Ever since the first batch of beer was made in Mesopotamia, people have been adding in a wide variety of fermentable ingredients, including fruit, in attempts to make the beverage stronger and/or tastier. While many beer geeks today look down on fruit beers as gimmicks and "girly drinks", there are enough examples of high-quality fruit based beers around to prove that it's a viable style that's worth exploring.
So when Ottawa's Heritage Brewing released a limited edition passion fruit beer called Passion Brew in honour of Valentine's Day last year, I tried it with an open mind. Granted, I wasn't expecting anything along the lines of a dry, tart & effervescent Framboise or Kriek. And that's good, because if I had, my expectations certainly would not have been met.
That's not to say that Passion Brew is necessarily a bad beer - it's just a very, very sweet one. It has a clear, bright pinkish-golden colour, and a sweet aroma of peach and passion fruit. The body is thin and sticky, and it has a very sweet flavour with lots of candyish fruit notes. I didn’t hate it, but I also couldn’t imagine drinking more than the small glass that I had, which makes me wonder why Heritage chose to release it exclusively in 650 ml "bomber" bottles. A standard 341 ml bottle of this sugary brew would be more than enough to share with a special someone, preferably along with a similarly sweet desert.
This year's batch of Passion Brew is available now for $4.95/650 ml at select LBCO locations. In Toronto, your best chance at finding it would be at the Yonge & Summerhill store.
