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Fruits have long been used as an ingredient to enhance a beer. Styles like kriek, brewed with cherries, framboise, brewed with raspberries and pêche, brewed with peaches, are commonplace in Belgian-brewed ales as well as across the world.
There has been a boom in fruity beer offerings over the last several years thanks to consumers who are eager for new tastes and brewers keen to experiment with traditional recipes and a seeming endless supply of flavorings.
Once upon a time a fruit beer meant that fresh, whole fruit was added to a beer, sometimes during the brewing process, other times during or after fermentation. Using whole fruits which sometimes involves peeling or slicing, is a labor-intensive process but offers big aromatics.
More recently a number of flavor companies have made in-roads to the beer space and have been offering flavored syrups that mimic nearly any kind of fruit or fruit combination that the imagination can conceive. Other companies are offering fruit purées that brewers use to blend with their beers.
