The category of fruit beers is a complicated one, and until now I have purposely avoided writing about it. But fruit beers have become so common that there is clearly a need to try and sort this style out.

Although most beer consumed nowadays contains no fruit, historically it was common to find fruits used alongside grains in brewing. Archeologists have even found grape residue in a beer vessel from ancient Egypt. In modern times, fruit is most often associated with Belgian lambics, those sour, funky beers fermented naturally by ambient yeasts, which I wrote about here in autumn, 2013. Lambic is commonly aged in oak barrels on whole fruit, usually cherries or raspberries. These give a fruity balance to the earthy, tart flavors of the base beer. Recently, however, craft brewers have found many new ways to use fruit. Whole fruit, juice, puree, zest, or syrup might be added to the boil, to the fermentation tank, or at some later point in the maturation process.

I want to try to draw some basic distinctions between different types of non-lambic fruit beers, from a drinker’s point of view. The first distinction we might make is between (1) beers where fruit is meant to be the main flavor component, vs. (2) beers where fruit is used to enhance another type of beer. I’ll call (1) Fruit Beers, and (2) Other-style Beers with Fruit. For Fruit Beers, we can then make the distinction between (a) those that are still distinctly beer-like, meaning malt and hop character still comes through clearly, and (b) those with little beer character that are more like cocktails. For Other-style Beers, we can distinguish those in which (a) fruit enhances the original aim and style of the beer from (b) those where the fruit takes over or obstructs the beer-like quality.

In my opinion, (a) in each category is what we should be looking for. I have tried many “beers” in categories (1.b) and (2.b) that tasted quite good, but were nothing like beer. While they may be delicious drinks, it’s hard to speak of them as good beer. My preference is for (1.a) and (2.a), wherein the fruit complements the beer character. There are many Japanese craft beers in each category. In category (1.a), I recommend Hideji’s Heebesu, Baird’s Shizuoka Summer Mikan Ale, Sankt Gallen’s Shonan Gold, Outsider’s Ume Ale, and the raspberry beers from Harvest Moon and Oni Densetsu. Any fruit beer from Zakkoku Kobo is also worth trying. In category (2.a), we find Minoh’s Yuzu White, North Island’s Grapefruit IPA, Shiroyama’s Belgian White, and Shiga Kogen’s Yamabushi Apricot Saison. Both lists could be much longer, but that would be too much advice!

My divisions may be controversial, so I welcome constructive criticism. It should be fun to get a few different fruit beers together and taste them, perhaps even blindly, trying to see where they fall in this scheme, and where this scheme succeeds or fails. Some questions we might ask are: What does the name imply? What were the brewer’s likely intentions? How does the fruit interact with the malt, hops, and yeast? Is this intended for people who don’t like beer, or the initiated?

In closing, there is one point I must insist on. Despite the fact that fruit beers are often marketed as “women’s beers” in Japan and the West, this is sheer nonsense, both because women can appreciate all kinds of non-fruited beers, no matter how bitter or strong, and because men can also enjoy fruit beers. In craft beer there is room for neither racism nor sexism!

by Mark Meli

All Beer Styles articles are written by Mark Meli, author of Craft Beer in Japan.

This article was published in Japan Beer Times # () and is among the limited content available online. Order your copy through our online shop or download the digital version from the iTunes store to access the full contents of this issue.