The new decade marked a new era
with the craft beer movement quickly gathering pace that would soon
revolutionise the brewing industry. Early on in the year, Beartown released Peach
Melbear (4.7%), a peach flavoured blonde ale made especially for a
Wetherspoons Spring Beer Festival, it proves popular enough, to eventually
becoming a part of their regular range. Whilst, Marble Beers looked to Belgium
for influence when it unveiled both Decadence Frambrozen (8.7%) and Decadence
Kriek (8.7%) as part of their decadence range; and Saltaire responded in
kind with Cheeky Kriek (4%) a cask special made with cherries
concentrate rather than real cherries, described as a very English take on the
Belgium classic. Meanwhile Waen was awarded Silver by SIBA Wales for their Blackberry
Stout (3.8%), at the Dudley Winter Ales Festival and Chocolate Orange
Delight (5.8%) won a pair of plaudits, winning Beer of the Festival at both
Salisbury Winter Fest, and the Croydon & Wallington Beer Festival
respectively. In the Summer, BrewDog made early experiments into Fruit Beer
production with the limited releases Prototype 27 (9.3%) and Abstrakt
AB:03 (10.5%) which featured fruit being aged with beer in whisky casks. With
the summer beer festivals in full flow, a number of beers won awards, Amber
Brewery continued their dominance in a specialist category at GBBF when they
won Gold for Chocolate Orange Stout (4%), St Peter’s gained a the
coveted Champion Beer of East Anglia for Fruit Beer – Grapefruit (4.7%),
Lemon Dream (4.5%) won Festival West Midlands Beer of the Year, Chocolate
Cherry Mild (3.8%) was awarded beer of the festival at the Aberdeen Beer
Festival. At the Egham Real Ale & Cider Festival, the fledging Kissingate
Brewery featured Black Cherry Mild (4.2%) as a festival special, Paul
Davies described this beer as “a deeply dark ruby beer
that hints at its delicious flavours with an aroma rich with hops, caramel,
port and raisins. The taste is bitter with an almost bakewell tart almond
flavour from the whole cherries.” It proved popular
enough to be brought on as a regular fixture, winning a number of awards for
the brewery. Towards the end of year, Green Jack debuted Red Robin (4.1%)
made with raspberries and cinnamon which becomes part of their regular range,
whilst in November, Hydes released Plum Treat (4%) a limited seasonal
special, they would subsequently rerelease it for the Wetherspoons Spring Beer
Festival the following March.
The subsequent year saw some
major beers making their debuts that would help shape the growing reputation
for fruit flavoured beers in years to come, in February, Titanic Brewery
unveiled Plum Porter (4.9%), first brewed initially as a one off
seasonal, it has become one of the most highly decorated and widely sold fruit
beers ever produced in the UK, sold widely in supermarkets and pubs around the
country. Mark Briggs notes “the intense aroma has rich,
dark, stone fruit, caramel malt and a hint of roasted grain. Plum,
blackcurrant, caramel, dark chocolate and a hint of liquorice are flavours that
are identified. They all married to perfection.” It has been
described by Boak and Bailey as a British answer to a Kriek or Frambroise,
whilst Anabel Smith interjected “it was a revelation,
in a class of its own. Yes, it had a fruity juicy plummy undertone, but it was
exquisitely dry and rich without that cloying, syrupy flavour exhibited by so
many fruit beers.” This
beer has become a bestseller for the brewery, it remains a high seller in both
cask and bottle;
in its first year of sale alone it made a big impact, selling out early at the
Coven Beer Festival, and awarded beer of the festival at Long Eaton, Redditch
& Bromsgrove and Middlewitch respectively. The beer would subsequently win
a vast haul of gongs in the ensuing years, it could easily be dubbed as the
flagship bearer for British fruit beers. The following month, at the annual
Wetherspoons Spring Beer Festival, alongside Hydes’ Plum Treat (4%),
other fruit beers also featured, Caledonian unveiled Doc Kennedy's
Lipsmacker Lemon Ale (4.3%), Slater’s released Raspberry Beer (4.5%)
and Maravilla (4.5%), the latter would go onto win Gold (Speciality) at
the Peterborough Beer Festival that year; whilst Mauldon debuted their Blackberry
Porter (4.8%), it becomes such a hit with punters that it becomes a regular
part of the brewery’s portfolio as a seasonal beer, sold in both bottle and
cask. At SIBA National, Blueberry Classic Bitter (5%) won the coveted
Best Speciality Beer award, shortly after their win, sales manager Greg Bolton
noted “drinkers have tried the blueberry and raspberry
and come back saying have you got anything different. The fruit beers make it a
more open market and they are getting ladies to try cask ales and then they
make the move on to other flavours.” At the Southampton
Beer Festival in June, Lemon Dream (4.5%) was awarded Silver at the
Southampton Beer Festival, while Bramble Stout (5%) gained a Gold award
(Speciality) by West Midlands CAMRA. Later
that year in August, Dark Star released their 1st fruit beer Seville
(4%) that utilized bitter Spanish oranges, whilst Wychwood dabbled with the
fruit beer market with Cherry Picker (4.2%). At GBBF the same month, Chocolate
Orange Stout (4%) continued its run of awards acquiring Silver
(Speciality). The following month, on 5th September, Purple Moose
Brewery in Porthmadog, launched their Elderflower Ale (4%) otherwise
known as Ysgawen in Welsh, it was initially sold as a seasonal ale through the
Summer months, before becoming a regular part of their range. The brewery once
described it as “the beer exhibits a superb floral bouquet and a delectable
sweet citrus finish.” It has gone on to becoming one of their more popular
beers, winning a slew of awards both in Wales and internationally.
As 2012 dawned, the winds of
change were seeping in. The craft beer movement which established itself in the
US, was gathering headwind in the UK. Dave Graham noted at the time “the definition of craft beer, a term that has its origins in
the US, is much less precise. It is beer
produced for taste rather than volume. Such beers, which include many real
ales, are known for their quality, diversity and full flavour.” The production of
craft beers was a contentious one for the likes of CAMRA, as unlike real ale
which involves a secondary fermentation in the cask/ bottle, it was only
fermented once during the primary stage under pressure using CO2, then filtered
into kegs for dispensing. Moreover, the rise of craft beers encouraged people
to shun traditional ‘sessionable’ beers over more artisanal products, changing
the image of real ale forever. For the domestic production of fruit beers in
the UK, this development proved to be a game changer, as a more brewers were
encouraged to produce fruit flavoured brews. Wild Beer Co. was one of the early
pioneers of the craft beer movement, which established production that year
when they started brewing in the kitchens at Westcombe Dairy in Somerset using
three oak barrels and a manual bottling kit initially, one of their early
releases was Ninkasi (9%), named after the ancient Mesopotamian goddess
of beer, it was brewed as a Belgian style Saison imbued with wild yeast and the
juice of freshly harvested Jorngold apples, the beer has been described as a
fabulous take on the classic Saison style, with blogger Alcohol & Aphorisms
noting “there are lots of light fruit flavours in
there, calling to apples, apricot, gooseberry and more. The flavours float and
sparkle (and not in a bloody twilight way). Full of flavour but never heavy.” Sold on tap and
750ml bottles, the beer continues to be one of their flagship products. Meanwhile
in March, Bradfield Brewery released their first fruit beer Farmer’s Plum
Bitter (4.4%) that has since been sold as part of their seasonal range and
Ilkley debuted Siberia (5.9%) a Saison flavoured with Rhubarb that
combined continental tradition with Yorkshire’s iconic fruit, available in keg
and bottle this beer continues to be sold as part of their regular range. With
the fruitful Summer season in full swing, Moonshine unveiled Strawberry
Fairy Queen (3.6%) a golden ale flavoured with strawberries; at GBBF that August,
Chocolate Cherry Mild (3.8%) won its most prestigious award to date when
it won Gold in the specialist category, whilst Chockwork Orange (6.5%) won
a pair of awards including Silver (Best Strong Ale) – Chelmsford Beer Festival,
and Best Strong Beer – SIBA East, Lemon Dream (4.5%) won beer of the
festival at Woolston and was award Bronze – SIBA Supreme Champion, Elderflower
Ale (4%) also won a haul of awards including 1 Gold Star at the Great Taste
Awards and Gold (Speciality) and Bronze (Overall Champion) at SIBA Wales. Later
that year, Waen introduced Chilli Plum Porter (6%), that went onto
become a regular release for the brewery, and as the Olympic year drew to an
end, Pitfield first released Raspberry Wheat (5%), Buntingford debuted Blueberry
Fields (3.8%), the newly opened Quantum Brewing released Blackberry
Stout (5%), Wentworth released Plum Pudding Stout (4.7%) and
Robinson’s dabbed their hand in the fruit beer market with their Tom &
Berry (4.6%) a winter ale that utilized a combination of their classic Old
Tom (8.5%) with berries to create a lip-smacking and full bodied winter
warmer, it met with a high level of demand upon its release, and it has since
reappeared as a seasonal fixture for the brewery around the festive period.
By this time, the rate of
breweries releases had grown tenfold from the previous decade, Roger Protz
noted at the time “fruit-flavoured beers are enjoying a
great boom in Britain according to the market research group AC Nielsen. Sales
grew by a remarkable 80% over the past year, making it the fastest-growing
sector of the British beer market.” It was become
increasingly clear that British drinking tastes were beginning to diversify as
the demand for flavoured beers increased and more breweries were committing to
releasing fruit beers. In February 2013, Otter Brewery joined the fruit beer
bandwagon, when it released Seville Bitter (4%) as part of their series
of beers celebrating the fruits of the season, that subsequently included the
likes of Orchard Ale (4%), Bramble Bitter (4%) and Velvet Ale
(4%) respectively. In April, two Scottish brewers BrewDog and Brodies
unveiled their collaborated brew Tayberry Berliner Weisse (5.2%),
subsequently BrewDog soon went onto produce their Blitz series of fruit
flavoured Berline Weisse beers beginning with Apricot and Raspberry. On June
13th, Thornbridge introduced Melba (5.2%), a peach IPA that soon becomes
a semi regular fixture at the brewery, whilst the same month Mordue’s released A’l
Cherry Pet (4.1%) a Belgian influenced cherry wheat beer. Meanwhile at the
Maidstone Beer Festival, Lemon Dream (4.5%) was awarded beer of the
festival, whilst at the annual beer of the year awards hosted by Coach House
Brewery, Titanic’s Plum Porter (4.9%) was presented with 1st
place. Purple Moose continued their run of awards with their Elderflower Ale
(4%), when it awarded 2* at the Great Taste Awards, Silver (Speciality) at
SIBA Wales, and two gongs at SIBA National, including Silver (Speciality) and
Bronze (Speciality Bottled) respectively. That Summer saw the release of Shnoodlepip
(6.7%) created in collaboration between Burning Sky, Good George and the
Wild Beer Co, which Ben Watts described “a red wine
barrel-aged saison, this is then given a healthy dose of hibiscus, pink
peppercorns and passionfruit to produce a super funky, fruity and sour beer
that is just mindblowingly good.” This beer has
subsequently been re-released on annual basis. On June 13th, Thornbridge
introduced Melba (5.2%), a peach IPA that soon became a semi regular
fixture at the brewery, whilst the same month Mordue’s released A’l Cherry
Pet (4.1%) a Belgian influenced cherry wheat beer. Meanwhile at the
Maidstone Beer Festival, Lemon Dream (4.5%) was awarded beer of the
festival, whilst at the annual beer of the year awards hosted by Coach House
Brewery, Titanic’s Plum Porter (4.9%) was presented with 1st
place. Purple Moose continued their run of awards with their Elderflower Ale
(4%), when it awarded 2* at the Great Taste Awards, Silver (Speciality) at
SIBA Wales, and two gongs at SIBA National, including Silver (Speciality) and
Bronze (Speciality Bottled) respectively. In May, Kernel released Sour
Raspberry (4%), that subsequently became a regular release. Meanwhile, later
that Summer, Beavertown unveiled Damson Sour (3%) whilst Axholme Brewery
released a range of fruit flavoured beers including Pumpkin Porter (4.3%),
Plum Dunkelweizen (4.7%) and Elderberry Stout (4.5%) that were
available on seasonal release in both cask and bottle. At GBBF, Black Cherry
Mild (4.2%) won Silver (Specialist category), it would go onto win three
years in a row. In October, Wild Beer Co. released Redwood (5.8%) a
Flanders Red Ale that celebrates the harvest replete with hedgerow fruits
including sloes, blackberries and elderberries, it has been annually
re-released each Autumn. Meanwhile, Alpha State released Orange Zest
Farmhouse IPA (6.7%), Slater’s released their winter ale Mad Jaffa (7%)
flavoured with orange peel and nutmeg, Buxton debuted Red Raspberry Rye
(4.9%) a Berliner-Weisse beer flavoured with Raspberries that became in
draught and bottle for a few years, Elgood’s debuted both Cherry Stout
(4.1%) and Cherry Wheat Beer (3.6%), the latter would go onto win a
slew of awards and become a regular fixture for the brewery. Moreover, Titanic
added Cherry Dark (4.4%) to their growing roster of fruit flavoured
beers, once described as a liquid Cherry Bakewell, it has since reappeared as a
Winter seasonal, and sold in can.
The year 2014 saw a fruitful
harvest of success, in January Beartown announced the release of Bluebeary
(4%) a golden ale infused with blueberries which was initially released as
a special, it went onto become a regular fixture in their range in both cask
and bottle respectively. Later that same month, Moor Brewery launched their
Amoor series of fruit beers, featuring the likes of Sloes, Victoria Plums,
Cherry and Damson (all 4.7%), whilst Blue Monkey released Chocolate Orange
Guerilla (5%), a variation of their established Guerilla Stout (4.9%),
which would go onto become a regular feature in their repertoire. At the Wetherspoons
Spring International Real Ale Festival, two festival specials would go onto
greater success, Mauldon’s Lemon Adder (4%) which subsequently
featured as a seasonal release for the brewery, and Elgood’s Plum Porter
(4.5%) that latterly drew a popular response from punters, and it was soon
added to the brewery’s main range in both bottle and cask. Elgood’s continued
their initiatives into fruit flavoured beers the following month when they
unveiled Coolship Fruit (5%) an English style take on the lambic beer
produced with raspberries and blackberries, matured using the traditional
method of maturing in two open copper cooling trays (or Coolship vessels) as
used by lambic brewers in Belgium. According to Adrian Tierney-Jones, the
brewery had two coolship vessels installed in the 1920’s, they were inspired to
create a lambic beer after an American visitor spotted the coolships in situ,
and suggested they brew a lambic beer with it. He added “the result is this tart and softly acidic beer, grapefruit-like in its
embrace, daubed with a soft sweetness and gifted with hints of sherry.” Jeff Evans noted
it had “floral notes, sultana fruitiness and an oaky,
drying backnote add to the complexity before a dry, acidic, fruity finish that
leaves the palate tingling.” This beer would
subsequently become a flagship fixture for the brewery, winning a slew of
awards, and it was soon available in bottle for regular release which continues
to this day. Meanwhile on the awards circuit, Elderflower Ale (4%) won a
trio of titles including 2 stars at the Great Taste Awards, Bronze (Speciality
Bottled) at SIBA National and Bronze at the International Beer Challenge;
whilst Chockwork Orange (6.5%) gained global recognition when it won
beer of the festival in Belgrade and Silver at the Hungary Beer Festival. Meantime
was awarded Silver (Fruit Wheat Beer) for their Raspberry Wheat (5%) at
the World Beer Awards out of 37 entries, Art Brew gained Silver (Speciality
Light) for Raspberry Pale (4.4%), Moonshine gained another award for Chocolate
Orange Stout (6.7%) winning Champion Speciality Beer of East Anglia
and Titanic’s Plum Porter (4.9%) was awarded 1st place (Beer
of the Year, Specialist) by West Midlands CAMRA, and Black Cherry Mild
(4.2%) won Gold at GBBF in the specialist category. In May, St Austell
Brewery unveiled Tamar Creek (7.3%), an idiosyncratic named brew named
after the River Tamar that was produced in the style of a Kriek, matured in the
lambic style in oak barrels and infused with 50 kilos work of whole cherries
from Bohetherick Farm near Saltash for six months; the finished result head
brewer Roger Ryman (whom used to work at Heather Ales) described “pours ruby red and has a quite tart, vinous taste that’s
balanced by the fruit to create something not far off a fine vintage port.” And the following
month, Bateman’s released Orange Barley (6.2%), brewed with oranges and
natural cane sugar made that made its first appearance alongside several other
their beers from their at the London Wine Fair that month, the brewery was part
several brewers participating in Brewhouse, a dedicated tasting area showcasing
the latest craft beers. Sophie Atherton noted at the time “it's exactly the right time for a beer section at a wine
trade event because of the growing interest in high quality beers and in
pairing beer with food. It's something
that other brewing cultures - like the US and, of course, Belgium - are already
making the most of.” Later that year,
Thornbridge debuted both Cherry Brown (6.5%) and Slezak (4%) an
Apricot ale made especially for the Cask Pub & Kitchen’s 5th
birthday celebrations. Beavertown dabbled with various fruit infused sours with
launch of their Phantom series featuring the likes of Lemon Phantom (3%),
Yuzilla Phantom (4.5%) and Kona Passion Fruit Phantom (3.2%)
stretching the bounds of innovation. Whilst the Wild Beer Co. released several
more fruit beers, including Wild Goose Chase (4.5%) a saison made with
gooseberries, The Huntress (4%) a Belgian style ale blended with damsons
and plums, Indigo Child (8%), a gooseberry sour made as part of the
Rainbow Project,
and Rubus Maximus (5.6%) a sour made with raspberries, long pepper and
nine grains in collaboration with Beavertown Brewery. Meanwhile in
December, Twickenham Fine Ales released Cherry Stout (4.7%) a
limited edition number sold as part of their Small Batch series, the beer
proved popular enough to return the subsequent Christmas.
The following year would prove
pivotal for the development of fruit beers made in the UK, the year started off
with Bridgehouse releasing Cherry Choc (6%), an oatmeal stout made with
morello cherries. There was lemony theme going on at the time with the likes of
My Darlin’ Lemontime (3.6%) - Glamorgan, Sleeping Lemons (4%) – Wild
Beer Co., and Lemon Drizzle (3.7%) – Waen, the latter which would go
onto win multiple awards including SIBA Wales & West, SIBA National. Meanwhile,
Moonshine released Raspberry Porter (4.5%) which contained a blend of
their award-winning Night Watch Porter (4.5%) with raspberries which is
still sold on a seasonal basis, along with the likes Passion Fruit Pale Ale
(4.3%) and Raspberry Wheat (4.5%) as part of their 13 Moons of 2015
series which were exclusively brewed on the dates of the full moon. In April,
Kissingate debuted Powder Blue (4.5%), a blueberry porter that would go
on to win beer of the festival at Redhill Beer Festival later that year. Later
that Spring, the fledgling Anspach & Hobday experimented with the likes of Cranberry
Smoked Porter (5.4%), Frambroise (4.5%) and Sour Tangerine (4.9%).
With, the summer season approaching, Meantime produced Strawberry Saison
(6%), a Strawberry and Cream themed beer for Wimbledon Tennis
Championships, made with real strawberries. The beer was chance for the brewery
to experiment with seasonal flavours, which Ciaran Giblin (head of quality and
innovation at Meantime) described “we’ve taken the very
best seasonal British fruits, malts and hops to create a wonderfully unique and
refreshing summer brew.” On the awards
circuit, Elderflower Ale (4%)continued to dominate, winning Silver at
the International Beer Challenge, Silver – Champion Beer of Wales and 1 Gold
Star at the Great Taste Awards. Orange Wheat (4.2%) won a pair of gongs
including Overall Champion at the Norwich Beer Festival and Champion Speciality
Beer of East Anglia, whilst Lemon Drizzle (3.7%) won Bronze at the SIBA
Wales and West competition. Meanwhile, Brewdog continued to experiment with
fruit beers, with limited releases including Lizard Bride (5.5%), Raspberry
Riptide (9%), B-Side Mango & Habanero Barley Wine (10.4%), and
on 17th July, Brewdog unveiled Peach Therapy (9%) a Belgian
style sour tripel, infused with peach and apricot with Mandarina Bavaria and
Strisselsplat hops, created and brewed in collaboration with beer writers
Adrian Tierney-Jones, Matt Curtis and Jonny & Brad from The Craft Beer
Channel during a two day visit to their
brewery earlier that year, the finished article was as the brewery described a
mind-blowingly complex mic of aromas and flavours. At GBBF the following month,
fruit flavoured beers dominated the pole positions of the Specialist (CBOB)
category, with Plum Porter (4.9%) – Titanic and Black Cherry Mild
(4.2%) – Kissingate, winning Gold and Silver respectively. Later that month
at the Durham Beer Festival, Plum Porter (4.9%) scored again gaining
Silver, with Lemon Dream (4.5%) acquiring Bronze respectively. Moreover
it was good year for Elgood’s, Cherry Wheat () won Gold (Speciality Bottled) at
SIBA East, with their Coolship Fruit (5%) acquiring Bronze in the same
category. The latter beer also won awards including Europe’s Best Sour Beer at
the World Beer Awards, and Silver (Specialist) at the International Brewing
Awards held in Burton-upon-Trent. Marketing director Claire Simpson remarked at
the time “to be awarded the Silver Medal in the
Speciality category for one of our newest beers is wonderful, especially as we
are competing against such tough international competition and were up against
nine other Lambic/Sour beers from Belgium and the USA.” Later that year, Kernel
released a range of fruit flavoured beers including Sour Raspberry Victoria
Plum (4.1%), Imperial Brown Stout – Raspberry (9.8%), Apricot & Thyme
(5.1%) and Export Stout Raspberry (6.4%), the latter example would
go onto become a regular release. And the Wild Beer Co. initiated their Amuse
series of fruit sours featuring the likes of Gooseberry, Apricot, Cherry and
Rhubarb (all 5.4%). It was becoming quite clear by now that fruit flavoured
beers were becoming increasingly more popular and commonplace, spearheaded
partly by the craft beer boom. Lexi Finningan noted “a
generation of young people are now shunning the big, low-flavour brands
dominating the UK market, seeking out more artisanal products instead.” The tide was
turning for fruit beers as up and coming breweries sought to move away from
using fruit merely as an adjunct in sessionable beers and increasingly turned
towards utilizing fruit in the likes of Sours, Gose and Saisons. Moreover,
fruit beers were more frequently turning up in more artisanal, limited-edition
releases, made to a higher ABV and standard to their early counterparts. Over
the course of the past few years, fruit flavoured beers had by now become
firmly entrenched as a ‘beer style’ and increasingly these home-grown examples
were gaining plaudits from the industry both in the UK and abroad.
The development of fruit flavoured
beers in the 20-year period between 1995-2015 is merely a microcosm of the
development of the brewing industry in general. Since the turn of the century,
brewers have increasingly diversified their ranges, incorporating the likes of
fruit and spices in their brews and expanding upon the range of beer styles.
The audience for real ale has also expanded, with younger people and women
increasingly taking to beer drinking, thus growing their target market.
Moreover, there has been a substantial increase in the number of breweries
opening up in the UK, between 2013-15 alone there was a 30% increase in the net
growth of breweries. In the CAMRA Beer Guide 2016, Roger Protz wrote “more and more new breweries have been launched to keep up
with the demand for full-bodied, full-flavoured beers. Britain now has more
breweries per head than any other country and the range of beers on offer is
the best in the world.” As of 2022, there
2,426 breweries operating in the UK, ranging from national majors,
long-standing regional brewers, brewpubs and microbreweries. With the increase
in breweries, comes a increasing diversification of styles, Protz added “gone are the days when a brewery made just one or two
different beers, as brewers expand their repertoires to include porters,
stouts, IPAs, fruit beers, or even beers aged in wine and whisky casks.” The
rise of Fruit Beers produced in the UK is a good example of this, from its
origins in the mid Nineties when breweries tentatively released fruit flavoured
brews that were generally marketed towards beer festivals or limited-edition
seasonals and were often unfairly dismissed by critics as being crude and
inferior in comparison to their established Belgian counterparts. To the boom
years of the Noughties, when fruit flavoured beers increasingly became featured
as regular fixtures and the likes of Lemon Dream (4.5%), Banana Bread
Beer (5.5%), Chocolate Cherry Mild (3.8%), Fine Raisin
Beer (5%), Blueberry Classic Bitter (5%) and Fruit Beer –
Grapefruit (4.7%) helped cement the status and reputation of fruit
flavoured beers. In more recent years we have seen the likes of Titanic’s Plum
Porter (4.5%) becoming highly acclaimed by drinkers, sold to hundreds of
pubs and supermarkets across the country, gaining wide industry recognition and
acquiring a huge haul of awards. Even on the world stage, British made fruit
beers have increased in international prominence, with the likes of Coolship
Fruit (5%) help leading the charge to even greater success.
The rise of craft beer has
irrevocably changed the brewing industry and real ale in general, as breweries
have looked to producing more artisanal products incorporating a greater range
of ingredients and styles such as Lambics, Gose, Saisons, Berliner Weisse and
Sours; fruit flavoured beers have followed along with this change and have
increased in greater abundance over the past 15 years. Nick Moyle once remarked
that it didn’t seem long ago that you had to travel to Belgium to find a decent
fruit beer, but with the rapid transformation of the UK brewing industry since
the millennium he added “but times in the brewing world
have very quickly changed and brewers from other countries are not only
mimicking those Belgian ales, but also bunging ripe fruits into any kind of
beer they can think of.” Although if you
look the rise and development of fruit flavoured beers produced in the UK,
brewers have not merely aped the Belgians but have incorporated the use of
fruit into established domestic beer styles likes Bitter, Porter, Golden Ale,
Stout, Pale, Wheat Beer and Mild; thus, creating a uniquely British take on
fruit beers. This confusion arises because in more recent times with the rise
of craft beers, brewers have taken to adopt continental beer styles into their
repertoire, with the likes of Vault City, Brew York and the Little Earth Project
in more recent times gaining praise for their innovative creations. Yet it is the
regional brewers that continue to be successful both domestically and internationally,
in more recent times newer beers like St Peter’s Plum Porter (5%) have
won Gold awards at the Global Beer Masters 2021 and Asia Beer Challenge 2023; Belhaven
was awarded Beer of the Year for Twisted Grapefruit IPA (5.3%) at the
Scottish Beer Awards 2018; Pennine Brewery have won awards at SIBA North-East
2021 for Life’s a Lemon (3.9%) – Silver, Cask Speciality Light Beers, and
Black Forest (4%), Regional Bottle/ Can, Sours and Spontaneous, the
latter would go onto win a Silver in the same category at SIBA North-East a year
later; Black Sheep have gained a slew of gongs for their Choc Orange Stout (6.1%)
including 3 Stars – Beer Awards 2017, Bronze – International Beer Challenge
2019 and Gold (Bottle & Can Speciality) – International Beer Awards 2019; Thornbridge
received gongs for Days of Creation (7%) and Love Among the Ruins (7%)
at the World Beer Cup 2016 winning Gold and Silver (Wood & Barrel Aged Sour
Beer) respectively; and Maxim’s Raspberry Porter (5%) has won several
gongs including Gold (Speciality Mid-Dark Beer) at SIBA North-East 2018 and
2019, Silver at the BBI Awards 2021 and Bronze (Speciality Mid-Dark Beer) at
SIBA North-East 2021. Fruit beers produced in the UK, have gone a long way in
the past fifty years from being a reviled curiosity to becoming an acclaimed and
revered staple on the real ale and craft beer scene.
