Best Fruit Beers

"It's about us geeking out with flavor and pushing the boundaries of beer. It's sort of how craft beer in America has always been. We've always been pushing the boundaries."

That's Erik Jensen, brewmaster at San Diego's Green Flash brewery, talking about the next big thing in craft beer. He's not referring to bitter IPAs or nitrogen-carbonated brews; he's talking about fruit beer. That's right: It's time to stop throwing shade at the shandy and say hello to your new, go-to summer beverage.

At its core, craft beer has always been about experimentation. As Gerard Leary, owner of New York craft beer bar One Mile House, puts it, "American breweries are ballsy," and fruit beer's newfound popularity is the latest manifestation of that attitude.

If the words ballsy and fruit beer don't sound like they belong in the same conversation, you haven't tried the country's new crop. These beers aren't sickly sweet or artificial tasting. The ones catching our attention are bitter, tart and complex. They run the gamut from IPAs to sour ales and Bretts—a funky style to put it mildly. They're nothing if not cutting edge.

Fruit beer might be brewed with extracts, fresh fruit or hops with a fruity aroma, and it's the latter two categories that are most exciting. It's not easy to make fruit beer that tastes "very beer-like, and less soft drink-like, like many shandies that are out on the market," Alan Newman, founder of Traveler Beer Co., says. But it's precisely that challenge that fuels brewers.

Newman would know. He's also the founder of Magic Hat and the creator of apricot-flavored Magic Hat #9, an early fruit beer. Newman went at it again with Traveler Beer's recent trio of shandies, which required many trials before satisfying everyone. Sierra Nevada has a similar story with its new Otra Vez, a prickly pear cactus-flavored, gose-style beer that was tested in more than 100 batches.

Yep, it's a ripe moment for the category: Fruitier versions of classically severe brews like IPAs invite a whole new crowd to the party and keep things interesting for already-avid beer fans. What's more, the flavor components of citrus and hops naturally complement each other, Jensen explains. So enhancing the fruity characteristics in hop-forward beers is sort of a no-duh situation.

Plus, these brews conveniently happen to be perfect for summer. Frequently lower in alcohol, they're great for day drinking in the sun. "Anything with tropical flavors lends itself to warmer weather," Leary says.

Robin Gregory of Sierra Nevada describes Otra Vez as "the perfect thirst-quenching beer." When it was released in January, people said, "I can't wait to drink it when it's 100 degrees outside." With the heat index slowly creeping up, we'll take two.