Fruit beer is usually made from malt-scented plums, raspberries, cherries, and strawberries. Normally it is an additive or flavoring agent. Fruit beer was initially manufactured in Belgium, but is now available worldwide.

Fruit beer is made with fruits as an adjunct, in place of the unmalted grains that are commonly used in brewing beer. Only fruits were traditionally fermented to make fruit beer.

Fruit beers mimic standard beer in every aspect along with the fruit flavoring, including the percentage of alcohol. ABV typically ranges between 4.0 to 8.0 percent, and high-point fruit beers are quite rare to find.

Studies show that fruit beers prevent diseases and heart ailments as they are low in fat and cholesterol. They are also high on antioxidants and Vitamin B-6. This aspect of fruit beer helps in preventing the formation of blood clots and protects the heart as well. Fruit beers are also found to prevent other health problems like osteoporosis and cancer.

Top 10 Fruit Beers to Savor in 2023

Reach out for a fruit beer whenever you are looking for a fun flavor. The world of fruit beer is more exciting nowadays than ever. Fruit beers offer many unique, fun, and refreshing brews to discover. This category of beer stretches far beyond lemonade-beer shandies. It includes a great variety of fruits in nearly every style of beer. 

Fruit beers are nothing new, as shown by the famous Lambics of Belgium. They are now adopted by creative craft brewers on a larger scale. Berries and tart citrus fruits are common in fruit beers. You can find a few sweet samples as well. Then there are others that stretch the normal taste perceptions of beer without actually losing the hoppy aroma.

Here is a short list of some of the best fruit beers to try this year.

• Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA: Coming from California in the USA, this is the best IPA. Featuring an ABV of 7.0% and IBU of 70 alongside tasting notes of hoppy and tangy grapefruit, Ballast Point undoubtedly is the best India Pale Ale style of beer. Fans of hoppy American craft beer are going to love this year-round offering. Although the brewery explores a variety of beer styles, it really shines when it comes to India pale ales. The Sculpin IPA was released in 2005. It is an award-winning brew that has morphed into other offerings, including Grapefruit Sculpin IPA. This brew is hopped in multiple stages to produce fruity undertones. It is wonderfully refreshing. The tangy grapefruit is subtle enough to let you enjoy the signature IPA taste.
• Cascade Brewing Kriek Ale: This is the best overall fruit beer coming from the region of Oregon in the USA. It features an ABV of 7.4% alongside tasting notes of sour cherry and oak. Kriek Ale is a cherry-flavored Belgian Lambic style of beer. It is a stunning example of finely crafted fruit beer and is the flagship of the Oregon brewery’s famed and innovative Northwest sour ales. Highly rated by beer critics, at first glance, you will also notice that this is no ordinary beer. It is sold in 750-milliliter bottles and corked as if it were Champagne. Cascade’s Kriek Ale is barrel-aged inside the former red wine barrels for nearly a year and a half with tons of fresh Bing and sour cherries. It is a blend of Flanders-style sour red ales that result in a tart beer with dry dark fruit and oaky aromas that are ideal for dinner. It is a pleasure to try this bold, juicy, and perfectly carbonated beer.
• Dogfish Head SuperEIGHT: This best sour fruit beer comes from the Delaware region in the USA. SuperEIGHT features an IBU of 5, alongside tasting notes of berries, melon, and tart. Dogfish Head is a craft brewery plant that likes to team up with unsuspecting partners to create innovative brews. SuperEIGHT is a gose-style wheat ale that packs one of the most significant signature styles of sour beer. It is definitely no ordinary beer! SuperEIGHT is brewed with a combination of mango, prickly pear, raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, elderberry, kiwi, toasted quinoa, and red Hawaiian sea salt. This sessionable beer is 5.3 % ABV and comes in vibrant red color. It has a fruity, tart, and refreshing taste that is as fascinating as the story it carries.
• Eagle Brewery Banana Bread Beer: It is the best sweet fruit beer on our list. Banana Bread Beer features an IBU of 18 alongside tasting notes of sweet banana and malt. This old-hat amber ale-style fruit beer fell under the Wells & Young label until recently. It now comes in a redesigned bottle with a bright yellow label that stands out under the Eagle Brewery name. However, it is the same British beer that has been delighting beer-drinking fans for years. There is nothing you won’t enjoy about this fruit beer simply because it tastes just like it sounds. Banana Bread Beer is a dark golden ale with a light body along with the sweet aroma of bananas. It is bottled at 5.2 % ABV and is simply a funny, unique fruit beer style that is perfect as a liquid dessert.

• Founders Brewing Co. Rübaeus Raspberry Ale: With an IBU of 15 alongside tasting notes of raspberry, sweet, tart, and malt, this ale-style fruit beer comes from Founders Brewing Rübaeus in Michigan. Fruit beers for many breweries in the USA are a seasonal release that make an appearance when the days heat up. However, this is a year-round staple and tastes like liquid raspberry sorbet with an ale twist. It is a little sweet, but also has the tart taste of fresh raspberries. This refreshing raspberry fruit beer has a ruby color with a perfect balance of malt and fruit. It ensures 5.7 % ABV and is a great option for drinkers who are not big fruit beer fans but want to try it anyway. You can enjoy Rübaeus fruit beer with cheesecake or grilled meats. It also makes a tasty companion for cheese.
• High Watermelon or 21st Amendment Hell: This wheat-style Fruit Beer is Best for Summer and has an IBU of 17 alongside tasting notes of watermelon, and sweet wheat. It comes from the California region of the USA. Watermelon undoubtedly is the ultimate fruit for the summer. This fruit beer from 21st Amendment Brewery captures that taste and is perfectly brewed with real watermelon puree. It is an easy-drinking and delicious choice for the summer season. The 21st Amendment Hell when poured looks like any other beer with its straw yellow color. Yet a bit hazy to remind you that it’s brewed with wheat. It is accentuated by the sweet scent and flavor of melon. High Watermelon is stoutly backed by a nice wheat flavor that makes it very interesting. The 21st Amendment Hell is as light as it is refreshing at 4.9 % ABV, and is an excellent alternative to homemade watermelon beer. This fruit beer makes an excellent pairing with fruit salads, grilled seafood, and other complementary summer fares.
• Ommegang Apripêche: It is the best Witbier/Flemish golden ale Belgian-Style fruit beer. Apripêche with an IBU of 9 and tasting notes of peach, pear, and off-dry comes from the New York region in the USA. Ommegang is an Upstate New York brewery with Belgian roots. They craft some of the finest beers in the market. Their portfolio spans Belgium’s traditional, and often rustic styles of fruit beers that are among the well-regarded specialties. The cherry-flavored Rosetta often gets the top billing. But this is just as enjoyable with 6.3 percent ABV. The beer is hazy with an eye-catching yellow-orange color. Apripêche begins as a Witbier brewed with malted and unmalted wheat that’s infused with the flavor of apricots and peaches. It is then blended with a sour Flemish golden ale so that the flavor balance is impressively maintained alongside a semi-dry aspect that wine lovers often appreciate. This fruit beer is even better when enjoyed with foods having a tropical flair.
• Samuel Smith Organic Strawberry: This is the best organic Ale-style fruit beer coming from England and has an IBU of 14 alongside tasting notes of strawberry and sweet-tart. This handcrafted organic fruit beer is brewed with 17th-century equipment powered by steam. It is well-known among British beers for the brand’s brown ales, porters, and stouts. Samuel Smith also makes a line of other organic fruit beers that will impress you. The Organic Strawberry fruit beer comes at 5.1 % ABV and is a pure pleasure to drink. This ale undergoes two fermentations using organic malted barley and wheat. It is then blended with organic strawberry flavorings and simply is a delicious beer that displays the fruit to perfection.

• Schöfferhofer Grapefruit Hefeweizen: It is the best Wheat Hefeweizen-Style fruit beer coming from Germany. With an ABV of 2.5% and IBU of 15, Schöfferhofer Grapefruit Hefeweizen is grainy and provides tasting notes of sweet citrus. While wheat beers contribute an excellent base for a little fruity flavor, this one is one of the easiest drinking brews you’ll find that has been around since 2012. This fruit beer is so popular and widely distributed that it finds space in many beer coolers. It is an interesting year-round option because of its equal mix of the brewery’s German Weizen beer and carbonated grapefruit juice. It provides a sort of Radler feel. Although switching from lemon to grapefruit is a fantastic shift. The sweet wheat background wonderfully complements the tart citrus. This fruit beer is bright and refreshing, at a low ABV. It is totally session-able and light enough to be enjoyed at picnics, or with brunch.
• Shiner Prickly Pear: This best unique flavor choice in the list comes from the Texas region in the USA. With an IBU of 20 alongside tasting notes of prickly pear and tart citrus, this amber-style lager grabs the attention of beer lovers browsing the beer cooler. A common approach while brewing fruit beer is to use unusual ingredients. Shiner Prickly Pear is no exception. It pulls off with the style and craftsmanship that beer enthusiasts have come to hope from Texas’ Spoetzl Brewery. It adds Citra hops that provide a tart touch. This eventually also complements the sweet cactus fruit in this 4.9 % ABV amber lager. Prickly Pear is a summer seasonal fruit beer that is brewed in small batches and has a refreshing amount of carbonation. It was originally released in 2015 and took a year off when the brewery released its Strawberry Blonde. However, devoted fans coerced the brand to bring it back. Nevertheless, Prickly Pear remains a fruit beer that many look forward to savoring every year.

The Last Word

The Belgian-style ales are a great starting point when you want a classic taste of fruit beer. Cascade Brewing’s Kriek and Ommengang’s Apripêche brewed in the United States are two must-haves that playoff Belgium’s rustic fruit beer traditions. Dogfish Head’s SuperEight is the top choice for something that is just plain fun. Although lager fans will thoroughly enjoy Shiner Prickly Pear.

FAQs

Can you get drunk on fruit beer?

Non-alcoholic beer, as with regular beer, ironically contains alcohol, albeit much less in quantity. This means that the risk of intoxication is significantly reduced. But then it is still a possibility to get intoxicated if consumed in excess.

What is the alcohol content of Breezers?

For India, it is 4.8% of alcohol for Breezers. However, Bacardi Breezer is essentially a fruit-based alcopop with a varied percentage of alcohol content differing from one country to another. 

Do fruit beers taste like beer?

When you hear the mention of the fruit and imagine a fruity drink; it tastes nothing like beer. Haters can think what they want, but fruit beer is in fact one of the most popular and diverse beer categories worldwide.

Which type of beer is good for health?

The highest phenol concentrations are nowadays available in beers. Good examples are the Yuengling Light Lager, Left Hand Good Juju, and the Abita Purple Haze. Yuengling provides full flavors. But stays light on calories. Yuengling Light Lager contains approximately 99 calories in every mug and still contains those healthy phenol benefits as well.

Is Tuborg beer also a fruit beer?

Tuborg is a beer that is brewed on lager malt. It uses a slightly roasted, bright type of malt that results in the well-known mild, fresh taste and aroma of flowers and grain when brewed. This bottom-fermented lager beer is medium rich and lively with a moderate bitterness in the aftertaste.

Fruit Beer is a generic term which is used for flavored beer. However, some breweries actually use real veggies or fruits, while others extract processed flavor or extract in order to give the desired effect.

Fruit Beer is usually ales which are normally unbalanced and less ale character to them. Malt flavor in Fruit Beer is typically hidden with low bitterness of hops in order to allow the vegetable or fruit character to dominate.

Making of Fruit Beer

While beer itself is one of the most diverse alcoholic drinks in the world, opportunities for flavoring the beverage do not just come from yeast, malt & hops. There are plenty of other ingredients which can be added to the making of beer including items like wits, fruits & spices which go in the making of Floris Beer.

Floris Beer unlike Lambics, is brewed normally prior to being blended with fruit juices which are added along with all types of exciting flavors.

Multiple Stage Fermentation Process for Fruit Beer

All types of Lambic beers like Flemish Old Brown Beer, Belgian Amber & Belgian Golden Ale usually go through a multi-stage fermentation procedure. Sugar is typically added and the beer is re-fermented on wooden casks after first fermentation of the wort. Subsequently, fruit, fruit juice or fruit syrup is added to the first brew and re-fermented.

Beers made in this way are termed as Fruit Beers or Fruit Lambics depending upon the type of first brew. However, beers that add fruit lemonade or fruit syrup after the final stage of fermentation as flavoring are not Fruit Beers but are known as ‘Radlers’ or ‘Shandy’ in the United Kingdom.

Fruit Beer in Belgium

Beer made with added fruits as flavor or an adjunct is popularly known as Lambics in Belgium. Original Lambics Fruit Beer is produced in the valley of Zenne, which is around Brussels in Belgium, but is now also copied in many other parts of the world.

This popular beer is re-fermented with cherries in order to make Kriek or fermented with raspberries so as to make Framboise.