Fruit-infused beer is nothing new but it has been one of the biggest trends in the craft beer world over the course of the last year. When people think about fruit and beer combinations they might imagine a lime wedge jammed into the neck of a light lager, or a cloudy, spiced wheat beer with a floating slice of orange, but many modern craft breweries have been experimenting with a variety of fruits and brewing techniques to compliment high-end, complex beers. With the huge success of beers such as Ballast Point’s “Grapefruit Sculpin”, craft breweries have scrambled to come up fruit-forward recipes to satisfy the new demand, and while there are many commonly available, we happened to bring in a few limited-release fruit beers that are worth tracking down this weekend. Here’s the run-down:

Lagunitas “Citrusinensis” – Lagunitas is known for being all about the hops, and this decidedly 420-friendly brewery definitely likes to keep things dank, aromatic, and bitter. Citrusinensis is part of their small batch (“One Hitter”) series. It’s an amped up Pale Ale brewed with a seemingly generous amount of blood orange juice. The blood orange presence is bold and aggressive, yet it melds incredibly well with the citrusy hop profile, and the result is a fresh and bright Pale Ale that makes it hard to tell where the hops end and the fruit flavors begin.

Founders “Mango Magnifico” – As part of their “Backstage Series” of limited run beers, Founders re-released Mango Magnifico for the first time since 2013. This 10% ABV ale is brewed with mango as well as a small amount of habanero pepper, giving it tropical sweetness with a slightly spicy kick on the finish.

Schells “Apricot Vista” – In 2013 Schells began a series of beers known as the “Noble Star” collection. Each beer in this series is a variation of the Berliner Weisse style, which is a light, German-style wheat beer that’s inoculated with bacteria called lactobacillus, which gives the beer an acidic, pleasantly sour character. Apricot Vista is the ninth and most recent in the series and it was aged for three months on nearly 5,000 pounds of apricot. This beautiful beer is effervescent and tart with pleasant aromas of fresh apricot and lemon and a dry finish.

-Shaughn