Fruit beers have a bad rap as feminine beer impostors, though the style is actually heavily nuanced, very complex and quite challenging to do well. These beers feature fruit in the brew—berries, lemon, apricot; you name it—and the fruit flavor may range from delicate to strong. As with any specialty beer the base style should be apparent, and it must harmonize with the additive; the fruit should balance the beer, not overwhelm it. In both the taste and aroma, the fruit flavor should appear fresh and pleasant, not synthesized or juicelike. Finally, these beers shouldn’t be overly sweet; in fact, because most of the fruit’s natural sugar is fermented, fruit beers may be drier than their base styles.
Pair: These brews make excellent dessert beers, and even better floats when poured over ice cream. They’re also good matches with salads (complement a peppery arugula mix with a tart berry beer) and seafood (sip a light cherry beer with buttery seared scallops).