Going for fruity, spicy beers
GINGER-spiked beer, fruit-flavoured brews and shandies in a can are what’s on tap this summer when it comes to refreshing backyard beverages out of the beer industry this year.
With summer rounding the corner, liquor store shelves and coolers are increasingly making space for seasonal, summer beers developed to quench heat-induced thirst.
Molson Coors, for example, is promoting a raft of lighter versions of its products in target markets around the world such as Canada, the US, and Europe.
Blue Moon’s limited release Sunshine Citrus Blonde, for instance, is the latest version of citrus-flavoured brews being promoted in time for patio season and is pitched as being an ideal accompaniment to summer salads, grilled pork, and fruitbased desserts.
Sunshine Citrus Blonde joins existing brands like Carlsberg Citrus and Foster’s Radler.
Liquor stores in Canada, meanwhile, will be lined with Rickard’s Shandy, a blend of lager and classic lemonade – a lemon-lime flavoured, carbonated spritzer.
Canadian consumers will also get a Molson-branded cider made entirely from Canadian apples – the first time the Molson trademark will be used for anything other than beer in its 226-year history.
Over in Europe, meanwhile, beer lovers in Britain and Ireland will be offered Carling Zest with a Hint of Ginger, and two new additions to the popular Molson Coors Europe beer mix range, Bitter Orange and Blackcurrant & Lime.
In an effort to attract the female market, breweries have been coming up with sweeter, fruit-flavoured brews. After releasing a Lime-A-Rita beer last year, Budweiser, for instance, has come out with a strawberry margarita version dubbed Straw-Ber-Rita.
And in the country that reputedly boasts the highest beer consumption per capita in the world, Czechs will see the debut of Staropramen Cool Cider Beer Mix, a low-alcohol cider, while in Hungary consumers will see a non-alcoholic beer mix, Borsodi Friss Zero. – AFP Relaxnews