Many of us have seen the very funny Miller Lite: Men of the Square Table Commercials in which they discuss fruit in beer. They decree that no man shall ever fruit his beer! But is this good advice? After all they are drinking Miller Lite, a beer no self-respecting beer drinker would ever attempt to heighten the flavor of by adding fruit. Yet many micro and macro beers have flavors which include citrus, banana, raspberry, blueberry, cherry and apricot, just to name a few you may be familiar with.

Now lets review a few of the beers we tend to add fruit to and see if it is a permissible practice.

• Belgian-style Wheat Beer
  (i.e., Blue Moon, Hoegaarden, Allagash White)
  • Oranges

• Weissbier
  (including hefeweizen and dunkelweizen)
  • Oranges or Lemons depending on the beer’s style

• Corona
  (and other Mexican / Central American beers)
  • Lime

Now to answer the big question, fruit in beer? … NO!!!

In the case of Corona, originally Mexicans put a lime in the top of the bottle in order to keep flies from getting into the beer. Of course as soon as Americans saw this we assumed we had to drink it with a lime. This is not true. The accepted practice of drinking Corona in Mexico these days is to drink it in a glass full if ice with fresh lemon juice. Although anything you can do to cover up the taste of Corona is probably a good idea!

As for the Belgian and German style wheat beers, these beers should already have the natural citrus flavors in the beer. All one is doing when adding an outside element to the beer is covering up the natural flavors that are supposed to be tasted. Along with dominating the flavor profile of the beer, the citric acid present in lemons and oranges destroys the head of your beer as soon as you add it, covering up the natural aroma of that particular brew after pouring.

Beer is just like any fine alcohol, if it’s good quality, the flavors will be there naturally. The same thing happens with tequila, people suck on a lime after tequila shots, but good tequila has a natural lime finish. Good Belgian and German style beers are no different, they have these natural citrus flavors which people so desperately search for by adding whole pieces of fruit and corrupting their beer.

Question: Would you add grapes to a fine wine? Extra spices to expensive rum? Chances are, no you would not. Fruits can be used as a garnish for the glass in the presentation, even then you are flirting with the possibility of changing the subtleties in your hard earned craft beer. But if you must garnish your beer, under no circumstances squeeze the juice into the beer or drop the entire piece of fruit into your glass. Craft beers are just that, hand crafted masterpieces made in small batches, designed for tasting and savoring, not corruption. To quote the Men of the Square Table, don’t fruit the beer!