What is the consensus on “flavored beers” (if that is the correct term)? I bought a mixed case of Michelob Ultra Fruit Infused Beer and it wasn’t bad.
Thumbs up/down? Any others you would suggest?
I like Lambics those are pretty much fruit beers. I haven’t tried the ones in your link though.
I have a related question. Would people consider say a Corona with a lime in it, I use several wedges myself, a fruity beer?
I do like Leine’s Berry Weiss
and if you like Pumpkin flavoring Trader Joes has some good pumpkin ale in bottles.
Good question. My gf had a Blue Moon (?) with a chunk of orange. I’ll have to check out the Lambics.
Fruity beers. . .
The first ones I remember drinking were things like “Sam Adams Raspberry Wheat”. These were cloying, and terrible. It was a feat of strength to get through a single bottle. I’m not sure if this stuff was more like a “Lambic”, but I couldn’t stand it.
I pretty much swore off flavored beers forever. Occasionally someone would bring that Magic Hat apricot shit to a party, and I’d get stuck with one of those, but I think that Magic Hat is definitely in the cloying category.
Flash forward to about a year ago. . .someone mentioned that a blueberry beer from Maine was a nice beer. They used the blueberry for a little acidity, and spark without using the sweetness and blueberry flavor to dominate. If you want to try it, it’s the Boothbay Harbor, but the Sea Dog blueberry sucks. Simultaneously, someone turned me onto a decent, but not great, pomegranate wheat from Saranac.
Now. . .what about the Miller Chill, Bud Light Lime, Michelob Ultra flavored beers?
Not bad for porch sitting, if I’m being honest.
They taste more like putting a lime into the neck of a corona than really flavoring the beer too strongly. They add a nice bite without adding sweetness, which is uncommon for something sold to Americans. You’re still not getting a great beer, here, but if you’re usign it as a substitute for Bud (which I like), and not Tommyknocker lemon grass beer, I don’t think you’re making a big mistake.
Leines is available in my area! Guess I’ll try some. 
Nothing wrong with porch sitting (if it is raining).
Thanks for the suggestions! I hate stopping at the distributor (Pennsylvania sucks) with no idea what to ask about.
True lambics can be pretty strikingly different from your average beer. If made the traditional way, they have some “wild” elements involved in the beer’s fermentation (instead of the carefully cultured yeast strains used in most beers), and can range from tart to quite sour. If you don’t like the thought of that, stay away. (Sam Adams’ Cranberry Lambic is not an accurate example of the beer style - or at least wasn’t the last I had it. They have some other fruit beer too that I’m not a fan of either.)
Leinenkugel’s Berry Weiss was my “gateway” beer; I was turned off of beer by all the cheap crud bought for parties in college, and the Leinie’s got me into appreciating the stuff. I went from there to their Honey Weiss, to JD Dundee’s Honey Brown, and from there nothing but an empty wallet could stop me. (These days, the Berry Weiss is too sweet for me.)
I haven’t had Sea Dog’s blueberry ale but liked the versions from Smuttynose (Portsmouth, NH) and Boston Beer Works, among others. Boston Beer Works also makes a nice watermelon ale that is very subtle on the watermelon flavor - there’s a background sweetness that would probably be hard to define in a blind tasting.
He’Brew makes a great pomegranate-infused beer that has a subtle fruit taste as well; it’s called Origin Pomegranate Ale. Their Rejewvenator (kind of a doppelbock/dubbel crossbreed) has figs infused into it; also a very pleasant beer but not a light sipping style by any means due to alcohol content and maltiness.
On the more “strong” end, there’s Pyramid’s Apricot Ale - I think that’s their wheat beer with apricot flavor. It’s close to or stronger in apricot fruitiness than Magic Hat’s No. 9, which is probably what Trunk had. New Glarus Brewing has a couple of fruit-infused beers with strong flavor, but they only distribute in Wisconsin.
I once made a lovely stout with just enough raspberry extract to produce that “background sweet-maybe-fruity” flavor. Haven’t been able to replicate it since, to my great chagrin.
Oooh I forgot about Pyramids Apricot Ale. That was my goto beer way back when before I learned to appreciate the taste of beer and thought it tasted like ass.
Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat tastes just like Fruity Pebbles, I swear it, and it’s divine.
Miller Chill is quite tasty, very refreshing and good after a bit of outdoors labor. Liking it is odd for me, since (as Lady Soul so lovingly puts it) I’m something of a “beer snob.” I despise Sam Adams’ attempts at fruiting anything. I remember trying some cranberry holiday thing they had once at a New Years’ party – between twelve people trying it, none of us liked it enough to finish a bottle. However, I think it was Sam Adams who tried making some kind of pumpkin beer, which was very, very tasty.
I’ll try anything once; that Boothbay Harbor blueberry stuff from Maine mentioned by Trunk sounds really interesting. I wonder if I could find it around Atlanta.
Gah.
Bar Harbor. Not Boothbay Harbor. . .
Decent reviews there.
Man Law :smack:
I’ve never had a non-Belgian Lambic that I liked, and as was said up-thread, Lambics are quite different from a traditional beers (I introduced a friend of mine, who detests beer, to Lambics in Tokyo, and now he drinks them all the time).
A local restaurant & bar has a strawberry beer on the menu that appears to be concocted on the premises, but it’s very good. A hint of sweetness, with a lot of pureed fruit in it (it’s a lot tastier than it sounds).
An Ontario brewery, Better Bitter, has a beer called Nickel Brook Apple Pilsner that is quite good. I’ve only had it at one bar though, and can’t seem to find it at any liquor or beer stores.
I sampled Miller Chll at Spec’s Liquor near Downtown Houston. (Some afternoons, the store offers beer/wine/liquor samples.) Yup, it’s pretty good. There’s one set of beer standards for a dark, well-stocked pub. And another for a hot Texas afternoon. (No, there’s never an excuse for Coors.)
The Michelob fruit beers sound like they’re worth trying. And Shiner’s Bohemian Black Lager is worth trying again–it’s temporary, but not fruit flavored.
After all, it’s the first day of Summer!
i like putting cassis syrup in beer- but i have never had it bottled that way
I love lambics, but I agree, they’re in a different category than the standard fruit beer from American breweries.
I don’t like the Leinenkugel’s Berry Weiss. It’s way too sweet for me. I really like fruit beers, but they have to be subtle.
My current obsession is Dark Horse’s Raspberry Ale. Big beer, very slight taste of berry. Oh is it ever good. We brought home a six pack one day last week to try, and between me and Mr. Athena drank the whole thing in one night (we’d been mountain biking, and man, did that stuff go down well after a hard ride!)
There’s a local brewery here that does a blueberry wheat, and it’s a very light beer with slight overtones of blueberry. They put blueberries in it when they serve it, and it’s immensely popular. Great on a hot day kind of beer.
My guilty pleasure is Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat. I can’t take this beer seriously; it’s not a “real” beer, it’s silly and light and… I fookin’ love it. Like Soul says, it’s divine. The first time I tried it I thought “wow, this is sweet and weird and not very good.” Then I became addicted. I just can’t drink Big Heavy Beers all the time, and this one is a good foil to that.
In a bar one time, I had some German beer that was served with a dollop of jam on the side, which I stirred into the beer. Delicious.
Down this road lies Skittlebrau.
I’m generally against fruit flavored beers, but there are several exceptions. Lambics are always okay (as long as they taste like real lambics, not like that Sam Adam’s Cranberry Lambic, if it still even exists). New Glarus’s fruit flavored beers (the cherry and raspberry ones) are simply stunning. Pyramid’s Apricot Ale is tolerable, as is Dogfish Head’s Aprihop. And I like cherry stouts (like Bell’s) every once in awhile.
I don’t like Leinie’s line of fruit beers at all. I also have yet to find a blueberry beer I consider passable. Every once in awhile, I do enjoy something called a “michelada,” which is sort of like a Mexican bloody mary made with clamato, a little hot sauce, lime, and a light Mexican beer like Tecate.
Do coffee flavoured beers count? There are some espresso stouts that I have had that I really liked and will get again in winter.
Kinda what pulykamell said. I love lambics, and have brewed a few myslef, complete with infection. But as a general rule, I’m against mucking about with beer, trying to make it all girly. Beer is beer and fruit is fruit, and very seldom should the twain meet. Except maybe in a Berliner Kindl.