Since early July, two new fruit-flavoured beers have been available to UK consumers. Produced by Belgian-based independent brewer, Haacht, their premium fruit-flavoured wheat beers, Super 8 Cherry and Super 8 Peach, have arrived in time for the summer.
Haacht Brewery was established in 1898 and has become one of the largest breweries in Europe. The fifth generation business is also Belgium’s third biggest pilsner brewer.
Super 8 Cherry is a 3.4% ABV wheat beer blended with 25% cherry juice; Super 8 Peach (3.7% ABV) is also a wheat beer made with 25% peach juice (both beers are available in 20-litre kegs and 330ml bottles).
Commenting on the UK launch, Matthew Langley, country director at Haacht UK, said: “Super 8 Cherry and Super 8 Peach are the perfect beers for a British summer. Cherry is rich and refreshing, while Peach, which is one of this year’s on-trend flavours, is light and fruity.
“As mid-strength beers, they’re great to enjoy chilled when the sun shines, but equally, they bring a much-needed burst of brightness if the clouds appear. UK craft beer drinkers appreciate a broad range of styles, and fruit beer is a fast-growing category.
“As with the full Super 8 range, Cherry and Peach are a far cry from traditional Belgian beers. As speciality beer styles with a uniquely contemporary Belgian twist, the range has been gradually building a following in the UK, and we’re now stepping support up a gear, as we build distribution and give more beer enthusiasts the opportunity to enjoy these remarkable beers.”
The Super 8 range is part of a broader family of beers from Haacht, which are already well known in Europe; the company plans to start building awareness in the UK as the brewer increases its presence with the on-trade.
At Hand Crafted Drinks Magazine we were sent samples of both fruit-flavoured beers, which received mixed views in the office.
Super 8 Cherry is billed as a “tempting red fruit beer that combines the natural sweet taste of summer cherries with the refreshing character of a Belgian wheat beer”, but we felt that the cherry flavouring over-powered the wheat beer.
We couldn’t evaluate the base beer, due to the flavouring, which was a shame because Belgian wheat beers have a deserved reputation for quality.
By comparison, the citrus-forward IPAs have very much found a market and there is a growing range of quality IPAs from independent breweries that offer excellent products.
For us, they work because the overall flavour profile (from nose to finish) deliver the hop-based notes that such ales need to impart.
The peach-flavoured beer was more subtle and was preferred over the cherry option, but for us the flavourings were a distraction from what we imagine would be very good wheat beers.
These beers will appeal to a younger demographic, in our opinion 18-25-year-olds, and will be popular for a while, but our conclusion was these flavoured beers feel more like novelty drinks that are less likely to gain much traction in the long term.
Of course, we could be wrong and end up eating (or drinking our words), but we would be very interested to sample this brewery’s more traditional beers and see how they compare.
For more information visit their website: www.haacht.com