Fond memory of a beer

Exploring the “pics of you’re brews” this morning brought back memory of a beer we made circa 1992.
Back before the digital age was in full swing we brewed an ale with a generous dose of prickly pear fruit. Im talking a 30 pound canvas sack of ripe sweet fruit. At the time our big concern was all the insidious hair needles so, we singed every fruit before physically mashing and straining.
Well, we served it at an anniversary party. Everyone thought it was a red wine when they got a look at it. Looked like Judy Garlands red slippers! Somewhere in my tomb of Charlie Papazian notes is that recipe, Hopefully, someday it will show up in these pics.

But how did it TASTE?!

Honestly, i don’t recall a flavor imparted by the fruit. Typically gets brewed out when during the ferment. IIRC the base recipe was a pilsner. Brewed w/ Greer Az. well water. Definitely deserves more exploration.  One of the more labor intensive brews Ive ever done. Any others used the fruit?

I’ve used in a sour.  IIRC, the flavor of the prickly pear was very faint in the beer.  I bought the prickly pear in the store (so no prickles) and peeled it.  I think I then cut it up into big chunks.

There was that wave of prickly pear beers around 2012 if I am remembering right, especially a lot of prickly pear saisons. I was inspired to do the same. I bought prickly pears and processed them down to the fruit, stuck them in the freezer and forgot about them for a few years. Eventually I made a saison with them and some other ingredients. Turned out a really nice magenta color. Nice earthy fruit flavor which is a nice departure from the usual acidic/citrus/berry/stonefruit fruit flavors in beer.