Pete Brown, The Sunday Times resident beer expert has picked out six fruit beers to try – we’re pleased as punch to say that in amoungst some great picks our dark cherry sour made the list!

Some readers will be horrified by a whole column devoted fruited beers. And I get it. At the World beer Awards, where I chair the judging, we taste beer blind, in flights of six or seven, by category. There’s a special groan that goes up from a judging table served a flight of fruited beers. You know you’ll taste alot of syrups and synthertic flavours that will wreck your palate to the extent that only a round of barrel-aged Imperial stouts put things right.

The conventional narrative in the beer world is that fruited beers cater for younger drinkers who have a sweeter palate than previous generations. From rosé wine to fruit cider to modern cocktails, the sugar content in alcoholic drinks is being ramped up. Beer can’t afford to be an exception.

But it’s surprising how many fruited beers I’ve already featured in this column over the past few months without really noticing, from the impeccable bright acidity of Boon Kriek (the undisputed world champion of cherry-flavoured Belgian lambics) to gently accented traditional British ales such as Titanic’s hit Plum Porter.

So fruited beers can be good. And the good ones all have something in common… the addition of real fruit juice rather than artificial syrups – or they’re aged in oak barrels with actual whole pieces of fruit.

When I judge fruit beers, I ask three questions does it taste of the fruit on the label? Does the beer still taste like a beer? And has the addition of fruit improved rather than ruined the base beer – is there a good reason for it to be there?

Many beers get three yeses. Some use dark fruit such as plum or damson to accentuate the forest-fruit notes you get from the darker malts in ales and stouts. Others pick up on the citrus and tropical fruit aromas that new world hops have. Belgian Kriek (cherry) and Framboise (raspberry) lambic, where fruit is added to the base beer before an aging process ferments out the sweetness to leave bright acidity, date back to at least the nineteenth century.

So, especially for anyone who thinks fruit beers are childish, here are six grown-up fruited beers that reflect the diversity within the style.. from quite sweet to aggressively sour. Each one is a delightful refresher for what remains of the summer.

Read on to see what Pete said of our dark cherry sour and see what other beers made the cut.

Or you purchase a bottle of our 3 year aged dark cherry beer HERE – we also recommend Tracing Time if you want a dark stout (the base beer without the cherries) to compare with the fruited version!

Pete Brown was also kind enough to put us in his Financial Times piece the The Unlikely Chic Saviour of Real Ale and included some of our beers in his book on Beer By Design | The Art of Good Beer Branding and his more recent book Tasting Notes The Art and Science of Pairing Beer and Music and Sunday Times UKs 8 Best Brewery Taprooms and Sunday Times Six Fruit Brews that Shouldn’t Be Forbidden.

So which beers did he include? – we love Le Coeur Damson and Rose de Gambrinus and our own Vermillion Sky of course.

Colbier Pansori 4% The fruit in this Liverpool-brewed beer is Korean onja berry, also called the ‘five flavour fruit’, which adds bitter, salty and umami touches as well as sweet and sour.

Vault City Strawberry Sundae 5% Some Vault City ‘modern sour beers’ sound crazy, but the beers are well made. This sweet-acid balance does what is says on the tin and still tastes like a beer.

Duration Vermillion Sky 8.4% This Belgian-style stout, oak aged with vanilla and cherries, tastes like a sophisticated black forest gateau, with the base beer character shining through.

Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus 5% This cult lambic beer, with 200g of raspberries per litre, is barrel-aged until the sugar has fermented to dryness, leaving fruit and colossal acidity.

Brew York Juice Forsyth 5% In this juicy IPA, the fruity characteristics of the h9ps are accentuated by added guava and mango. Oats and lactose give it a smooth, creamy body.

Burning Sky Le Coeur Damson 5.2% Mixed fermentation ale, using yeast with its own funky sharpness, is aged in an oak cask on whole damsons to ramp up acidity and add gentle sweetness.

You can purchase a bottle of our 3 year aged dark cherry beer HERE – we recommend also purchasing Tracing Time if you want a dark stout (the base beer without the cherries) pictured above, to compare with the fruited version!

Why not come visit us and try some at source. Our aging barrels aka Foeders are proudly on display in our barrel store that doubles as our taproom open every Sat and Sun. Or come learn about how we brew our beers with a tour. Read more about what else is included and make a booking HERE

Or why not make a trip for our legendary 3-day Oktoberfest Beer Festival  with 19 unique beers, bands and DJs. Games, prizes and more in a big marquee . Tickets on sale now HERE

We hope to see you in Norfolk soon! Be sure to look on our FAQs for lots of local tips too!