UK | European-style fruit-led beer has become so popular in the UK that it has become Britain’s fastest-growing beer trend.
Demand for these lighter thirst-quenching beers, which have a typical strength of around four percent ABV, is rocketing so much that Tesco has seen sales volume grow by 250 percent in the last year.
These fruity beer styles have long been popular in Western European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Italy. They are associated with ‘after-sport’ refreshment, particularly skiing and cycling.
Over the last 15 years, various European beers with fruity profiles have gradually become more popular here, such as Belgian strawberry brews Fruli and Bacchus Kriek and, more recently, Radler, a shandy-style beer from Germany, and Damm Lemon from Spain.
Seven years ago, dedicated UK fruit lager brand Jubel was launched and quickly established itself as one of the hippest beers for drinkers in the 21 to 35-year-old age group.
The company now has five different varieties – peach, mango, blood orange, lemon and grapefruit - of its four percent strength lager and has seen volume grow in Tesco by more than 300 per cent.
“The soaring demand for fruit-led brews, particularly lager, has taken the UK drinks market by storm and is the biggest trend to hit the beer scene since the craft boom started more than 15 years ago,” said Tesco beer buyer Ben Cole.
“The trend actually has its roots in the craft beer movement because it introduced beers with tropical fruit profiles to more drinkers than ever before. For many people, the craft movement changed the perception of what a beer could taste like and opened many drinkers’ palates to a wider range of styles.”
The trend is also similar to the fruit-led cider boom, which began 20 years ago with the introduction of pear varieties.
That movement came after Magners reinvented cider as a refreshing drink to enjoy over ice’. Within a few years, other cider manufacturers such as Kopparberg were marketing fruit-led variants.
Jubel, formed in April 2018, was the first UK company to consider the fruit-led side of the beer market exclusively.
Founder Jesse Wilson got the idea for the company during a skiing trip to France, where his group of friends found that the Bière Pêche being served, which included a shot of peach syrup, was light and refreshing
“We were a mixed group of men and women, some of whom liked beer and some who didn’t, but we all loved the Bière Pêche being served – a pint of lager with a peach top – and it gave me the idea to start the brand,” said Wilson.
“I thought that style of lager could be the perfectly refreshing pint in pubs and that’s where our business grew, with word of mouth spreading rapidly, to the point where it seems our flagship peach lager is now the fifth biggest craft beer in the on-trade based on CGA reported volumes.”
He was excited that retailers like Tesco saw this as the most significant trend to hit beer since the craft beer movement and was pumped to pioneer it.
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