Your intrepid liquor reporter usually eschews gimmicks like an orange twist in his beer, but the recent heat wave has left me gasping for refreshment, and fruity beers were all that were at hand.
Beer that has been brewed or blended with fruit juices or extracts are nothing new, as enterprising Belgian brewmasters have been making Kriek Lambic (beer fermented with sour cherries) for centuries.
German brewmasters have traditionally followed the Bavarian Beer Purity Law of 1516, which only permits barley, water, and hops. Fortunately, the Radler style of beer starts with a typical German lager, then mixes it 50/50 with lemonade or grapefruit juice. Apparently, adding the juice after the beer is brewed gets around the old-school regulations.
Steigl Radler is the granddaddy of this beer style, and the orange tallboy cans abound on patios and at garden parties this time of year.
Radler comes from the German word for cyclist, and at a mere 2.5% ABV, this beer mixed with grapefruit juice lets you pedal home without excessive swerving.
Your humble narrator is partial to the Steigl Radler from Austria, but my drinking companions seem to prefer the Tricycle Grapefruit Radler from Parallel 49 Brewing in Vancouver.
While both are highly refreshing on a hot day, the Steigl tends to be more beer-forward, while the Parallel 49 tends to be more grapefruit-forward, so pick and choose according to your preference.
Closer to home, Calgary’s own Wild Rose Brewery has been making their Wraspberry Ale for as long as I can remember, with fresh BC raspberries added directly to the brew kettle to fully infuse into the beer. You can find this on tap or in bottles pretty much anywhere in Alberta, and it is especially popular when the mercury rises.
Also in Calgary, Big Rock puts out a seasonal brew called Purple Gas each summer, a pale wheat beer that gets a purple tint from the addition of tart Saskatoon berries, balanced with a dollop of Alberta honey. This is one of my favourite summer beers, easy-drinking for the beer novices, but plenty of flavour for the beer snobs.
Alley Kat Brewing from Edmonton has another long-running fruit beer, in the form of Aprikat. Like many of the other fruit beers, Aprikat starts with a pale wheat ale, then adds a natural Apricot extract prior to bottling. This is another beer that has been around forever, so you will see it everywhere.
Looking westward, Phillips Brewing from Victoria has a seasonal called Solaris White Peach Ale that is flying off the shelves. Long-time readers may recall that your intrepid liquor reporter had been making an annual pilgrimage to BC just to obtain this beer for many years, so there was much rejoicing when Phillips Brewing finally started distributing in Alberta.
The Solaris White Peach Ale is an unfiltered wheat ale, so expect it to be hazy like a Velvet Fog or Hoegaarden. I was initially worried that the peach flavours would be too cloying, but the first sip hit me with a complex yeast bouquet with very subtle peach undertones, much to my delight. This is definitely a beer first, with the peach judiciously complementing the complex ale.
In the maritime provinces, Moncton-based Pump House Brewing has been producing a Blueberry Ale for many years. Eastern Canada seems to grow the best blueberries, which makes this beer taste particularly fresh.
Our friends in La Belle Province tend to follow the Belgian brewing traditions, and Quebec’s Unibroue is no exception, with their Éphémère made by blending a golden ale with sour apples.
Like all Unibroue products, Éphémère is bottle-conditioned, so there are still live yeast cells in the bottle when you open it, making for a hazy sediment in the glass that can be off-putting to novice boozers. The Belgian yeasts impart hints of coriander and spice, making this a cornucopia of flavours on the tongue.
Even the megabreweries have gotten into the fruit beer market, with Anheuser-Busch producing Shock Top Raspberry Wheat, Coors making a Lite Summer Brew with orange & lemon, and Labatt making a Blue Light Lime.
Whether you are a dyed-in-the-wool beer snob, or an indifferent macrobrew drinker, you are sure to find a fruity beer to be refreshing while sitting out on a sunny patio.
During these dog days of summer, your humble narrator exhorts you to expand your beery horizons by reaching for a fruity beer!
