One example of the nuanced fruit flavor can be found in the Door County Cherry Wheat, a seasonal beer by Hinterland, that imparts tart Montmorency cherry flavor in an American wheat beer base without overpowering the beer-ness.
Think of beers at this end of the beer-to-fruit flavor scale like a squeeze of lime or lemon to a light-bodied American lager or blonde ale. Except imagine being able to squeeze cherry or raspberry juice into the beer without the mess.
Moving toward a bigger hit of fruit flavor is Tiki Time, a seasonal release from 3 Sheeps Brewing, that smacks taste buds with passion fruit flavor.
CHRIS DROSNER
For the State Journal
For good reason, the bourbon barrel stout is the apex predator of the craft beer world. Itâs rich and bold, at once complex and utterly unsubtle.
Every brewery knows the cachet these dark dandies have with beer geeks, and many breweries make them. Nearly all are pretty good â the combination of stoutâs chocolate-coffee-dark-fruit and bourbonâs oaky vanilla just works â but remarkably few are great.
A new barrel-aged stout from Oâso Brewing of Plover just joined that latter group.
This should-be hit, called Narcissist, comes just ahead of a major turning point for Oâso. Owners Marc and Katina Buttera have been working to open a new brewery for years, with one setback after another delaying or scuttling plans. Marc Buttera once told me hoped to break ground in 2016 on a new brewery and taproom. That was in 2014.