Fruity Beer

Watermelon rhubarb kölsch & grapefruit IPA at Blue Ghost Brewing Company (Photo by Megan Authement)

Heads Up: Fruit Can Add Complexity to Beer

Story by Gary Glancy

Summer is here. Ahh. Beach vacations. Mountain waterfalls and river escapades. The smoky smell of a backyard cookout.

And, of course, fruit. We all love eating fresh fruit this time of year. A slice of watermelon or bowl of blueberries can be so refreshing on a hot summer day. Beers made with fruit can also hit just the right spot.

As a beertender and brewery tour guide, I often hear people proclaim emphatically, “I don’t like fruit in my beer! It’s too sweet.”

Yes, for years there have been syrupy sweet brews out there on the market that taste like nothing more than bubbly, cheap fruit punch, which gave fruit beers a bad name. With the craft beer renaissance that’s taking place across the country and around our mountains, however, brewers are showing us that fruit can add wonderfully nuanced complexity to beer and not just in-your-face sweetness.

Breweries such as Wicked Weed in Asheville have earned national acclaim for their fruit-infused sour beers, from black currant to marionberries. Sour beers, which continue to recruit wine drinkers and other new fans to the complex world of craft beer, serve as a wonderful environment for fruit and add another compelling dimension to the tart and lively beverage.

The big difference between these brews and the cloyingly sweet products that many consumers associate with fruit beers is that the latter are typically made by simply adding fruit juice to the beverage. Wicked Weed and many other craft brewers, meanwhile, ferment and/or age their beer with actual fruit. The result is beautiful fruit aromas and flavors, ranging from faint and subtle to fruity goodness bursting from the glass—without the unbearable sweetness, thanks to yeast or even wild organisms chewing up the fruit’s natural sugars during fermentation.

And it’s not just sours that are scoring big. Name the style and chances are there’s a brewer out there adding fruit to it.

The recently opened Blue Ghost Brewing in Fletcher is a perfect example. Brewers/owners Zach Horn and Erik Weber wasted no time in experimenting with various fruits on their small-batch brewing system. Already we’ve seen a mango and pineapple IPA, grapefruit IPA, a tart apple saison, and even a watermelon rhubarb kölsch. There’s nothing more perfect for summer than that!

Darker ales can get the same treatment, too, such as Innovation Brewing’s limited-release Belgian-style quad with plums, or Catawba Brewing’s annual summer seasonal King Coconut Porter.

So don’t be scared off by beers made with fruit. Give them a try. They may not all be for everyone, but chances are there is a brew or two offered at one of our local breweries that will be a refreshing, pleasant surprise.

It’s summer, after all. There’s no better time to embrace the fruit.

Gary Glancy is a freelance writer, bartender, and Certified Cicerone® living in Hendersonville.

 

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