Now that it’s summer, breweries across the country are rolling out new beers with fruit as a thirst-quenching relief from the scorching sun. Various fruits have long been added as flavoring agents to beers, but now more than ever there’s a trend to give brews fuller tastes by utilizing loads of real fruit or fruit purees. Brewers have also learned how to better use different varieties of hops to give full fruit notes and flavors to beer without the inclusion of produce.
We’ve collected a list of the best fruit beers available throughout most of the country. There are also some breweries of note that are regularly making incredible fruit beers day in and day out that should be picked up with regularity if you can, like Wisconsin’s New Glarus Brewing Co. and Oregon’s De Garde.
Other Tasty Brews
Coolship Cerise
Allagash Brewing Company
Maine’s Allagash is one of the best breweries in the country and it’s always been a leader in pushing boundaries. Allagash’s Coolship series takes a traditional brewing technique of leaving unfermented wort out in the open air in a giant, shallow container. In many of these beers, Allagash uses the fruit from local farms. If you’re a cherry lover, the Coolship Cerise is a delicious, tart but sweet, balanced beauty. But really, you can’t go wrong with any Allagash beers.
Hell or High Watermelon
21st Amendment Brewery
Wheat beers have been a staple for craft breweries as a summer seasonal, which makes sense because they’re incredibly refreshing brews. They also offer a nice base to add fruits to. One example: 21st Amendment Brewery’s Hell or High Watermelon. Fresh watermelon puree adds cool, light melon notes reminiscent of drinking watermelon juice — even though it’s not red.
Pineapple Mana Wheat
Maui Brewing Company
Maui is famous for its Maui Gold Pineapples. With that in mind, why wouldn’t someone want to sip on a beer made with Maui Gold Pineapples in Hawaii? Maui Brewing’s Pineapple Mana Wheat is one of the most refreshing beers around, with plenty of juicy pineapple flavor peeking through the smooth-sipping wheat beer. A bit of tartness finishes it off, just in time for another sip.
SeaQuench Ale
Dogfish Head Brewery
Dogfish Head Brewery made some waves when it unveiled SeaQuench, as it kicked off a trend of “better-for-you” beers several years back. The best news was that it’s delicious. Crisp and tart because of its Kölsch-Gose-Berliner Weiss origins, the lime provides a margarita-like sipper.
Tropical Oberon
Bell’s Brewery
Michigan doesn’t exactly scream tropical, but Kalamazoo’s Bell’s Brewery decided to amp up its tried and true Oberon with some passionfruit, guava, and mango. The already refreshing wheat beer’s new version adds up big fruity flavor and a touch of tartness, perfect for a day at the Caribbean-like waters that can be found in the Great Lakes State.
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