It will surprise you not that I once again blew by my latest Beer 101 column on the Sherbrooke website, which is now almost a month old. (Sorry.) In this/last month’s installment I pondered fruit. You can read it here. It was one of those columns that made me step outside myself and try to appreciate what others see in fruit-accented beer.
You see, I generally don’t like fruit beer. There are very few that I have tasted where I feel that both the fruit and the beer have been honoured by the brewers. Most fruit beer on the market are insipid American wheat with raspberry or blueberry extract tossed in. It is more cider than beer to my palate. The beer is watery and boring and all I end up smelling and tasting is fruit.
However, it is not my job to caustically look down on the choices of others. I must understand. And so I try. You see, fruit beer is easy. It is summery. It reminds us of refreshing drinks of our youth. And besides, who doesn’t like blueberries and raspberries – they may be the most popular fruits after apples (which tend to not go as well in beer).
So, fruit beer are popular. So be it.
But in Beer 101, I wanted to push a bit further and suggest some ways in which fruit can be successfully applied to beer and satisfy even the most picky beer geek. It took a look at some of the obvious choices and explained why they work better than your corner-pub raspberry wheat beer. I, naturally, mentioned Lambic – but do so knowing it is so far removed from regular fruit beer that it hardly fits in the same box. But I extol the values of darker, richer fruits in darker beer, and examine the possibility that you can use the quintessential blueberry and still build a decent beer. I also, of course, suggest some fruit that – at least to my experience – have never worked (maybe your mileage differs) in beer. Say, for example, banana. Isn’t that an ester we normally try to avoid in beer (weizens excepted)?
You see, despite my regular protestations, I do believe that fruit and beer can work. In many ways they are ready made for one another. You just have to build it from the beer up in my opinion. What are the characteristics of your beer? Roast? Chocolate? Caramel? Grainy malt? Sweet? Hoppy? Once you have established that, only then should you start thinking about your fruit. What will contrast or compliment that style properly? How might you bring out some interesting interplay between the fruit and the beer? With those questions, you could build an excellent fruit beer. I just imagine it won’t look like most of those you can get at a neighbourhood pub.
July 5, 2012 at 2:55 PM
Yup, can’t say I make any attempt at all to try most fruit beers. Most commercial ones use extracts, and most homebrewed ones are nasty.
That being said, they can be OUTSTANDING when done properly, but it requires great skill and balance. The New Glarus Wisconsin Red and Raspberry Tart come to mind, though it’s probably been 5 years since I last tried them. Ernie of course makes some good ones, I loved his tropical wheat from 2010, gave it very high scores in Calgary and Regina, one of the only wheat beer based fruit beers I have enjoyed.
Love the fruit lambics of course. I made a killer Flanders Red last year with some local sour cherries. It didn’t medal at the ALES Open, but it has done very well in tastings (brought some to a massive sour beer tasting with some of the best commercial sours from the US and Belgium, it was a top 3 beer of the night for most in attendance). It is in my personal top 3 of beers I have brewed (100+ batches). Already have my cherries ordered for this year’s batch.
For the most part though, I prefer fruit meads and fruit wines (had an excellent Raspberry wine on Monday from Living Sky Winery in Saskatoon). Don’t need it in my beer thanks.
July 5, 2012 at 4:44 PM
Cannery Brewing blacberry porter.
You are right. there are not many beers I can think of that are dark and complex which showcase fruit.
July 6, 2012 at 7:49 AM
Sherbrooke/Alley Kat’s Chocolate Cherry Ostiarius. Great beer that really inspired my homebrewing efforts.
July 6, 2012 at 7:47 AM
Thanks for the props, Mark.
There is an infinite number of things you can do if you marry the fruit with the underlying style. Add citrus fruits to an American IPA, already packed with grapefruit notes from the hops. Stouts that give coffee and chocolate flavors will just become more dessert like with the right fruit additions. Add some fruit to a nice bready or toasty ale, and it’s like a jam sandwich in a glass. Bring out the esters in your hefeweizen and mix it with strawberry, and strawberry-banana here we go. On that note, why stop at a single fruit addition? Yes, wheat beers are an easy fallback since they don’t overpower and therefore highlight the fruit, so multiple fruits can increase the complexity of the tasting experience, such as strawberry-rhubarb, or various fruit punch combinations. Or make the wheat beer a little more complex by going with a wit yeast instead. The possibilities are endless!
July 6, 2012 at 1:40 PM
Paddock Wood just released a sour cherry version of their 1000 Monkeys Imperial Stout. Grabbing some bottles today.
July 7, 2012 at 9:29 AM
Ooh, that sounds good. I’ve got a few cases of both the regular and barrel-aged versions sitting in my cellar. I hope this one makes it further west, too.