I've tried my fair share and every time I wonder why I succumbed as by and large, they tend to taste horrible on my palate. To each their own but not for me.

I have mostly enjoyed fruit beers (like Magic #9) when they include fruity flavors in a still-robust beer-tasting beer. Fruit BEERS in other words, rather than FRUIT beers.

On the other hand, Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat tastes to me like someone put cough syrup in my beer and I recently tasted a cherry lambic that tasted like cough syrup, hold the beer. Ick.

As a general rule, I'm generally not a fan of fruity beers. Boston Beer Co.'s Samual Adams Blackberry Witbeir comes across like cough syrup to me.

On the other hand, there are some good and restrained examples and I think they have their place. Hell or high Watermelon, which you listed, was extremely refreshing this past weekend when I fired up my BBQ smoker for some ribs and chicken. (BBQ-law mandates that a beer shall be opened upon first setting flame to charcoal.)

I wasn't clear on your opinion. However, for me, as the first beer of a long day outside tending the Big Green Egg, the slight watermelon flavor and moderate alcohol was perfect in setting the mood.(http://smokebubbles.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/i-had-to-get-one-smoke-on-the-egg-in-july/)

I also use fruited beers in my cooking frequently. Our Thanksgiving turkey this year, aside from also being done on the Big Green Egg (noticing a pattern here?), was basted with Spoetzl Brewery's Shiner Cheer, an “Old world dunkelweizen brewed with Texas peaches and roasted pecans”. This complimented the apple glaze perfectly! We also used it in the gravy instead of white wine. (http://smokebubbles.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/beer-it-makes-for-one-smokin-turkey-2/)

Some brewers just get how to gently introduce fruit (like you mention) to support or enhance the base beers while others get heavy-handed and try to make the fruit the feature of the beer (I'm looking at you Jim Koch.)

New Glarus makes really good FRUIT beers, but they are near impossible to find outside of Wisconsin. They are worth trying once, even if you prefer BEER over fruit.

Just say no.

How about Aprihop by Dogfish Head?

I am voting meh! I have tried them mostly out of curiosity and I am almost always disappointed. Don't get me wrong, there have been really good ones but usually, it just tastes like beer being muddled with other flavors. Of course, this is coming from a guy who doesn't like lemon in water for the same reason.

On a similar note, I have had many Pumpkin Ales in my life but only one of them actually tasted like pumpkin. The rest tasted like beer. I like the taste of beer, but where's my pumpkin?

I'm a big fan of fruit beers: Krieks, lambics, wheats, and my home homebrews. But I think part of the problem is that most commercial breweries use extracts. And whether those extracts are artificial or "natural", they taste more like candy than fruit, and can often have a metallic/chemical taste to them. (and don't get me wrong, I do enjoy some artificially flavored brews, but some just miss the mark completely, especially to those with a more sensitive palate)

There are some high quality fruit beers out there that are worth searching for, but if they're crystal clear and very light in color, there's probably not much of actual "fruit" that went into the brewing process.
If you prefer beer over fruit, try a Dogfish Head Aprihop.
If you prefer fruit over beer, try a Sam Smith Organic Strawberry.

I like Hell or High Watermellon. Sure, it's not in your face sweet watermelon - but the watermelon flavor is distinct and the beer is light and slightly sour. I think it's extremely refreshing on a hot day - an outdoor picnic beer that maybe doesn't translate well to an indoor beer tasting.

Does Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy count? It's nice, but I can usually only drink one or two.

I'm a huge fan of the pumpkin beers. Yeah some of them don't taste like pumpkin at all, but some are GREAT.

I am almost always disappointed by fruit beers, with the exception of the occasional quality lambic. It just seems like they're trying to make a non-beer-tasting beer to expand their market or something. If I want fruit, I'll drink juice. Or wine. Or a fruity cocktail.

Pumphouse Brewery makes an excellent Blueberry Ale that when served in a pub is served with blueberrys in the glass. Adds an extra layer of flavour.

There are a couple apricot beers I like (Aprihop was mentioned, and Ithaca's Apricot Wheat is sweeter but still not candy-like), but I agree that berry ones tend to be far too sweet. I also suspect they are trying to make ones that are marketable to people who like fruity mixed drinks, not beer.

I myself love these fruit beers at this time of year, and the Watermelon Wheat is a def fave of mine. They are fabulous 'lawnmower' beers - light and crisp, refreshing with a lower alcohol content to enjoy on a hot summer day after doing some yardwork or lounging by the pool. I like the fruit beers that still taste like a BEER with a hint of the fruit after swallowing. For winter months I lean towards pumpkin beers with all that nice spice flavor. We are home brewing alot of wheat beers this summer and they are nice and smooth.
JG09 - We just recently did a Magic Hat #9 clone kit and it used an extract, which causes the beer to have a bitter aftertaste. The actual MH beer doesn't have that - it's nice and smooth. the husband and I are going to use actual fruits instead the next time we make a fruit based beer.

Abita Strawberry is one of my favorites! Here in New Orleans the arrival of this beer at bars is a sign of Spring. Covington Strawberry Ale is a decent second choice, but only once the Abita is gone for the season.

New Glarus is fantastic - if you're near WI or know folks visiting, have them pick up some for you. Also, if you're in Duluth, Fitger's Brewhouse has a really tasty apricot ale - only one I really liked. You can buy it in a growler too.

I prefer restraint when it comes to the fruit in fruit beers. Abita's Purple Haze is a personal favorite; the raspberry flavors come through mostly as a slight tanginess and it doesn't make your forget you're drinking a beer. Three Philosphers from Ommegang is fantastic, although not a fruit beer in the summer sense. It is a Belgian-style quadruple ale mixed with a Belgian-style kriek (cherry ale). The kried adds a wonderful juicy quality that plays very well with the strength of the quadruple.

I'm another for the "meh" crowd; I've had a couple fruit beers that I've enjoyed, but most of them are nasty. Allentown Brew Work's Blueberry Belch comes to mind--it was vile. But on the other hand, a nice summery wheat beer with a bit of peach or citrus is very refreshing.

@Rustyangel - Good luck!
For my fruit beers I like to add fruit in either at the end of the boil or primary (sanitized), then another addition late in the primary or secondary (if you have one). Builds a depth of flavor! I've also used fresh fruit and tasted before bottling, and if I want it more fruit-forward, I add just a bit of extract (1/4 to 1/2 of what is called for) to boost the aroma/flavor a bit. The real fruit creates a great base of flavor which the extract can build upon, but not replace.

For the most part I do not like fruity beers. I find that a lot of them taste kind of like chapstick. With that being said, there are some that I think are amazing. Particularly Unibroue Quelque Chose, Abita Stawberry Harvest Lager, Short's Soft Parade, and Thee Philosophers from Brewery Ommegang.

I would say I like 75% of fruit beers that I try. They are almost always from smaller breweries trying out new things, and made with real fruit, not extracts. I think it just gets too expensive for larger batches of beer to be made wtih real fruit. I actually cannot name one I have tried lately that I didn't like! Magic Hat #9, Ithica Apricot, Dogfish head Festina Peche and Aprihop, any of the Same Smith's fruit beers, anyting from New Glarus with fruit, but especially Raspberry Tart, any pumpkin beer from Elysian, Plue Point makes a pretty decent blueberry beer...

The bad ones tend to taste like a beer with a shot of those terrible flavored schnapps we bought in college when we didn't know any better.

FESTINA PECHE! If you haven't tried this (by Dogfish Head), you have no authority on fruit beer!

Oh wait, my comment sounded really confrontational. I didn't mean it that way! I just really, really love Festina Peche :)

I think the problem is that some of the new breweries are making the fruit the whole point of the beer (and thinking that might appeal to people who are not normally beer drinkers), instead of one's like Magic Hat #9, that are all about good beer with hints of fruit.

I do like Pyramid's Apricot Ale quite a bit, but mostly because I'm not a HUGE beer drinker. Love all the suggestions, though, happy to try new fruity beers soon!!!

I haaaaaate Hell or High Watermelon. Blech. Watery yet still bitter... bad combo and not refreshing at all.

I recently picked up KBC Blueberry Wheat Ale from Trader Joe's ($5.99 for a six pack- bonus!), and I like it a lot. I find however that it smells a lot more blueberry-y than it actually tastes. But it's still a good and easy drinking beer. It's like the blueberry scent is a bonus.

They are good in moderation..like one. Too many of them is not good.

Sweetwater Blue, only available in Atlanta area. Amazing blueberry beer

99% of the time, they fail in balancing the fruit and the beer.

The fruit either grossly overpowers the beer or the beer completely annihilates the fruit. The idea is to use a flavor that melds and complements, not just "Hey this might lure the Alco-pop drinkers away from their Zima..."

Dogfish is one of the few who get it right, consistently - Aprihop, and their Punkin' Ale come to mind.

I don't know if you can find this one outside of Texas, but this summer Shiner brewed a seasonal fruit beer called Ruby Redbird. It's brewed with Ruby Red Grapefruit (obviously) and ginger. The fruit doesn't overpower at all and the ginger adds a nice balance.

It's light and crisp and perfect for summer. Definitely not a year-round beer though.

I love Früli, that Belgian strawberry beer, especially mixed with Rock Creek Cider, or Hoegarten beer. And a local brewery (http://www.alleykatbeer.com/) makes a really nice apricot beer called Aprikat (love it too!)

Mountain Sun/Southern Sun in Boulder had a stout with deep, dark fruit flavors.
Unfortunately, they called it Brokeback Mountain Stout, but that, along with their raspberry wheat do make for some fine refreshments on a Colorado summer night.

Shiner's Rub Red Bird is the best.

I don't like them. I know this is slightly unfair (and an exaggeration), but I can't help but feel like they are the Smirnoff Ice of beer world for girls that don't like real beer.

I love Belgian lambics because they taste like real fruit. They are the only fruit beer I've tried that I buy again and again. My favorite summer drink is half Lindemans Rasberry Lambic and half good wheat beer (a red and white). They mix together in a delicious way. In winter mix half Ras Lambic and half Guiness (a red and black), tastes like a dark chocolate covered rasberry, and not too sweet.

Also a huge fan of Leinenkugel summer shandy, that stuff is delicious!

I second the New Glarus fruit beers. I've had their apple beer on a whim once and it was delicious. I ended up driving from Minneapolis, MN to Hudson WI just to get more!

@JG09 - thanks!
We are going to make a pumpkin spice beer in the next week - to start we're going to cook some of the pumpkin when at the end of steeping the grains (doing a partial mash) and then when we rack into the secondary we'll rack it right over some more pumpkin to make the flavor deeper. Our friend made a chocolate stout and the one that he used the extract in had that bitter taste...blah! Happy beer making!

I agree about the Shiner Redbird being delicious. I have been hoarding it since the stores around here cannot keep it on stock. It is very refreshing with a nice grapefruit and ginger flavor. I am not a fruit beer or Shiner fan, but this is the most refreshing beer I have this summer.

I love St. Ambroise Apricot Wheat beer from Montreal. Delicious stuff. I've also tried the Pumphouse Blueberry mentioned above but I can't remember what I thought of it. I know I have friends who bring it back from the Maritimes with them.

The "fact" that they're all bad is your opinion.

I can't say enough good things about New Glarus Brewery's fruit beers. The Belgian Red, Raspberry Tart, Apple Ale, and Cran-bic are all top notch. The rest of the world outside of WI has no idea what they're missing.