The hot trend in cold beer seems to be . . . fruit.
Blue Moon Belgian White Wheat Ale, served with a slice of orange, has been around for a while and is a favorite of mine. Shock Top Belgian White often is served the same way. And, in my recent trips to the beer aisle of our neighborhood grocery store, I’ve seen raspberry beers, and lemon shandies, and blueberry beers. I’ve also heard of peach beers, and watermelon beers, and other fruit-based experiments. I’ve tried the shandies, and they are light and refreshing. On the other hand, the blueberry beer I bought on a lark one time was just too sweet and cloying for my taste.
Most recently, after seeing countless commercials in which an indecisive guy trying to figure out what to order at a bar gets bonked on the head by an apple, I decided to try a Redd’s Apple Ale. It’s also not bad. It’s sweeter than most beers and has a distinctive apple tang. It would be a good choice to sip on a sultry summer night while you are cooking sizzling meat on a hot Weber grill. It also would likely promote responsible drinking, because I can’t imagine you could drink more than two or three before your fillings started to ache and your mouth puckered.